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$Title{Plutarch's Lives
Part I}
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$Date{c75}
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Title:       Plutarch's Lives
Book:        Alcibiades
Author:      Plutarch
Date:        c75
Translation: Dryden, Arthur Hugh Clough

Part I

     Alcibiades, as it is supposed, was anciently descended from Eurysaces,
the son of Ajax, by his father's side; and by his mother's side from Alcmaeon.
Dinomache, his mother, was the daughter of Megacles. His father, Clinias,
having fitted out a galley at his own expense, gained great honor in the sea
fight at Artemisium, and was afterwards slain in the battle of Coronea,
fighting against the Boeotians. Pericles and Ariphron, the sons of Xanthippus,
nearly related to him, became the guardians of Alcibiades. It has been said
not untruly that the friendship which Socrates felt for him has much
contributed to his fame; and certain it is, that, though we have no account
from any writer concerning the mother of Nicias or Demosthenes, of Lamachus or
Phormion, of Thrasybulus or Theramenes, notwithstanding these were all
illustrious men of the same period, yet we know even the nurse of Alcibiades,
that her country was Lacedaemon, and her name Amycla; and that Zopyrus was his
teacher and attendant; the one being recorded by Antisthenes, and the other by
Plato.

     It is not, perhaps, material to say any thing of the beauty of
Alcibiades, only that it bloomed with him in all the ages of his life, in his
infancy, in his youth, and in his manhood; and, in the peculiar character
becoming to each of these periods, gave him, in every one of them, a grace and
a charm. What Euripides says, that

     "Of all fair things the autumn, too, is fair,"

is by no means universally true. But it happened so with Alcibiades, amongst
few others, by reason of his happy constitution and natural vigor of body. It
is said that his lisping, when he spoke, became him well, and gave a grace and
persuasiveness to his rapid speech. Aristophanes takes notice of it in the
verses in which he jests at Theorus; "How like a colax he is," says
Alcibiades, meaning a corax, ^1 on which it is remarked,

[Footnote 1: This fashionable Attic lisp, or slovenly articulation, turned the
sound r into l. Colax, a flatterer; Corax, a crow.]

     "How very happily he lisped the truth."

Archippus also alludes to it in a passage where he ridicules the son of
Alcibiades;

     "That people may believe him like his father,
     He walks like one dissolved in luxury,
     Lets his robe trail behind him on the ground,
     Carelessly leans his head, and in his talk
     Affects to lisp."

     His conduct displayed many great inconsistencies and variations, not
unnaturally, in accordance with the many and wonderful vicissitudes of his
fortunes; but among the many strong passions of his real character, the one
most prevailing of all, was his ambition and desire of superiority, which
appears in several anecdotes told of his sayings whilst he was a child. Once
being hard pressed in wrestling, and fearing to be thrown, he got the hand of
his antagonist to his mouth, and bit it with all his force; and when the other
loosed his hold presently, and said, "You bite, Alcibiades, like a woman."
"No," replied he, "like a lion." Another time as he played at dice in the
street, being then but a child, a loaded cart came that way, when it was his
turn to throw; at first he called to the driver to stop, because he was to
throw in the way over which the cart was to pass; but the man giving him no
attention and driving on, when the rest of the boys divided and gave way,
Alcibiades threw himself on his face before the cart, and, stretching himself
out, bade the carter pass on now if he would; which so startled the man, that
he put back his horses, while all that saw it were terrified, and, crying out,
ran to assist Alcibiades. When he began to study, he obeyed all his other
masters fairly well, but refused to learn upon the flute, as a sordid thing,
and not becoming a free citizen; saying, that to play on the lute or the harp
does not in any way disfigure a man's body or face, but one is hardly to be
known by the most intimate friends, when playing on the flute. Besides, one
who plays on the harp may speak or sing at the same time; but the use of the
flute stops the mouth, intercepts the voice, and prevents all articulation.
"Therefore," said he, "let the Theban youths pipe, who do not know how to
speak, but we Athenians, as our ancestors have told us, have Minerva for our
patroness, and Apollo for our protector, one of whom threw away the flute, and
the other stripped the Flute-player of his skin." Thus, between raillery and
good earnest, Alcibiades kept not only himself but others from learning, as it
presently became the talk of the young boys, how Alcibiades despised playing
on the flute, and ridiculed those who studied it. In consequence of which, it
ceased to be reckoned amongst the liberal accomplishments, and became
neglected.

