Alkibiades

“ One day, perhaps, he might do something. He might even save his hero’s life. Perhaps he might—best of all—show his affection by giving his life for him. He had both his wishes.
It was mid October before Alkibiades reached the mainland of the Peloponnesos. The people, when they heard who it was, went down in crowds to meet him. He made a triumphant entry into Elis, where, too, the people thronged to see the far-famed conqueror at the Olympic games, as though he had been some mythic hero of antiquity, who had come in this disguise to visit them, greater in disgrace than most men in prosperity. ”

“ On hearing of this attack, Alkibiades set sail from Kardia, doubled the Chersonesos, passed up the Hellespont, cleverly eluding the Spartan look-out at Abydos, and, on a dark, rainy night anchored off the island of Prokonnesos. Next day he assembled his men on shore, taking care that the enemy should have no intelligence of his arrival, and animated them by a stirring harangue.
Though inferior in strength, they must, he said, fight at once. Delay would be ruin to them, as they could expect no more help from Athens, while the Lakedaimonians were fed and paid by their rich allies. ”

“ The tug and tussle of the old engagements, where man grappled with man, and the final victory depended more on the individual skill and courage of a few, is gone. Alkibiades rushed headlong into the fray. It was his first experience of real war. Forgetting everything in his excitement but the antagonists before him, he found the noblest and strongest youths among the foe, and astonished many on both sides as he felled opponents in his impetuosity. ”

“ Once, when Alkibiades had made a successful speech in the public assembly, and was being conducted home in triumph by his friends, Timon the misanthrope met him, and did not get out of his way, as he did to every one else, but came up to him and took him by the hand, saying, "Go on, my boy, increase in glory; for your increase will bring ruin to all this crowd." ”

“ No, Alkibiades shall not be carried like a fly caught by a spider to its hole, there to be executed at his captors’ will. Life is pleasant, and we have yet a greater name to make. We shall put in at Thurii, I expect. ”

“ He was the subordinate colleague of Alkibiades in the Hellespont. Under him he had fought, and commanded a division of the fleet with ability, and bravely attacked, and helped to repulse, the Persians on shore at Kyzikos. He returned with Alkibiades to Athens. But so great was the enthusiasm of the people for the greater hero that they had overlooked the smaller one, and he had been allowed to land unnoticed.
Besides the oligarchic enemies of the absent strategos there were other enemies of greater influence among the people, the fanatic demagogues and wily orators. ”

“ Alkibiades, who at one time had imagined, and hoped for, the possibility of a peace with Sparta, the home of many of his ancestors, and, indeed, had endeavoured to bring it about, now saw the hopelessness of ever being able to trust such a people. He also foresaw the strength it would bring to Athens, the perils it would save her from, if her future policy were alliance with Argos against Sparta. ”

“ I. The pedigree of Alkibiades is said to begin with Eurysakes the son of Ajax, while on the mother's side he descended from Alkmaeon, being the son of Deinomache, the daughter of Megakles. His father Kleinias fought bravely at Artemisium in a trireme fitted out at his own expense, and subsequently fell fighting the Boeotians, in the battle of Koronea. Alkibiades after this was entrusted to Perikles and Ariphron, the two sons of Xanthippus, who acted as his guardians because they were the next of kin. ”

“ But neither was Alkibiades willing that all the terms of the propounded treaty should be accepted. He distrusted Peisandros, and despised the wretched Phrynichos. He did not believe in an oligarchic government for Athens. Much as he longed to get back home again, he would not go there but with honour. Little as the people deserved his care and sympathy, he declined to inflict further punishment upon them. ”

“ It seemed therefore to Alkibiades that it would both honour the gods and increase his own reputation among men, if he restored the ancient form of this ceremony, escorting the procession with his troops and protecting it from the enemy; for he argued that Agis would lose prestige if he did not attack, but allowed the procession to pass unmolested, whereas if he did attack, Alkibiades would be able to fight in a holy cause, in defence of the most sacred institutions of his country, with all his countrymen present as witnesses of his own valour. ”

