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II.

ANDOCIDES.

ANDOCIDES, the son of Leogoras, [and grandson of that Andocides] who once made a peace between the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians, by descent a Cydathenian or Thorian, of a noble family, and, as Hellanicus tells us, the offspring of Mercury himself, for the race of Heralds belongs to him. On this account he was chosen by the people to go with Glaucon, with twenty sail of ships, to aid the Corcyraeans against the Corinthians. But in process of time he was accused of some notorious acts of impiety, as that he was of the number of those who defaced the statues of Mercury and divulged the sacred mysteries of Ceres. And withal, he had been before this time wild and intemperate, and had once been seen in the night in masquerade to break one of the statues of Mercury; and when on his trial he refused to bring his servant to examination whom his accusers named, he not only remained under this reproach, but was also on this account very much suspected to be guilty of the second crime too. This later action was laid to his charge soon after the expedition of the navy sent by the Athenians into Sicily. For, as Cratippus informs us, when the Corinthians sent the Leontines and Egestians to the Athenians, who hesitated to lend them assistance, they in the night defaced and brake all the statues of Mercury which were erected in the market. To which offence Andocides added another, that of divulging the mysteries of Ceres. He was brought to his trial, but was acquitted on condition he would discover who were companions with him in the crime. In which affair being very diligent, he found out who they were that had been guilty, and among the rest he discovered his own father. He proved all guilty, and caused them all to be put to death except his father, whom he saved, though in prison, by a promise of some eminent service he would do to the commonwealth. Nor did he fail of what he promised; for Leogoras accused many who had acted in several matters against the interest of the commonwealth, and for this was acquitted of his own crime.

Now, though Andocides was very much esteemed of for his skill in the management of the affairs of the commonwealth, yet his inclinations led him rather to traffic by sea; and by this means he contracted friendship with the kings of Cyprus and other great princes. At which time he privily stole a damsel of the city, the daughter of Aristides, and his own niece, and sent her as a present to the king of Cyprus. But suspecting he should be called in question for it, he again stole her from Cyprus, for which the king of Cyprus took him and clapped him up in prison; whence he brake loose, and returned to Athens, just at that time when the four hundred conspirators had usurped the government. By whom being confined, he again escaped when the oligarchical government was broken up But when the Thirty Tyrants were uppermost, he withdrew to Elis, and there lived till Thrasybulus and his faction returned into the city, and then he also repaired thither. And after some time, being sent to Lacedaemon to conciliate a peace, he was again suspected to be faulty, and on that suspicion banished.

He himself has given an account of all these transactions, in his orations, which he has left behind him. For some of them contain his defence of himself in regard to the mysteries; others his petition for restoration from exile; there is one extant on Endeixis (or information laid against a criminal); also a defence against Phaeax, and one on the peace. He flourished at the same time with Socrates the philosopher. He was born in the seventy-eighth Olympiad, when Theogenides was chief magistrate of Athens, so that he should seem to be about ten years before Lysias. There is an image of Mercury, called from his name, being given by the tribe Aegeis; and it stood near the house where Andocides dwelt, and was therefore called by his name. This Andocides himself was at the charge of a cyclic chorus for the tribe Aegeis, at the performance of a dithyrambus. And having gained a victory, he erected a tripod on an ascent opposite to the tuffstone statue of Silenus. His style in his orations is plain and easy, without the least affectation or any thing of a figurative ornament.

Vitae decem oratorum. Plutarch. Boston. 1874.

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Current edition Perseus

Lives of the Ten Orators (English) (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. V. Goodwin, William W., editor; Barcroft, Charles, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.)

Editions (1)

Περὶ τῶν δέκα ἡτόρων Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol. V. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1893.) — 2 focus