     It is stated in the invective which Antiphon wrote against Alcibiades,
that once, when he was a boy, he ran away to the house of Democrates, one of
those who made a favorite of him, and that Ariphron had determined to cause
proclamation to be made for him, had not Pericles diverted him from it, by
saying, that if he were dead, the proclaiming of him could only cause it to be
discovered one day sooner, and if he were safe, it would be a reproach to him
as long as he lived. Antiphon also says, that he killed one of his own
servants with the blow of a staff in Sibyrtius' wrestling ground. But it is
unreasonable to give credit to all that is objected by an enemy, who makes
open profession of his design to defame him.

     It was manifest that the many well-born persons who were continually
seeking his company, and making their court to him, were attracted and
captivated by his brilliant and extraordinary beauty only. But the affection
which Socrates entertained for him is a great evidence of the natural noble
qualities and good disposition of the boy, which Socrates, indeed, detected
both in and under his personal beauty; and, fearing that his wealth and
station, and the great number both of strangers and Athenians who flattered
and caressed him, might at last corrupt him, resolved, if possible, to
interpose, and preserve so hopeful a plant from perishing in the flower,
before its fruit came to perfection. For never did fortune surround and
enclose a man with so many of those things which we vulgarly call goods, or so
protect him from every weapon of philosophy, and fence him from every access
of free and searching words, as she did Alcibiades; who, from the beginning,
was exposed to the flatteries of those who sought merely his gratification,
such as might well unnerve him, and indispose him to listen to any real
adviser or instructor. Yet such was the happiness of his genius, that he
discerned Socrates from the rest, and admitted him, whilst he drove away the
wealthy and the noble who made court to him. And, in a little time, they grew
intimate, and Alcibiades, listening now to language entirely free from every
thought of unmanly fondness and silly displays of affection, finding himself
with one who sought to lay open to him the deficiencies of his mind, and
repress his vain and foolish arrogance,

"Dropped like the craven cock his conquered wing."

     He esteemed these endeavors of Socrates as most truly a means which the
gods made use of for the care and preservation of youth, ^2 and began to think
meanly of himself, and to admire him; to be pleased with his kindness, and to
stand in awe of his virtue; and, unawares to himself, there became formed in
his mind that reflex image and reciprocation of Love, or Anteros, ^3 that
Plato talks of. It was a matter of general wonder, when people saw him joining
Socrates in his meals and his exercises, living with him in the same tent,
whilst he was reserved and rough to all others who made their addresses to
him, and acted, indeed, with great insolence to some of them. As in particular
to Anytus, the son of Anthemion, one who was very fond of him, and invited him
to an entertainment which he had prepared for some strangers. Alcibiades
refused the invitation; but, having drunk to excess at his own house with some
of his companions, went thither with them to play some frolic; and, standing
at the door of the room where the guests were enjoying themselves, and seeing
the tables covered with gold and silver cups, he commanded his servants to
take away the one half of them, and carry them to his own house; and then,
disdaining so much as to enter into the room himself, as soon as he had done
this, went away. The company was indignant, and exclaimed at his rude and
insulting conduct; Anytus, however, said, on the contrary he had shown great
consideration and tenderness in taking only a part, when he might have taken
all.

[Footnote 2: In allusion to the philosophical theory which he quoted in the
life of Theseus, that love is a divine provision for the care of the young.]

[Footnote 3: Eros and Anteros, Love and Love-again.]