“ The cavalry rode right up to them, calling to the Athenians to come out and fight them. The Keramik gate suddenly opened, and as if still instinct with the life that Alkibiades had breathed into their souls, his horsemen charged the enemy, and drove them off. Next day the Athenian hoplites marched out, and took their stand before the walls. Agis attacked them in vain, and, covered by the archers and peltasts from the walls, the hoplites did some execution on the invading army. The Spartan Agis thought it wiser for the present to return to his fortress at Dekeleia. ”

“ Friends and foes alike strove who could give him warmest welcome. None could keep at home on such a day. The people were seized with a joyful madness, like a troop of Bacchanals.
Afterwards, when enthusiasm had quieted, as all enthusiasms will in time, Pyromachos, the sculptor, was ordered by the city to design that wonderful bronze statue of Alkibiades, which represents him in a life-like attitude, himself driving the four-horse chariot with those noble animals by whose aid he won the chief prize at the ninetieth of the Olympic celebrations. ”

“ But Alkibiades cared less than heretofore for the gay society of his companions. He would often rather sit and learn, answering the perpetual questionings by which the sage, humblest of men himself, would show how ignorant men are, how puffed up only by conceit of knowledge, how appearances are taken by them for realities, how even those who pass for the wisest of mankind, when brought to book, give but the poorest explanation of the simplest things, how those only are truly wise who know their utter, necessary ignorance. ”

“ So Alkibiades, when he was thirteen, was taken by his paidagogos, Zopyros, from his mother’s house to live in the bustle and excitement of the great establishment of Perikles.
The brave Deinomaché tried hard to shed no tear as her son went off. ‘Better,’ she said, ‘for you, my child, to learn to lead the people, or to be a soldier like your father, with such a one as my kinsman Perikles, than to waste your boyhood here amongst old women.’ And indeed it did seem time some stronger will than his fond mother’s should rule the ardent, sometimes overbearing, boy. ”

“ The people cheered and applauded him, at which he was so much delighted as to forget a quail which he had in his cloak. When it escaped and ran about bewildered, the Athenians applauded all the more, and many rose and chased it. It was caught by the pilot Antiochus, who restored it, and became one of Alkibiades's greatest friends. Starting with great advantages from his noble birth, his wealth, his recognised bravery in battle, and his many friends and relatives, he relied upon nothing so much as on his eloquence for making himself popular and influential. ”

“ A strong wind which had rendered the landing difficult, and made the anchorage of the ships precarious, was blowing from the south as these horsemen rode down from the high ground to the spot where Alkibiades and his men now stood at bay, prepared to receive the charge and to die like men.
High tufts of long grass, which had been dried by the September heat, grew on all sides of them. The wind bent the long yellow blades as it swept over them. To set light to this inflammable growth was the inspiration of a leader who was seldom at a loss in the greatest extremities. The fire rose at once. ”

“ XXII. Alkibiades the moment he sailed away lost Messina for the Athenians. There was a party in that city ready to deliver it up, which he knew well, and by disclosing their intentions to the Syracusan party he effectually ruined the plot. At Thurii he landed, and concealed himself so that he could not be found. When one of his friends said to him, "Alkibiades, do you not trust your native country?" He answered, "Yes, in other matters; but when my life is at stake I would not trust my own mother, for fear that she might mistake a black bean for a white one." ”

“ Alkibiades, on the other hand, knew how to deal on friendly terms with every one, and we need not therefore be surprised at the pleasure which men took in his successes, while even some of his failures had a charm of their own for his friends. Hence it was that Alkibiades, even after inflicting many grievous losses upon his countrymen, was chosen by them as commander-in-chief, whereas Marcius, when after a splendid display of courage and conduct he tried for the consulship which he deserved, failed to obtain it. ”

