A conversation set in the year 399 B.C.E. Although the precise date is unknown, some sources believe it was written shortly after the year in which it is set. Its author is known as "the poet" (poetes) because he wrote only verses in Ionic Greek. The poem is considered a classic in its own time and has been influential ever since. It is a dramatic monologue that describes how Socrates confronts his former friends with the evidence that they are corrupting the youth of Athens. He argues that they are doing this by trying to make them wise beyond their years by asking questions about what they know already through experience or learning. This makes them seem more important than they are and gives them an excuse to harass the young people by making them look down on them because they are not as smart as their parents or teachers. The speech was probably spoken by Socrates himself but may also have been written by someone else who wanted to show how much he/she admired him. In 399 B.C.E., just before he died, Socrates was found guilty of corrupting the youth of Athens specifically by asking questions. Because of this, he was sentenced to death by drinking the hemlock poison.