Several of the dialogues of Plato recount the trial, sentence, and execution of Socrates, with his friends gathered around. An image of the man emerges from these dialogues showing him to be a person of fierce integrity, a man who would rather die than consider himself dishonored, and a man who charges his friends to allow him to live life as he sees fit. Even as Socrates challenges aspects of the society of Athens, he demonstrates the importance of certain values in that society both in his own person and even in the charges brought against him, however incorrect those charges may be.
Plato presents an explicit statement of the relationship between the individual and society--even an unjust society--in the form of the "Apology," the statement of Socrates to the court that finally sentences him to death. The speech represents the conflict between the power of the state and the integrity of the individual. The court gives Socrates an out if he recants his teachings, and he will not do it. Socrates represents the primary social value of inquiry, of the pursuit of philosophy, of the examination of the meaning of life. He also represents integrity, for when we inquire into the meaning of existence and develop a set of beliefs, we must live up to those beliefs. Socrates believes the unexamined life is not worth living, and if he accepts the right of the court to judge his thoughts, he has lost his integrity. Socrates is a poor man who is rich in intellect and in dedication. His followers carry on his ideas for him, and though they may want to save him, he talks them out of it because to escape would be to go against his principles.
In The Euthyphro, Socrates meets his friend Euthyphro outside the court of justice and explains how he (Socrates) has been called there to answer charges brought by Meletus, a charge Socrates explains:
A not ignoble one I think, for it is no small thing for a young man to have knowledge of ...