Antiphon and Andocides

2. On His Return

2. ON HIS RETURN The speech On His Return, though placed second in the principal manuscript of Andocides, is earlier in date thanOn the Mysteries. After going into exile in 415 bc Andocides made his first attempt to return to Athens in 411. Thinking that the best way to persuade the Athenians to forgive him was to do them some service, he obtained some Macedonian timber for oar-spars and sold it at cost to the Athenian fleet then stationed at Samos. He went on from there to Athens, hoping to receive pardon for his activities in 415, but he found that he had arrived at the wrong moment. The oligarchy of Four Hundred, headed by Peisander, had just seized power, and was repudiated by the democratic sailors at Samos, so that Andocides’ good turn to the fleet was taken as a hostile act towards the Four Hundred. So far from rewarding him, Peisander had him imprisoned. Eventually, perhaps at the downfall of the Four Hundred, he was released, but he had to go into exile again. Some time after the restoration of democracy in 410 he made another attempt. He came to Athens and persuaded the Prytaneis to allow him to address the Assembly . This was the speech On His Return. The exact date of the speech is not known, but it must be between 410 and 405. It is notable that in this speech he is more inclined to admit some guilt than in On the Mysteries a few years later: for example, he speaks of ‘‘my own youthfulness and folly’’ (7); he says ‘‘a very small part of the blame was mine’’ (8), and ‘‘I was in disgrace with the gods’’ (15). But these admissions are in vague terms, and he gives no precise account of what he has done. The main point of the speech is to claim that, through his good offices, a large number of grainships will shortly reach Athens from Cyprus, and that this should be regarded as compensation for his past errors. But it seems that this was not enough to win the Athenians’ favor. He had to go into exile once again, and was not able to return to Athens permanently until 403. 2 [1] On any other subject, gentlemen, I shouldn’t think it at all surprising if the speakers didn’t all express the same opinion. But when it’s a case of my doing a service to Athens—or if some less worthy person than myself wanted to do one—it seems to me quite extraordinary if one person is in favor and another not, and they’re not unanimous. If the city belongs to all its citizens, surely services done to the city belong to them all too. [2] Well, you can see some men are already taking this very strange course, while others soon will. I simply can’t understand why they flare up so strangely if you’re to get the advantage of some service of mine. They must be either the stupidest men in the world or the city’s worst enemies. If they think the prosperity of Athens would benefit their own private business, it’s very stupid of them now to press for what is contrary to their own interests. [3] But if they consider that their own interests are not the same as the public interest, they must be enemies of Athens. In fact when I made a report to the Council in secret session about actions which will be of the greatest possible advantage to the city if they’re carried out, and gave the Councilors clear proof of them, though some of these men were present, none of them was able then to disprove anything I said, and neither was anyone else; but now they’re trying to discredit me here. [4] This shows they aren’t doing it of their own accord, or they’d have opposed me straightaway on that occasion. They’re instigated by other men, such as do exist in Athens, who wouldn’t for anything allow you to receive any benefit from me. Those men don’t dare to come forward in public and make a statement in person on the subject, because they’re afraid of being shown up as unpatriotic. They send other men in as their agents, men who are already so brazen that they don’t care how much they insult people or get insulted. [5] All...