§2.1ὅτι μὲν βραχεῖς τοὺς λόγους ἐποιήσαντο, οὐ θαυμάζω αὐτῶν· οὐ γὰρ ὡς μὴ πάθωσιν ὁ κίνδυνος αὐτοῖς ἐστιν, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἐμὲ μὴ δικαίως διʼ ἔχθραν διαφθείρωσιν.
That they made their speeches short does not surprise me; for their danger is not that they might suffer harm, but how they may unjustly destroy me out of enmity.
ὅτι δʼ ἐξισοῦν τοῖς μεγίστοις ἐγκλήμασιν ἤθελον τὸ πρᾶγμα, οὗ ὁ ἀποθανὼν αὑτῷ αἴτιος καὶ μᾶλλον ἢ ἐγὼ ἐγένετο, εἰκότως ἂν ἀγανακτεῖν μοι δοκῶ.
But that they wished to make this matter equal to the greatest crimes—of which the deceased was the cause to himself even more than I was—I think I may naturally feel indignant.
ἄρχων γὰρ χειρῶν ἀδίκων, καὶ παροινῶν εἰς ἄνδρα πολὺ αὑτοῦ σωφρονέστερον, οὐχ αὑτῷ μόνον τῆς συμφορᾶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐμοὶ αἴτιος τοῦ ἐγκλήματος γέγονεν.
For by starting unjust violence, and acting in a drunken rage against a man much more self-controlled than himself, he became the cause of the disaster not only to himself, but also of the charge to me.
§2.2οἶμαι μὲν οὖν ἔγωγε οὔτε δίκαια τούτους οὔθʼ ὅσια δρᾶν ἐγκαλοῦντας ἐμοί.
I indeed think that these men act neither justly nor piously in accusing me.
τὸν γὰρ ἄρξαντα τῆς πληγῆς, εἰ μὲν σιδήρῳ ἢ λίθῳ ἢ ξύλῳ ἠμυνάμην αὐτόν, ἠδίκουν μὲν οὐδʼ οὕτως—οὐ γὰρ ταὐτὰ ἀλλὰ μείζονα καὶ πλείονα δίκαιοι οἱ ἄρχοντες ἀντιπάσχειν εἰσίν· —ταῖς δὲ χερσὶ τυπτόμενος ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, ταῖς χερσὶν ἅπερ ἔπασχον ἀντιδρῶν, πότερα ἠδίκουν;
For as to the one who started the blows, even if I had defended myself against him with iron, stone, or wood, I would not even so have been acting unjustly—for those who start violence are justly bound to suffer in return not the same, but greater and more abundant things;—but since I was struck by his hands and reacted with my hands to the very things I was suffering, did I act unjustly?
§2.3εἶεν· ἐρεῖ δέ, “ἀλλʼ ὁ νόμος εἴργων μήτε δικαίως μήτε ἀδίκως ἀποκτείνειν ἔνοχον τοῦ φόνου τοῖς ἐπιτιμίοις ἀποφαίνει σε ὄντα· ὁ γὰρ ἀνὴρ τέθνηκεν. ” ἐγὼ δὲ δεύτερον καὶ τρίτον οὐκ ἀποκτεῖναί φημι.
Very well; but he will say, "Yet the law, by forbidding to kill either justly or unjustly, declares you liable to the penalties of murder; for the man is dead." But I, for a second and third time, declare that I did not kill him.
εἰ μὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν πληγῶν ὁ ἀνὴρ παραχρῆμα ἀπέθανεν, ὑπʼ ἐμοῦ μὲν δικαίως δʼ ἂν ἐτεθνήκει—οὐ γὰρ ταὐτὰ ἀλλὰ μείζονα καὶ πλείονα οἱ ἄρξαντες δίκαιοι ἀντιπάσχειν εἰσί· — §2.4νῦν δὲ πολλαῖς ἡμέραις ὕστερον μοχθηρῷ ἰατρῷ ἐπιτρεφθεὶς διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἰατροῦ μοχθηρίαν καὶ οὐ διὰ τὰς πληγὰς ἀπέθανε.
For if the man had died immediately from the blows, he would have died by my hands, yet justly—for those who start violence are justly bound to suffer in return not the same, but greater and more abundant things;— but as it is, many days later, having been entrusted to an incompetent doctor, he died because of the doctor's incompetence and not because of the blows.
προλεγόντων γὰρ αὐτῷ τῶν ἄλλων ἰατρῶν, εἰ ταύτην τὴν θεραπείαν θεραπεύσοιτο, ὅτι ἰάσιμος ὢν διαφθαρήσοιτο, διʼ ὑμᾶς τοὺς συμβούλους διαφθαρεὶς ἐμοὶ ἀνόσιον ἔγκλημα προσέβαλεν.
For though other doctors warned him beforehand that if he should undergo this treatment, he would be destroyed even though he was curable, he was destroyed because of you, his advisers, and cast an unholy charge upon me.
§2.5ἀπολύει δέ με καὶ ὁ νόμος καθʼ ὃν διώκομαι. τὸν γὰρ ἐπιβουλεύσαντα κελεύει φονέα εἶναι.
And the very law under which I am prosecuted also acquits me; for it commands that the one who planned the deed is the murderer.
ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν πῶς ἂν ἐπιβουλεύσαιμι αὐτῷ ὅ τι μὴ καὶ ἐπεβουλεύθην ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ;
How then could I have planned against him anything that I did not also have planned against me by him?
τοῖς γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἀμυνόμενος αὐτὸν καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ δρῶν ἅπερ ἔπασχον, σαφὲς ὃτι τὰ αὐτὰ ἐπεβούλευσα καὶ ἐπεβουλεύθην.
For since I defended myself against him with the same means and did the same things I was suffering, it is clear that I planned and was planned against in the same way.
§2.6εἰ δέ τις ἐκ τῶν πληγῶν τὸν θάνατον οἰόμενος γενέσθαι φονέα με αὐτοῦ ἡγεῖται εἶναι, ἀντιλογισάσθω ὅτι διὰ τὸν ἄρξαντα αἱ πληγαὶ γενόμεναι τοῦτον αἴτιον τοῦ θανάτου καὶ οὐκ ἐμὲ ἀποφαίνουσιν ὄντα· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἠμυνάμην μὴ τυπτόμενος ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ.
But if anyone, thinking that the death arose from the blows, considers me to be his murderer, let him reckon in return that the blows, having occurred because of the one who started them, show him to be the cause of the death and not me; for I would not have defended myself had I not been struck by him.
ἀπολυόμενος δὲ ὑπό τε τοῦ νόμου ὑπό τε τοῦ ἄρξαντος τῆς πληγῆς, ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδενὶ τρόπῳ φονεὺς αὐτοῦ εἰμι, ὁ δὲ ἀποθανών, εἰ μὲν ἀτυχίᾳ τέθνηκεν, τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ἀτυχία κέχρηται—ἠτύχησε γὰρ ἄρξας τῆς πληγῆς—εἰ δʼ ἀβουλία τινί, τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ἀβουλίᾳ διέφθαρται· οὐ γὰρ εὖ φρονῶν ἔτυπτέ με.
And being acquitted both by the law and by the one who started the blows, I am in no way his murderer, while the deceased, if he died by misfortune, met with his own misfortune—for he was unfortunate in starting the blows—and if by some folly, he was destroyed by his own folly; for he was not in his right mind when he struck me.
§2.7ὡς μὲν οὖν οὐ δικαίως κατηγοροῦμαι, ἐπιδέδεικταί μοι·
That I am unjustly accused has therefore been demonstrated by me.
ἐθέλω δὲ τοὺς κατηγοροῦντάς μου πᾶσιν οἷς ἐγκαλοῦσιν ἐνόχους αὐτοὺς ὄντας ἀποδεῖξαι.
But I wish to show that my accusers themselves are liable to all the things they charge me with.
καθαρῷ μέν μοι τῆς αἰτίας ὄντι φόνον ἐπικαλοῦντες, ἀποστεροῦντες δέ με τοῦ βίου ὃν ὁ θεὸς παρέδωκέ μοι, περὶ τὸν θεὸν ἀσεβοῦσιν· ἀδίκως δὲ θάνατον ἐπιβουλεύοντες τά τε νόμιμα συγχέουσι φονῆς τέ μου γίγνονται· ἀνοσίως δʼ ἀποκτεῖναι ὑμᾶς με πείθοντες καὶ τῆς ὑμετέρας εὐσεβείας †αὐτοὶ φονῆς† εἰσί.
By accusing me of murder when I am clear of the blame, and by depriving me of the life which God delivered to me, they commit impiety against God; by unjustly planning my death, they subvert the laws and become my murderers; and by impiously persuading you to put me to death, they themselves are the murderers of your piety.
§2.8τούτοις μὲν οὖν ὁ θεὸς ἐπιθείη τὴν δίκην· ὑμᾶς δὲ χρὴ τὸ ὑμέτερον σκοποῦντας ἀπολῦσαί με μᾶλλον ἢ καταλαβεῖν βούλεσθαι.
Upon these men, therefore, may God impose the penalty; but you must consider your own interest and wish to acquit me rather than to condemn me.
ἀδίκως μὲν γὰρ ἀπολυθείς, διὰ τὸ μὴ ὀρθῶς ὑμᾶς διδαχθῆναι ἀποφυγών, τοῦ μὴ διδάξαντος καὶ οὐχ ὑμέτερον τὸν προστρόπαιον τοῦ ἀποθανόντος καταστήσω· μὴ ὀρθῶς δὲ καταληφθεὶς ὑφʼ ὑμῶν, ὑμῖν καὶ οὐ τούτῳ τὸ μήνιμα τῶν ἀλιτηρίων προστρέψομαι.
For if I am unjustly acquitted, having escaped because you were not correctly informed, I shall make the avenging spirit of the deceased haunt the one who failed to inform you, and not you; but if I am incorrectly condemned by you, I shall direct the anger of the avenging spirits against you and not against him.
§2.9ταῦτʼ οὖν εἰδότες, τουτοισὶ τὸ ἀσέβημα τοῦτο ἀναθέντες, αὐτοί τε καθαροὶ τῆς αἰτίας γένεσθε, ἐμέ τε ὁσίως καὶ δικαίως ἀπολύετε· οὕτω γὰρ ἂν καθαρώτατοι πάντες οἱ πολῖται εἴημεν.
Knowing these things, therefore, and laying this impiety upon these men, make yourselves clean of the blame, and acquit me piously and justly; for in this way all we citizens would be most clean.