The Death of Socrates
The Death of Socrates () is an oil on canvas painted by French painter Jacques-Louis David in 1787. The painting focuses on a classical subject like many of his works from that decade, in this case the story of the execution of Socrates as told by Plato in his "Phaedo". In this story, Socrates has been convicted of corrupting the youth of Athens and introducing strange gods, and has been sentenced to die by drinking poison hemlock. Socrates uses his death as a final lesson for his pupils rather than fleeing when the opportunity arises, and faces it calmly. The "Phaedo" depicts the death of Socrates and is also Plato's fourth and last dialogue to detail the philosopher's final days, which is also detailed in "Euthyphro", "Apology", and "Crito".
Leon of Salamis
In the "Apology", Plato's Socrates argues that he fears committing injustice more than he fears death. In support of that claim, he cites two incidents in which he, at great personal risk, disobeyed unjust commands of the Athenian government. One of those orders was for him to arrest Leon of Salamis and bring him to the Thirty for execution:
When the oligarchy was established, the Thirty summoned me to the Hall, along with four others, and ordered us to bring Leon from Salamis, that he might be executed. They gave many other orders to many people, in order to implicate as many as possible in their [i.e., the Thirty's] guilt. Then I showed again, not in words but in action, that, if it's not crude of me to say so, death is something I couldn't care less about, but that my whole concern is not to do anything unjust or impious. That government, as powerful as it was, did not frighten me into any wrongdoing. When we left the Hall, the other four went to Salamis and brought in Leon, but I went home. I might have been put to death for this, had not the government fallen shortly afterwards. ("Apology" 32c–d)
From these texts, it is clear that Leon of Salamis had an honorable reputation, he was put to death by the Thirty, and his execution was publicly recognized as unjust and unwarranted. But this leaves open the question of who Leon was.