Having served with some distinction as a soldier at
Delium and Amphipolis during the Peloponnesian War,
Socrates dabbled in the political turmoil that consumed
Athens after the War, then retired from active life
to work as a stonemason and to raise his children with
his wife, Xanthippe. After inheriting a modest fortune
from his father, the sculptor Sophroniscus, Socrates
used his marginal financial independence as an opportunity
to give full-time attention to inventing the practice
of philosophical dialogue.
