Περὶ τοῦ Ἡρῷδου φόνου

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Yunanca Yunanca

25 Those are the facts; now draw the logical conclusions. First, in the interval before I put to sea for Aenus, when Herodes was missing, not a soul accused me, although the prosecution had already heard the news; otherwise I should never have taken my departure. For the moment the true facts of the matter were too much for any charge which they could bring; and, moreover, I was still on the island. It was not until I had resumed my voyage, and the prosecution had conspired to form this plot of theirs upon my life, that they made their accusation.

26 Their story is that it was on the shore that Herodes was killed, and that I, who did not leave the boat at all, struck him upon the head with a stone. Yet while they have detailed information of this, they cannot give any plausible account of how the man came to disappear. Clearly, the probabilities suggest that the crime was committed somewhere in the neighborhood of the harbor. On the one hand, Herodes was drunk; and on the other hand, it was at night that he left the boat. He probably would not have been in a condition to control his own movements, nor could anyone who wished to take him a long way off by night have found any plausible excuse for doing so.