Dialogue Eight: Death and Martyrdom

Socrates Meets Jesus

Setting: The sun now touches the hills. First light. They’ve been speaking all night. Neither man looks tired—only more alive. A grave silence settles as they both look toward the rising sun.

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Socrates (voice calm):
When I stood before the court, I did not plead for life. I said that death may be a blessing. Either it is dreamless sleep, or a journey of the soul. In either case, no wise man should fear it.

Jesus:
And yet I wept. I groaned. I sweat blood in Gethsemane. Not because I feared death itself—but because I was drinking a cup no man could carry.

Socrates (nodding slowly):
You speak of the cross?