Ἀνδοκίδης

[1] Ἀνδοκίδης Λεωγόρου μὲν ἦν πατρὸς τοῦ Ἀνδοκίδου τοῦ θεμένου ποτὲ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους εἰρήνην; 15 νην Ἀθηναίοις, τῶν δήμων δὲ Κυδαθήναιος ἢ Θορεύς, γένους εὐπατριδῶν, ὡς δʼ Ἑλλάνικος καὶ 834c ἀπὸ Ἑρμοῦ· καθήκει γὰρ εἰς αὐτὸν τὸ κηρύκων γένος· διὸ καὶ προεχειρίσθη ποτὲ μετὰ Γλαύκωνος σὺν ναυσὶν εἴκοσι Κερκυραίοις βοηθήσων, διαφερομένοις 20 πρὸς Κορινθίους. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα αἰτιαθεὶς ἀσεβεῖν ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς τοὺς Ἑρμᾶς περικόψας καὶ 834d εἰς τὰ τῆς Δήμητρος ἁμαρτὼν μυστήρια, κριθεὶς ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀπέφυγεν ἐπὶ τῷ μηνύσειν τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας σπουδὴν δὲ πᾶσαν εἰσενεγκάμενος ἐξεῦρε 834e τοὺς περὶ τὰ ἱερὰ ἁμαρτόντας, ἐν οἷς καὶ τὸν αὑτοῦ πατέρα ἐμήνυσε. καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους πάντας ἐλέγξας 5 ἐποίησεν ἀπολέσθαι τὸν δὲ πατέρα ἐρρύσατο, καίτοι δεδεμένον ἤδη, ὑποσχόμενος πολλὰ λυσιτελήσειν αὐτὸν τῇ πόλει· καὶ οὐκ ἐψεύσατο· ἤλεγξε γὰρ ὁ Λεωγόρας πολλοὺς δημόσια χρήματα σφετεριζομένους καὶ ἄλλα τινὰ ἀδικοῦντας. καὶ διὰ μὲν ταῦτα 10 ἀφείθη τῆς· αἰτίας· οὐκ εὐδοκιμῶν δʼ ὁ· Ἀνδοκίδης ἐπὶ τοῖς πολιτευομένοις ἐπέθετο ναυκληρίᾳ,καὶ τοῖς τε Κυπρίων βασιλεῦσι καὶ πολλοῖς ἄλλοις δοκίμοις ἐπεξενώθη ὅτε καὶ μίαν τῶν πολιτίδων, Ἀριστείδου θυγατέρα, ἀνεψιὰν οὖσαν αὐτῷ, λάθρα τῶν οἰκείων 834f ἐξαγαγὼν ἔπεμψε δῶρον τῷ Κυπρίων βασιλεῖ. μέλλων δʼ ἐπὶ τούτοις εἰς δικαστήριον εἰσάγεσθαι πάλιν αὐτὴν ἐξέκλεψεν ἀπὸ τῆς Κύπρου, καὶ ληφθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐδέθη· διαδρὰς δʼ ἧκεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, 5 καθʼ ὃν χρόνον οἱ τετρακόσιοι διεῖπον τὰ πράγματα· δεθεὶς δʼ ὑπὸ τούτων καὶ διαφυγών, αὖθις ὁπότε κατελύθη ἡ ὀλιγαρχία, ἐξέπεσε τῆς πόλεως, τῶν τριάκοντα τὴν ἀρχὴν παραλαβόντων. οἰκήσας δὲ 835a τὸν τῆς φυγῆς χρόνον ἐν Ἤλιδι, κατελθόντων τῶν 10 περὶ Θρασύβουλον, καὶ αὐτὸς ἧκεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. πεμφθεὶς δὲ περὶ τῆς εἰρήνης εἰς Λακεδαίμονα καὶ δόξας ἀδικεῖν ἔφυγε. δηλοῖ δὲ περὶ πάντων ἐν τοῖς λόγοις οἷς συγγέγραφεν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀπολογουμένου περὶ τῶν μυστηρίων εἰσίν, οἱ δὲ καθόδου δεομένου. 15 σῴζεται δʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁ περὶ τῆς ἐνδείξεως λόγος καὶ Ἀπολογία πρὸς Φαίακα καὶ περὶ τῆς εἰρήνης. καὶ ἤκμακε μὲν κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον ἅμα Σωκράτει τῷ φιλοσόφῳ· ἀρχὴ δʼ αὐτῷ τῆς γενέσεως ὀλυμπιὰς μὲν ἑβδομηκοστὴ ὀγδόη, ἄρχων δʼ Ἀθήνησι 20 Θεογενίδης· ὥστʼ εἶναι πρεσβύτερον αὐτὸν Λυσίου 835b ἔτεσί που ἑκατόν. τούτου δʼ ἐπώνυμός ἐστι καὶ Ἑρμῆς ὁ Ἀνδοκίδου καλούμενος, ἀνάθημα μὲν ὢν φυλῆς Αἰγηίδος, ἐπικληθεὶς δʼ Ἀνδοκίδου διὰ τὸ πλησίον παροικῆσαι τὸν Ἀνδοκίδην. καὶ αὐτὸς δʼ ἐχορήγησε κυκλίῳ χορῷ τῇ αὑτοῦ φυλῇ ἀγωνιζομένῃ διθυράμβῳ, καὶ νικήσας ἀνέθηκε τρίποδα ἐφʼ ὑψηλοῦ ἀντικρὺ τοῦ πωρίνου Σειληνοῦ. ἔστι δʼ ἁπλοῦς καὶ ἀκατάσκευος ἐν τοῖς λόγοις, ἀφελής τε καὶ 5 ἀσχημάτιστος.