     He behaved in the same manner to all others who courted him, except only
one stranger, who, as the story is told, having but a small estate, sold it
all for about a hundred staters, which he presented to Alcibiades, and
besought him to accept. Alcibiades, smiling and well pleased at the thing,
invited him to supper, and, after a very kind entertainment, gave him his gold
a gain, requiring him, moreover, not to fail to be present the next day, when
the public revenue was offered to farm, and to outbid all others. The man
would have excused himself, because the contract was so large, and would cost
many talents; but Alcibiades, who had at that time a private pique against the
existing farmers of the revenue, threatened to have him beaten if he refused.
The next morning, the stranger, coming to the market-place, offered a talent
more than the existing rate; upon which the farmers, enraged and consulting
together, called upon him to name his sureties, concluding that he could find
none. The poor man, being startled at the proposal, began to retire; but
Alcibiades, standing at a distance, cried out to the magistrates, "Set my name
down, he is a friend of mine; I will be security for him." When the other
bidders heard this, they perceived that all their contrivance was defeated;
for their way was, with the profits of the second year to pay the rent for the
year preceding; so that, not seeing any other way to extricate themselves out
of the difficulty, they began to entreat the stranger, and offered him a sum
of money. Alcibiades would not suffer him to accept of less than a talent; but
when that was paid down, he commanded him to relinquish the bargain, having by
this device relieved his necessity.

     Though Socrates had many and powerful rivals, yet the natural good
qualities of Alcibiades gave his affection the mastery. His words overcame him
so much, as to draw tears from his eyes, and to disturb his very soul. Yet
sometimes he would abandon himself to flatterers, when they proposed to him
varieties of pleasure, and would desert Socrates; who, then, would pursue him,
as if he had been a fugitive slave. He despised every one else, and had no
reverence or awe for any but him. Cleanthes, the philosopher, speaking of one
to whom he was attached, says his only hold on him was by his ears, while his
rivals had all the others offered them; and there is no question that
Alcibiades was very easily caught by pleasures; and the expression used by
Thucydides about the excesses of his habitual course of living gives occasion
to believe so. But those who endeavored to corrupt Alcibiades, took advantage
chiefly of his vanity and ambition, and thrust him on unseasonably to
undertake great enterprises, persuading him, that as soon as he began to
concern himself in public affairs, he would not only obscure the rest of the
generals and statesmen, but outdo the authority and the reputation which
Pericles himself had gained in Greece. But in the same manner as iron which is
softened by the fire grows hard with the cold, and all its parts are closed
again; so, as often as Socrates observed Alcibiades to be misled by luxury or
pride, he reduced and corrected him by his addresses, and made him humble and
modest, by showing him in how many things he was deficient, and how very far
from perfection in virtue.

     When he was past his childhood, he went once to a grammar-school, and
asked the master for one of Homer's books; and he making answer that he had
nothing of Homer's, Alcibiades gave him a blow with his fist, and went away.
Another schoolmaster telling him that he had Homer corrected by himself;
"How?" said Alcibiades, "and do you employ your time in teaching children to
read? You, who are able to amend Homer, may well undertake to instruct men."
Being once desirous to speak with Pericles, he went to his house, and was told
there that he was not at leisure, but busied in considering how to give up his
accounts to the Athenians; Alcibiades, as he went away, said, "It were better
for him to consider how he might avoid giving up his accounts at all."

     Whilst he was very young, he was a soldier in the expedition against
Potidaea, where Socrates lodged in the same tent with him, and stood next him
in battle. Once there happened a sharp skirmish, in which they both behaved
with signal bravery; but Alcibiades receiving a wound, Socrates threw himself
before him to defend him, and beyond any question saved him and his arms from
the enemy, and so in all justice might have challenged the prize of valor. But
the generals appearing eager to adjudge the honor to Alcibiades, because of
his rank, Socrates, who desired to increase his thirst after glory of a noble
kind, was the first to give evidence for him, and pressed them to crown him,
and to decree to him the complete suit of armor. Afterwards, in the battle of
Delium, when the Athenians were routed and Socrates with a few others was
retreating on foot, Alcibiades, who was on horseback, observing it, would not
pass on, but stayed to shelter him from the danger, and brought him safe off,
though the enemy pressed hard upon them, and cut off many. But this happened
some time after.

