The Death of Socrates - Framed CanvasThey said: renounce your beliefs or die. Socrates said: pour the hemlock. Athens had convicted Socrates of corrupting the youth. He could have fled. He chose to stay, drink the poison, and spend his final moments still teaching. Jacques Louis David painted this in 1787, two years before the French Revolution. Socrates sits upright, reaching for the cup, index finger raised toward the sky. His students weep. He does not. Canvas print reproduction,