Translations (1)

The Lives of the Ten Orators Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. X. Fowler, Harold North, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 2 focus

II.

ANDOCIDES

Andocides was the son of Leogoras, son of that Andocides who once made peace between the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians¹; he was as regards his deme a Cydathenian or a Thorian² and was descended from nobles, and even, according to Hellanicus,³ from Hermes; for the race of heralds traces its origin to him. On this account, too, he was once chosen along with Glaucon to go with twenty ships to aid the Corcyraeans who were embroiled with the Corinthians.⁴ And after this he was accused of impiety as being one of those who mutilated the Hermae⁵ and as profaning the mysteries of Demeter [because at an earlier time he was dissipated and in a nocturnal revel had broken one of the images of the god, and when he was indicted refused to surrender the slave whom his accusers were looking for, so that he gained a bad name and was suspected and accused in the second suit also, which was brought shortly after the expedition went to Sicily, when the Corinthians sent in men from Leontini and Egesta and, as the Athenians hesitated about aiding them privately, they mutilated the Hermae about the market-place, as Cratippus says, and profaned the mysteries besides]. At his trial on these charges he was acquitted on condition that he should inform against the wrongdoers. He exerted himself greatly and discovered those who were guilty of the sacrilege, among whom he informed against his own father. And he brought about the conviction and death of all the others, but saved his father, although he had already been put in prison, by promising that he would be of great service to the city. And he kept his promise; for Leogoras caused the conviction of many men who were embezzling public funds and committing other misdeeds. And for these reasons he was acquitted of the charge.

But Andocides, since his reputation in public life was not good, took to merchandising and became a friend of the Cypriote kings and many other men of note, at which time he abducted a girl of Athenian birth, daughter of Aristeides and his own niece, without the knowledge of her family, and sent her as a gift to the King of Cyprus. Then, when he was to be brought to trial for this, he stole her back again from Cyprus and was caught and put in prison by the king; but he ran away and came back to Athens at the time when the Four Hundred were in control of affairs. He was put in prison by them, but escaped, and again, when the oligarchy was overthrown, he was banished from the city after the Thirty had taken over the government. He spent the period of his exile in Elis, but when Thrasybulus and his band returned,⁶ he also returned to the city. He was sent to Lacedaemon to negotiate a peace, but was suspected of wrongdoing⁷ and banished. He gives information about all this in the speeches which he wrote; for some of them he composed in his defence in the matter of the mysteries, and others when he was asking to be allowed to return home. There is also extant his speech On the Indictment, also the Defence against Phaeax and the speech On the Peace. He flourished at the same time as Socrates the philosopher; the date of his birth was the seventy-eighth Olympiad, when Theogenides was archon⁸ at Athens, so that he was about ten years older⁹ than Lysias. The Hermes called the Hermes of Andocides is named after him. It is a dedication of the tribe Aegeis and is called Hermes of Andocides because Andocides lived near it. He himself supplied the chorus for his tribe¹⁰ when it was competing in a dithyrambic contest, and he gained the victory, for which he set up a tripod on a high spot opposite the limestone Silenus. He is simple and free from artifice in his orations, plain and employing no figures of speech.

Plutarch Vitae decem oratorum 2

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Ἀνδοκίδης

II.

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