     He gave a box on the ear to Hipponicus, the father of Callias, whose
birth and wealth made him a person of great influence and repute. And this he
did unprovoked by any passion or quarrel between them, but only because, in a
frolic, he had agreed with his companions to do it. People were justly
offended at this insolence, when it became known through the city; but early
the next morning, Alcibiades went to his house and knocked at the door, and,
being admitted to him, took off his outer garment, and, presenting his naked
body, desired him to scourge and chastise him as he pleased. Upon this
Hipponicus forgot all his resentment, and not only pardoned him, but soon
after gave him his daughter Hipparete in marriage. Some say that it was not
Hipponicus, but his son Callias, who gave Hipparete to Alcibiades, together
with a portion of ten talents, and that after, when she had a child,
Alcibiades forced him to give ten talents more, upon pretence that such was
the agreement if she brought him any children. Afterwards, Callias, for fear
of coming to his death by his means, declared, in a full assembly of the
people, that if he should happen to die without children, the state should
inherit his house and all his goods. Hipparete was a virtuous and dutiful
wife, but, at last, growing impatient of the outrages done to her by her
husband's continual entertaining of courtesans, as well strangers as
Athenians, she departed from him and retired to her brother's house.
Alcibiades seemed not at all concerned at this, and lived on still in the same
luxury; but the law requiring that she should deliver to the archon in person,
and not by proxy, the instrument by which she claimed a divorce, when, in
obedience to the law, she presented herself before him to perform this,
Alcibiades came in, caught her up, and carried her home through the
market-place, no one daring to oppose him, nor to take her from him. She
continued with him till her death, which happened not long after, when
Alcibiades had gone to Ephesus. Nor is this violence to be thought so very
enormous or unmanly. For the law, in making her who desires to be divorced
appear in public, seems to design to give her husband an opportunity of
treating with her, and of endeavoring to retain her.

     Alcibiades had a dog which cost him seventy minas, and was a very large
one, and very handsome. His tail, which was his principal ornament, he caused
to be cut off, and his acquaintance exclaiming at him for it, and telling him
that all Athens was sorry for the dog, and cried out upon him for this action,
he laughed, and said, "Just what I wanted has happened, then. I wished the
Athenians to talk about this, that they might not say something worse of me."

     It is said that the first time he came into the assembly was upon
occasion of a largess of money which he made to the people. This was not done
by design, but as he passed along he heard a shout, and inquiring the cause,
and having learned that there was a donative making to the people, he went in
amongst them and gave money also. The multitude thereupon applauding him, and
shouting, he was so transported at it, that he forgot a quail which he had
under his robe, and the bird, being frighted with the noise, flew off; upon
which the people made louder acclamations than before, and many of them
started up to pursue the bird; and one Antiochus, a pilot, caught it and
restored it to him, for which he was ever after a favorite with Alcibiades.

     He had great advantages for entering public life; his noble birth, his
riches, the personal courage he had shown in divers battles, and the multitude
of his friends and dependents, threw open, so to say, folding doors for his
admittance. But he did not consent to let his power with the people rest on
any thing, rather than on his own gift of eloquence. That he was a master in
the art of speaking, the comic poets bear him witness; and the most eloquent
of public speakers, in his oration against Midias, allows that Alcibiades,
among other perfections, was a most accomplished orator. If, however, we give
credit to Theophrastus, who of all philosophers was the most curious inquirer,
and the greatest lover of history, we are to understand that Alcibiades had
the highest capacity for inventing, for discerning what was the right thing to
be said for any purpose, and on any occasion; but, aiming not only at saying
what was required, but also at saying it well, in respect, that is, of words
and phrases, when these did not readily occur, he would often pause in the
middle of his discourse for want of the apt word, and would be silent and stop
till he could recollect himself, and had considered what to say.

     His expenses in horses kept for the public games, and in the number of
his chariots, were matter of great observation; never did any one but he,
either private person or king, send seven chariots to the Olympic games. And
to have carried away at once the first, the second, and the fourth prizes, as
Thucydides says, or the third, as Euripides relates it, outdoes far away every
distinction that ever was known or thought of in that kind. Euripides
celebrates his success in this manner:

     "- But my song to you,
     Son of Clinias, is due.
     Victory is noble; how much more
     To do as never Greek before;
     To obtain in the great chariot race
     The first, the second, and third place;
     With easy step advanced to fame,
     To bid the herald three times claim
     The olive for one victor's name."

