Andocides On his Return 6 [andoc. 2.6]



[5] The entire strength of their case against me, one finds, lies in their
taunting me at every turn with my misfortunes; and that too when their
listeners know better than they, so that not a word which they have uttered
can bring them any true credit.

To my mind, gentlemen, he was a wise man who first said that every human
being is born to meet with good fortune and with bad; that to make a
mistake is to meet with great ill fortune:
[6] and that while those who make the fewest mistakes are the luckiest,
those who repent of them soonest show most good sense. Nor is this the
peculiar lot of some men only; it is the common fate of humanity to make
mistakes and suffer misfortune. So do but remember the frailty of man in
passing judgement upon me, gentlemen, and your feelings for me will be more
kindly. Indeed I do not deserve ill-will so much as sympathy for the past.
[7] Owing to -- shall I say my own youthful folly, or the influence of
others who persuaded me into such a piece of madness? -- I was luckless
enough to be forced to choose between two of the most painful alternatives
imaginable. On the one hand, I could refuse to disclose the authors of the
outrage. In that case I not only trembled for my own fate, but caused the
death of my father, who was entirely innocent, as well as my own -- he was
inevitably doomed, if I refused to speak. On the other hand, I could
purchase my own life and liberty and avoid becoming my father's murderer --
and what would a man not bring himself to do to escape that? -- but only by
turning informer.