Throughout the latter three texts, there is a theme of asking whether Socrates is a threat to Athenian society. This accusation has followed Socrates for decades, particularly due to Aristophanes' critique of Socrates in The Clouds. There Aristophanes portrays Socrates' rigorous questioning as crazy and leading to odd, counter-intuitive positions. Socrates corrupts Pheidippides with his questioning as a result, leading Pheidippides to attack his father, suggest attack his mother and defend the permissibility of incest. Further, Socrates rejects the existence of the Greek gods, threatening to undermine the social morality of Athens that many Greeks believe the gods themselves enforce.
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