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Socrates assumes that there is one essential nature of piety that includes whatever is pious. He believed this so much that he was willing to die to let his message live. The important question Socrates is asking is whether God is more powerful, or the act of being good or holy is more powerful. In The Trial and Death of Socrates, Socrates asks, “Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?” (Line 10a). This ambiguous quote questions sound almost identical, however they are very different in many different aspects. For example God loves Mother Teresa, is it because she is good, or is she good because God loves her? Does the piety of the action or God’s loving the action make it pious? If it is the piety of the action then God’s loving of the action make it pious. If it is the piety of the action, then God’s loving an act does not make it pious, but is only a characteristic of piety. This is philosophically significant because it is asking, is one being loved by the good merely an accomplishment in someone being good or holy, or is someone being good or holy the essence of goodness and holiness already.
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