L FORMATION 0V ANDOKIDES. 2(Ki closure of ail that he knew, in order to preserve the lives of so many innocent persons, his immediate kinsmen, as well as tc rescue the city out of a feverish alarm not to be endured. " You know (he said) all that passed about the mutilation of the Her- man, and your silence will now bring destruction not only upon yourself, but also upon your father and upon all of us ; while if you inform, whether you have been an actor in the scene or not, you will obtain impunity for yourself and us, and at the same time soothe the terrors of the city." Such instances on the part of Charmides, 1 aided by the supplications of the other prisoners present, overcame the reluctance of Andokides to become in- former, and he next day made his disclosures to the senate. " Euphiletus (he said) was the chief author of the mutilation of the Hermoe. He proposed the deed at a convivial party where I was present, but I denounced it in the strongest manner and refused all compliance. Presently, I broke my collar-bone, and injured my head, by a fall from a young horse, so badly as to be confined to my bed ; when Euphiletus took the opportunity of my absence to assure the rest of the company falsely that I had consented, and that I had agreed to cut the Hermes near my pa- ternal house, which the tribe -ZEgei's have dedicated. Accordingly, they executed the project, while I was incapable of moving, without my knowledge : they presumed that /would undertake the mutilation of this particular Hermes, and you see that this is the only one in all Athens which has escaped injury. When the conspirators ascertained that I had not been a party, Euphi- letus and Meletus threatened me with a terrible revenge unless I observed silence : to which I replied that it was not I, but their own crime, which had brought them into danger." Having recounted this tale, in substance, to the senate, Andok- ides tendered his slaves, both male and female, to be tortured, in order that they might confirm his story that he was in his bed and unable to leave it, on the night when the Herma3 were mu- tilated. It appears that the torture was actually applied (accord- ing to the custom so cruelly frequent at Athens in the case of 1 Plutarch (Alkib. c. 21) states that the person who thin addressed him- self to, and persuaded Andokides, was named Tim sens. From whom ho
?rot the latter name, we do not know.