“ Not being able to entice the Spartan fleet to fight, Alkibiades determined to conquer, one by one, the Ionian towns which were in revolt. Leaving a portion of his fleet to blockade Lysandros in the port of Ephesos, under the command of a skilful sailor named Antiochos, who had been pilot of the Eros in the celebrated race in pursuit of Tissaphernes, with strict orders on no account to risk an engagement while he was away, but to keep the enemy shut up inside the harbour, he sailed for Phokaia. ”

“ The Athenian populace remained quiet, though sorely against its will, because of the terror inspired by the oligarchs, for no small number of citizens who had opposed the Four Hundred had been put to death; but the men of Samos, as soon as they heard the news, were indignant, and wished at once to sail to Peiraeus. They sent at once for Alkibiades, elected him their general, and bade him lead them on to crush this new despotism. Alkibiades on this occasion acted like a really great commander, and not at all as one would expect of a man who had suddenly been raised to power by popular favour. ”

“ One after another the champions of the people rose, with the one answer, supported by six thousand voices, ‘Never!’ The orators declared the democracy eternal. The enemies of Alkibiades protested against the enormity of recalling one who had been convicted of the worst possible offence against the laws of Athens, one who was still civilly dead. ”

“ This cynical defence, suggested by Alkibiades, for the breaking of the solemn promises given at least three times in as many separate treaties, pleased his Persian friend. It suited the wily nature of the man; and when the two parted at Aspendos, as soon as Alkibiades could get away, their love and friendship seemed stronger 291and likely to be more lasting than it had ever been before. ”

“ All the world knew Alkibiades, and had heard many things of the riches and the ancestry of the daughter of Hipponikos. Slaves and dependents, from the demesnes of either house, followed in their train. Hipponikos was proud at having for his son-in-law one who had proved his valour in the field, and bade fair by his talents to become a leading man in Athens. ”

“ Even the women, tender nurses in distress, who know so well how to soothe our pains, when we can scarce tell what we want, whose constant care will watch and help when we are powerless—even women fled in horror from those stricken by that plague. There was none to help; there was little aid that could do any good. Nemesis, for all the too great pride and joy of Athens, poured forth the vials of her retribution.
Alkibiades had, indeed, an opportunity to show how he had profited by the lessons of his friend. ”

“ His greater opponents could not help admiring him: they were too generous to attack him secretly. It was one of the democracy who struck the first blow at Alkibiades. A poor potter named Hyperbolos, a maker of earthen lamps, the butt of Aristophanes, who, on the death of Kleon, had thought he ought to be chosen leader of the people, was put forward as the tool of others.
The secret remedy of ostracism had been invented as a last resource if ever the influence of any individual threatened to make his power greater than was becoming for a citizen in the democracy. ”

“ It is not pleasant to be shut up in prison for a fortnight, expecting every day that poison, or a dagger, will make that one your last. But even to that the prisoner gets accustomed in time, and the danger of assassination begins, at last, to lend some excitement to life, spent in the horrible monotony of such a situation. Alkibiades was not afraid of death. His determined resistance to it when it had been openly decreed against him by the Athenians, and secretly by king Agis and the Ephors at Sparta, was caused as much by the sense of the injustice of it as from any fear of death itself. ”

“ See how you have angered Alkibiades, and sent him off blushing and frowning in a rage.’
‘Oh, wisest of the Greeks, seek not to make 18it seem it was our coming that has angered Alkibiades. What were you telling him when we came up and interrupted you? We have been looking for you all the afternoon. Hippokrates has a great feast to-night. Harmonidas of Skios will be there, and a new flute-player from Delos, and we know not who besides—but all the greatest wits in Athens. ”

“ III. During the reign of Agis, Alkibiades arrived in Lacedæmon as an exile, having made his escape from the army in Sicily, and, after a short sojourn, was universally believed to be carrying on an intrigue with the king's wife, Timaea, insomuch that Agis refused to recognize her child as his own, but declared that Alkibiades was its father. The historian Douris tells us that Timaea was not altogether displeased at this imputation, and that when nursing the child among her attendants she was wont to call it Alkibiades instead of Leotychides. ”