The emulation displayed by the deputations of various states, in the presents
which they made to him, rendered this success yet more illustrious. The
Ephesians erected a tent for him, adorned magnificently; the city of Chios
furnished him with provender for his horses and with great numbers of beasts
for sacrifice; and the Lesbians sent him wine and other provisions for the
many great entertainments which he made. Yet in the midst of all this he
escaped not without censure, occasioned either by the ill-nature of his
enemies or by his own misconduct. For it is said, that one Diomedes, an
Athenian, a worthy man and a friend to Alcibiades, passionately desiring to
obtain the victory at the Olympic games, and having heard much of a chariot
which belonged to the state of Argos, where he knew that Alcibiades had great
power and many friends, prevailed with him to undertake to buy the chariot.
Alcibiades did indeed buy it, but then claimed it for his own, leaving
Diomedes to rage at him, and to call upon the gods and men to bear witness to
the injustice. It would seem there was a suit at law commenced upon this
occasion, and there is yet extant an oration concerning the chariot, written
by Isocrates in defence of the son of Alcibiades. But the plaintiff in this
action is named Tisias, and not Diomedes.

     As soon as he began to intermeddle in the government, which was when he
was very young, he quickly lessened the credit of all who aspired to the
confidence of the people, except Phaeax, the son of Erasistratus, and Nicias,
the son of Niceratus, who alone could contest it with him. Nicias was arrived
at a mature age, and was esteemed their first general. Phaeax was but a rising
statesman like Alcibiades; he was descended from noble ancestors, but was his
inferior, as in many other things, so, principally in eloquence. He possessed
rather the art of persuading in private conversation than of debate before the
people, and was, as Eupolis said of him,

     "The best of talkers, and of speakers worst."

There is extant an oration written by Phaeax against Alcibiades, in which,
amongst other things, it is said that Alcibiades made daily use at his table
of many gold and silver vessels, which belonged to the commonwealth, as if
they had been his own.

     There was a certain Hyperbolus, of the township of Perithoedae, whom
Thucydides also speaks of as a man of bad character, a general butt for the
mockery of all the comic writers of the time, but quite unconcerned at the
worst things they could say, and, being careless of glory, also insensible of
shame; a temper which some people call boldness and courage, whereas it is
indeed impudence and recklessness. He was liked by nobody, yet the people made
frequent use of him, when they had a mind to disgrace or calumniate any
persons in authority. At this time, the people, by his persuasions, were ready
to proceed to pronounce the sentence of ten years' banishment, called
ostracism. This they made use of to humiliate and drive out of the city such
citizens as outdid the rest in credit and power, indulging not so much perhaps
their apprehensions as their jealousies in this way. And when, at this time,
there was no doubt but that the ostracism would fall upon one of those three,
Alcibiades contrived to form a coalition of parties, and, communicating his
project to Nicias, turned the sentence upon Hyperbolus himself. Others say,
that it was not with Nicias, but Phaeax, that he consulted, and, by help of
his party, procured the banishment of Hyperbolus, when he suspected nothing
less. For, before that time, no mean or obscure person had ever fallen under
that punishment, so that Plato, the comic poet, speaking of Hyperbolus, might
well say,

     "The man deserved the fate; deny 't who can?
     Yes, but the fate did not deserve the man;
     Not for the like of him and his slave-brands
     Did Athens put the sherd into our hands."

     But we have given elsewhere a fuller statement of what is known to us of
the matter.

