And as they were just on the point of exhorting one another to begin their work, somebody smote one of them on the head with a sword and laid him low, whereupon neither he who had struck the blow nor the companion of him who had received it kept his place; but the one, with his sword still in his hand, fled to a lofty rock and sprang upon it, while the other laid hold of the altar and begged immunity from Timoleon on the condition of his revealing everything. And when he had obtained his request, he testified against himself and against his dead comrade that they had been sent to kill Timoleon.
Edition :
Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives. with an English Translation by. Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. 6.
Remark :
topology: The topology is given in 16.3. motive: The motive is revenge for the murder of the perpetrator's father by the hands of the dead assassin. Therefore we can assume a social motive as well because of the implied social expectation to avenge one's father. This is mentioned in 16.5. titel: The reward is mentioned in 16.6.
