In Plato's dialogue "Apology," Socrates is forced to defend his actions and beliefs to a jury against both official charges brought against him by Meletus and unofficial charges, which Socrates argues throughout the trial. Before the jury, Socrates attempted to justify himself and explain how this slander against him arose. This began with Chaerophon's trip to the Oracle at Delphi and conclusion the Pythian priestess gave that no one was wiser than Socrates. Socrates puzzled over this for some time and unsure whether the priestess was correct began a personal investigation by going to those who appeared to be wise and conversing with them with the expressed purpose of proving the oracle wrong. The charges came about after Socrates had been involved with many of the citizens of Athens over the years. While citizens engaged in discussions with Socrates, many had their beliefs and values questioned and cast into doubt. The response to this was most often confusion and anger. Over the years, this anger took the form of a general resentment against Socrates. Socrates could only conclude that he knew of no one who was wise, including himself, in that he believed his ignorance far outweighed the ignorance of others. These ill feelings toward Socrates led to the official charges brought against him by Meletus, and were very clear as they were presented to the court.
             These charges, presented by Meletus, included that he was corrupting the youth and that he was impious by not believing in the gods. There were also unofficial charges brought up by Socrates throughout the trial, but these could not be used as a basis for proving guilt or innocence because they were in fact unofficial. These included: that he was putting his morals before the law, that although he may believe in gods, they were not the same ones "pious" citizens of Athens believed in, that he always made the better argument seem the worse,...