ἄλλος τόπος ὡς ἐστὶν ἁμάρτημα ἢ ἀτύχημα ἢ (15) ἀναγκαῖον,
οἷον Σοφοκλῆς ἔφη τρέμειν οὐχ ὡς ὁ διαβάλ(16)λων ἔφη, ἵνα δοκῇ γέρων, ἀλλ’ ἐξ ἀνάγκης· οὐ γὰρ ἑκόντι (17) εἶναι αὑτῷ ἔτη ὀγδοήκοντα.
καὶ ἀντικαταλλάττεσθαι τὸ (18) οὗ ἕνεκα, ὅτι οὐ βλάψαι ἐβούλετο ἀλλὰ τόδε, καὶ οὐ τοῦτο (19) ὃ διεβάλλετο ποιῆσαι, συνέβη δὲ βλαβῆναι· “δίκαιον δὲ (20) μισεῖν, εἰ ὅπως τοῦτο γένηται ἐποίουν.”
Or you may admit the wrong, but balance it with other facts, and say that, if the deed harmed him, at any rate it was honourable; or that, if it gave him pain, at least it did him good; or something else like that.
Another way is to allege that your action was due to mistake, or bad luck, or necessity
as Sophocles said he was not trembling, as his traducer maintained, in order to make people think him an old man, but because he could not help it; he would rather not be eighty years old.