(This could partly explain why he was poor: He wasn't earning a living.) The thing he liked to do most was to ask people (those he knew and those he didn't) fundamental questions, like 'What is justice?' or 'What is truth?' To the answers the people gave, Socrates would add more questions, until a logical case could be made that the people knew far less than they thought they did about things. He seems to have spent most of his time in the agora, or marketplace, discussing all sorts of things. When he grew older, however, he came to hate money and what it did to people. He also fought in several major battles in the Peloponnesian War, in one case saving the life of Alcibiades, who would later be one of the leaders of the Athens military machine. These soldiers had to buy their own armor, so Socrates must have had some money, although he certainly wasn't rich. His wife was named Xanthippe his sons were Lamprocles, Sophroniscus, and Menexenus. Extremely little is known about his early life. From other writings as well, the following summary of Socrates' life can be built:

The best source for the thoughts and deeds of Socrates is probably the Dialogues of Plato, a student of the great teacher. He didn't talk about himself much, either. It was not the custom in those days to write much of anything, and Socrates himself didn't write down much at all. We know more about him from what other people said and wrote than from what he himself recorded. Socrates was a famous philosopher in ancient Greece. Part 2: The Case Against Him Part 3: His Trial and His Death

The life and death of socrates by plato