The painting was completed in 1787, two years before the “start” of the Revolution. One message the painting portrays is martyrdom. Socrates was famously a martyr for his beliefs and was sentenced to death by the Athens government. David is supporting the principle that individuals should be able to speak out and act against a corrupt or oppressive government and that freedom was the ability to think and act for yourself. In this way he was clearly a supporter of revolutionary principles.