     Alcibiades was not less disturbed at the distinctions which Nicias gained
amongst the enemies of Athens, than at the honors which the Athenians
themselves paid to him. For though Alcibiades was the proper appointed person
^4 to receive all Lacedaemonians when they came to Athens, and had taken
particular care of those that were made prisoners at Pylos, yet, after they
had obtained the peace and restitution of the captives, by the procurement
chiefly of Nicias, they paid him very special attentions. And it was commonly
said in Greece, that the war was begun by Pericles, and that Nicias made an
end of it, and the peace was generally called the peace of Nicias. Alcibiades
was extremely annoyed at this, and, being full of envy, set himself to break
the league. First, therefore, observing that the Argives, as well out of fear
as hatred to the Lacedaemonians, sought for protection against them, he gave
them a secret assurance of alliance with Athens. And communicating, as well in
person as by letters, with the chief advisers of the people there, he
encouraged them not to fear the Lacedaemonians, nor make concessions to them,
but to wait a little, and keep their eyes on the Athenians, who, already, were
all but sorry they had made peace, and would soon give it up. And, afterwards,
when the Lacedaemonians had made a league with the Boeotians, and had not
delivered up Panactum entire, as they ought to have done by the treaty, but
only after first destroying it, which gave great offence to the people of
Athens, Alcibiades laid hold of that opportunity to exasperate them more
highly. He exclaimed fiercely against Nicias, and accused him of many things,
which seemed probable enough: as that, when he was general, he made no attempt
himself to capture their enemies that were shut up in the isle of Sphacteria,
but, when they were afterwards made prisoners by others, he procured their
release and sent them back to the Lacedaemonians, only to get favor with them;
that he would not make use of his credit with them, to prevent their entering
into this confederacy with the Boeotians and Corinthians, and yet, on the
other side, that he sought to stand in the way of those Greeks who were
inclined to make an alliance and friendship with Athens, if the Lacedaemonians
did not like it.

[Footnote 4: The Proxenus, that is, who in the ancient cities exercised, in a
private station, and as a matter of private magnificence and splendid
hospitality (he being always a citizen of the state in which he resided) many
of the duties of protection now officially committed to consuls and resident
ministers.]

     It happened, at the very time when Nicias was by these arts brought into
disgrace with the people, that ambassadors arrived from Lacedaemon, who, at
their first coming, said what seemed very satisfactory, declaring that they
had full powers to arrange all matters in dispute upon fair and equal terms.
The council received their propositions, and the people was to assemble on the
morrow to give them audience. Alcibiades grew very apprehensive of this, and
contrived to gain a secret conference with the ambassadors. When they were
met, he said: "What is it you intend, you men of Sparta? Can you be ignorant
that the council always act with moderation and respect towards ambassadors,
but that the people are full of ambition and great designs? So that, if you
let them know what full powers your commission gives you, they will urge and
press you to unreasonable conditions. Quit, therefore, this indiscreet
simplicity, if you expect to obtain equal terms from the Athenians, and would
not have things extorted from you contrary to your inclinations, and begin to
treat with the people upon some reasonable articles, not avowing yourselves
plenipotentiaries; and I will be ready to assist you, out of good-will to
the Lacedaemonians." When he had said thus, he gave them his oath for the
performance of what he promised, and by this way drew them from Nicias to rely
entirely upon himself, and left them full of admiration of the discernment and
sagacity they had seen in him. The next day, when the people were assembled
and the ambassadors introduced, Alcibiades, with great apparent courtesy,
demanded of them, With what powers they were come? They made answer that they
were not come as plenipotentiaries.

     Instantly upon that, Alcibiades, with a loud voice, as though he had
received and not done the wrong, began to call them dishonest prevaricators,
and to urge that such men could not possibly come with a purpose to say or do
anything that was sincere. The council was incensed, the people were in a
rage, and Nicias, who knew nothing of the deceit and the imposture, was in the
greatest confusion, equally surprised and ashamed at such a change in the men.
So thus the Lacedaemonian ambassadors were utterly rejected, and Alcibiades
was declared general, who presently united the Argives, the Eleans, and the
people of Mantinea, into a confederacy with the Athenians.

     No man commended the method by which Alcibiades effected all this, yet it
was a great political feat thus to divide and shake almost all Peloponnesus,
and to combine so many men in arms against the Lacedaemonians in one day
before Mantinea; and, moreover, the remove the war and the danger so far from
the frontier of the Athenians, that even success would profit the enemy but
little, should be conquerors, whereas, if they were defeated, Sparta itself
was hardly safe.