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. It has been well remarked that the friendship of Sokrates
for him did not a little to increase his fame, seeing that Nikias,
Demosthenes, Lamakus, Phormio, Thrasybulus, and Theramenes, were all men
of mark in his lifetime, and yet we do not know the name of the mother
of any one of them, while we know the name even of the nurse of
Alkibiades, who was a Laconian, named Amykla, and that of Zopyrus, his
_paedagogus_, one of which pieces of information we owe to Antisthenes,
and the other to Plato. As to the beauty of Alkibiades, it is not
necessary to say anything except that it was equally fascinating when he
was a boy, a youth, and a man. The saying of Euripides, that all
beauties have a beautiful autumn of their charms, is not universally
true, but it was so in the case of Alkibiades and of a few other persons
because of the symmetry and vigour of their frames. Even his lisp is
said to have added a charm to his speech, and to have made his talk more
persuasive. His lisp is mentioned by Aristophanes in the verses in which
he satirises Theorus, in which Alkibiades calls him Theolus, for he
pronounced the letter _r_ like _l_. Archippus also gives a sneering
account of the son of Alkibiades, who, he said, swaggered in his walk,
trailing his cloak, that he might look as like his father as possible,
and
"Bends his affected neck, and lisping speaks."
II. His character, in the course of his varied and brilliant career,
developed many strange inconsistencies and contradictions. Emulation and
love of distinction were the most prominent of his many violent
passions, as is clear from the anecdotes of his childhood. Once when
hard pressed in wrestling, rather than fall, he began to bite his
opponent's hands. The other let go his hold, and said, "You bite,
Alkibiades, like a woman." "No," said he, "like a lion." While yet a
child, he was playing at knucklebones with other boys in a narrow
street, and when his turn came to throw, a loaded waggon was passing. He
at first ordered the driver to stop his team because his throw was to
take place directly in the path of the waggon. Then as the boor who was
driving would not stop, the other children made way; but Alkibiades
flung himself down on his face directly in front of the horses, and bade
him drive on at his peril. The man, in alarm, now stopped his horses,
and the others were terrified and ran up to him.
In learning he was fairly obedient to all his teachers, except in
playing the flute, which he refused to do, declaring that it was unfit
for a gentleman. He said that playing on the harp or lyre did not
disfigure the face, but that when a man was blowing at a flute, his own
friends could scarcely recognise him. Besides, the lyre accompanies the
voice of the performer, while the flute takes all the breath of the
player and prevents him even from speaking. "Let the children of the
Thebans," he used to say, "learn to play the flute, for they know not
how to speak; but we Athenians according to tradition have the goddess
Athene (Minerva) for our patroness, and Apollo for our tutelary
divinity; and of these the first threw away the flute in disgust, and
the other actually flayed the flute player Marsyas." With such talk as
this, between jest and earnest, Alkibiades gave up flute-playing
himself, and induced his friends to do so, for all the youth of Athens
soon heard and approved of Alkibiades's derision of the flute and those
who learned it. In consequence of this the flute went entirely out of
fashion, and was regarded with contempt.
III. In Antiphon's scandalous chronicle, we read that Alkibiades once
ran away from home to the house of one of his admirers.
Ariphron, his other guardian, proposed to have him cried; but Perikles
forbade it, saying that, if he was dead, he would only be found one day
sooner because of it, while if he was safe, he would be disgraced for
life. Antiphon also tells us that he killed one of his servants by
striking him with a club, at the gymnasium of Sibyrtus. But perhaps we
ought not to believe these stories, which were written by an enemy with
the avowed purpose of defaming his character.
IV. His youthful beauty soon caused him to be surrounded with noble
admirers, but the regard of Sokrates for him is a great proof of his
natural goodness of disposition, which that philosopher could discern in
him, but which he feared would wither away like a faded flower before
the temptations of wealth and position, and the mass of sycophants by
whom he was soon beset. For no one ever was so enclosed and enveloped in
the good things of this life as Alkibiades, so that no breath of
criticism or free speech could ever reach him. Yet, with all these
flatterers about him, trying to prevent his ever hearing a word of
wholesome advice or reproof, he was led by his own goodness of heart to
pay special attention to Sokrates, to whom he attached himself in
preference to all his rich and fashionable admirers.
