1
The systematic and untiring efforts of my enemies, gentlemen, to do me every possible injury, by fair means or by foul, from the very moment of my arrival in this city,Four years earlier, in 403. are known to almost all of you, and it is unnecessary for me to pursue the subject. Instead, I shall make a request of you, gentlemen, a fair request, which it is as easy for you to grant as it is valuable for me to gain.Much of 1, 6, 7 and 9 consists of loci communes which recur in Lysias and Isocrates. Both they and Andocides were making use of the same handbook of proems.
2
First, I ask you to bear in mind that it is not because I have been forced to face my trial that I am here today—I have not been on bail, nor have I been kept in confinement.This was not customary in a case of ἔνδειξις. The accused, if a citizen, was usually given the choice of furnishing sureties (ἐγγυηταί) or suffering imprisonment until the case came into court. Possibly it was felt that the conditions in the present instance were exceptional and that Andocides should be allowed the opportunity of quitting Attica if he so desired. I am here, first and foremost because I rely upon justice and secondly because I rely upon you; I believe that you will decide my case impartially and, far sooner than allow my enemies to defy justice by taking my life, will uphold justice by protecting me, as your laws and your oaths as jurors require you to do.
3
With defendants who face a trial of their own free will, gentlemen, it stands to reason that you should feel as convinced of their innocence as they do themselves. When a defendant admits himself guilty by refusing to await trial, you naturally endorse the verdict which he has passed upon himself; so it follows that if a man is prepared to face his trial because his conscience is clear, you should let his verdict upon himself determine your own in the same way, instead of presuming him guilty.
