He was a funny looking man with a cheerful face, good-natured and a great talker. He was d

escribed by his student, the great philosopher Plato, as "the best and most just and wisest man." Yet, this same man was condemned to death for his beliefs.

The man was the Greek philosopher, Socrates, and he was condemned for not believing in the recognized gods and for corrupting young people. The second charge stemmed from his association with numerous young men who came to Athens from all over the civilized world to study under him.

Socrates method of teaching was to ask questions and, by pretending not to know the answers, to press his students into thinking for themselves. His teaching had unsurpassed influence on all the great Greek and Roman schools of philosophy. Yet, for all his fame and influence, Socrates himself never wrote a word.

Socrates encouraged new .ideas and free thinking in the young, and this was frightening to the conservative people. They wanted him silenced. Yet, many were probably surprised that he accepted death so readily.

Socrates had the right to ask for a lesser penalty, and he probably could have won over enough of the people who had previously condemned him. But Socrates, as a firm believer in law, reasoned that it was proper to submit to the death sentence. So, he calmly accepted his fate and drank a cup of poison hemlock (毒人参) in the presence of his grief-stricken friends and students.

Which of the following can best tell the main idea of the passage？

A．Socrates and his death.

B．Socrates beliefs.

C．Socrates, a wise man and his beliefs.

D．Socrates and his philosophy.