He was later accquitted by bribing the jury this is how it is told in several accounts. Anytus curried favor with the Athenians after this by playing a major role in overthrowing the Thirty Tyrants Even though Anytus lost much money and provisions during this eight month battle, he made no attempts to regain it back; this also helped his reputaion with the Athenians. In BC, Anytus supported the Amnesty of Eucleides, which stated that no one who committed a crime before or during the Thirty Tyrants could be prosecuted against.
Anytus' motivation in prosecuting Socrates was for 2 reasons. One was that Socrates constantly critisized the government in which Anytus was a leader of. Meletus, a poet, initiated the prosecution against Socrates, although most scholars consider him to a "puppet" of the best-known and most influential of the three accusers, Anytus. The affidavit sworn out by Meletus made two related charges against Socrates: "refusing to acknowledge the gods recognized by the State and of introducing new and different gods" and "corrupting the youth.
Plato in the Euthyphro describes Meletus, the youngest of the three accusers, as having "a beak, and long straight hair, and a beard which is ill grown. During the first three hours of trial, Meletus and the other two accusers each mounted a small stage in the law court in the center of Athens to deliver speeches to the jury making the case for the guilt of Socrates.
No record of Meletus's speech survives. According to the partisan account of Plato in the Apology , Socrates--during his three-hour defense--entered into an exchange with Meletus and succeeded in making him appear rather dim-witted. For example, Plato reports Socrates trapping Meletus into saying "I say that you do not believe in any gods at all" and then exposes his accusation as nonsensical. Meletus' motivation in bringing charges against Socrates is a matter of considerable debate.
It may have sprung either from his religious fanaticism or his anger over Socrates's association with the Thirty Tyrants. It is also possible that he was to some degree upset with the low opinion of Socrates for poets. In Plato's Gorgias , Socrates accuses poets and orators of flattery and says that they move only women, children, and slaves. Greek historian Diogenes Laertius, writing in the first half of the third century, reported that after the execution of Socrates "Athenians felt such remorse" that they banished Meletus from their city.
This report is often questioned, however, as it is inconsistent with other earlier writings which offer no such indication of widespread regret over the jury's actions in B. Anytus, a powerful middle-class politician from a family of tanners, is generally considered to have been the driving force behind the prosecution of Socrates. Prior to his political careet in Athens, Anytus served as a general in the Peloponnesian War. He did not hold discussions on the nature of the Universe, as most of the others did.
As for himself, he was always discussing himan problems. Socrates believed that the gods know everything—word, deed, and silent thought alike—and that they were present everywhere, and that they gave signs to men about all human affairs. Kritias was the most rapacious and violent of all in the oligarchy, while Alcibiades was the most intemperate and insolent of all the democracy.
The Prosecutor also said that Socrates claimed that the only men worthy of honor were those who knew their duty and could explain what they knew. Socrates, he said, also maid the youth think that other men were of no account in comparison with himself, for he persuaded them that he was the wisest man and the most competent in making others wise.
These were his words and the deeds of his life, to which the Pythian Priestess was referring when she gave her famous answer to Chaerophon, "Of all men living, Socrates is the wisest.
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