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[17]
Now no one, unless mad, could be ignorant of all these circumstances together; nor yet,
obviously, of （l） the agent—for a man must know who he is
himself. But a man may be ignorant of （2） what he is doing, as for
instance when people say ‘it slipped out while they were speaking,’ or
‘they were not aware that the matter was a secret,’ as Aeschylus said
of the Mysteries1; or that ‘they let it off
when they only meant to show how it worked’ as the prisoner pleaded in the
catapult case. Again （3） a person might mistake his son for an enemy, as
Merope does2; or （4） mistake a sharp spear for one with a button
on it, or a heavy stone for a pumice-stone; or （5） one might kill a man
by giving him medicine with the intention of saving his life; or （6） in
loose wrestling3 hit him a blow when
meaning only to grip his hand.
1 Aeschylus was accused before the Areopagus of having divulged the Mysteries of Demeter in certain of his tragedies, but was acquitted. A phrase of his, ‘It came to my mouth,’ became proverbial （Plat. Rep. 563c, etc.）, and he may have used it on this occasion.
2 In the lost Cresphontes of Euripides.
3 A style of wrestling in which the adversaries only gripped each other's hands without closing.
Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 19, translated by H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1934.
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