In this landmark of neoclassical painting from just before the French Revolution, David took up a classical story of resisting unjust authority in a sparse, friezelike composition. The Greek philosopher Socrates (469–399 BCE) was convicted of impiety by the Athenian courts; rather than renounce his beliefs, he died willingly, expounding on the immortality of the soul before drinking poisonous hemlock. Through a network of gestures and expressions, David’s figures act out the last moments of Socrates’s life. He is about to grasp the cup of hemlock, offered by a disciple who cannot bear to witness the event. David consulted antiquarian scholars to create an archeologically exacting image, including details of furniture and clothing. His inclusion of Plato at the foot of the bed, however, deliberately references not someone present at Socrates’s death but rather the author whose text, Phaedo, preserved this ancient story.

百度翻译：http://fanyi.baidu.com

　　雅典政府指控苏格拉底不信神并且用他的教导腐蚀青年，因此给了他两个选择，要么宣布放弃自己的信仰，要么服毒堇汁而死。在达维特的画笔下，苏格拉底镇定地向他悲伤的弟子们讲述灵魂永生的道理。这幅画中斯多葛式的主题大致以柏拉图的《斐多篇》为蓝本，它可能是达维特最完美的新古典主义表述。版画家、出版者约翰·保德勒在给乔舒亚·雷诺兹爵士的信中说这幅画是“自西斯廷礼拜堂天顶画和拉斐尔画室以来最伟大的艺术成就…这件作品会让伯里克利时代的雅典为之骄傲。”