He soon became intimate with Sokrates, and when he discovered that this
man did not wish to caress and admire him, but to expose his ignorance,
search out his faults, and bring down his vain unreasoning conceit, he
then
"Let fall his feathers like a craven cock."
He considered that the conversation of Sokrates was really a divine
instrument for the discipline and education of youth; and thus learning
to despise himself, and to admire his friend, charmed with his good
nature, and full of reverence for his virtues, he became insensibly in
love with him, though not as the world loveth; so that all men were
astonished to see him dining with Sokrates, wrestling with him, and
sharing his tent, while he treated all his other admirers with harshness
and some even with insolence, as in the case of Anytus the son of
Anthemion. This man, who was an admirer of Alkibiades, was entertaining
a party of friends, and asked him to come. Alkibiades refused the
invitation, but got drunk that night at a riotous party at his own
house, in which state he proceeded in a disorderly procession to Anytus.
Here he looked into the room where the guests were, and seeing the
tables covered with gold and silver drinking-cups, ordered his slaves to
carry away half of them, and then, without deigning to enter the room,
went home again. Anytus' guests were vexed at this, and complained of
his being so arrogantly and outrageously treated. "Say rather,
considerately," answered Anytus, "for although he might have taken them
all, yet he has left us the half of them."
V. In this same way he used to treat his other admirers, with the
exception, it is said, of one of the resident aliens,[A] a man of small
means who sold all that he had and carried the money, amounting to about
a hundred _staters_, to Alkibiades, begging him to accept it. Alkibiades
laughed at him, and invited him to dinner. After dinner he gave him back
his money, and ordered him next day to go and overbid those who were
about to bid for the office of farmer of the taxes. The poor man begged
to be excused, because the price was several talents, but Alkibiades
threatened to have him beaten if he did not do so, for he had some
private grudge of his own against the farmers of the taxes. Accordingly
the alien went next morning early into the market-place and bid a
talent. The tax farmers now clustered round him angrily, bidding him
name some one as security, imagining that he would not be able to find
one. The poor man was now in great trouble and was about to steal away,
when Alkibiades, who was at some distance, called out to the presiding
magistrates, "Write down my name. I am his friend, and I will be surety
for him." On hearing this, the tax farmers were greatly embarrassed, for
their habit was to pay the rent of each year with the proceeds of the
next, and they saw no way of doing so in this instance. Consequently
they begged the man to desist from bidding, and offered him money.
Alkibiades would not permit him to take less than a talent, and when
this was given him he let him go. This was the way in which he did him a
kindness.
[Footnote A: [Greek: metoikikhon].]
VI. The love of Sokrates, though he had many rivals, yet overpowered
them all, for his words touched the heart of Alkibiades and moved him to
tears. Sometimes his flatterers would bribe him by the offer of some
pleasure, to which he would yield and slip away from Sokrates, but he
was then pursued like a fugitive slave by the latter, of whom he stood
in awe, though he treated every one else with insolence and contempt.
Kleanthes used to say that Sokrates's only hold upon him was through his
ears, while he scorned to meddle with the rest of his body. And indeed
Alkibiades was very prone to pleasure, as one would gather from what
Thucydides says on the subject. Those too who played on his vanity and
love of distinction induced him to embark on vast projects before he was
ripe for them, assuring him that as soon as he began to take a leading
part in politics, he would not only eclipse all the rest of the generals
and orators, but would even surpass Perikles in power and renown. But
just as iron which has been softened in the fire is again hardened by
cold, and under its influence contracts its expanded particles, so did
Sokrates, when he found Alkibiades puffed up by vain and empty conceit,
bring him down to his proper level by his conversation, rendering him
humble minded by pointing out to him his many deficiencies.
VII. After he had finished his education, he went into a school, and
asked the master for a volume of Homer. When the master said that he
possessed none of Homer's writings, he struck him with his fist, and
left him. Another schoolmaster told him that he had a copy of Homer
corrected by himself. "Do you," asked he, "you who are able to correct
Homer, teach boys to read! One would think that you could instruct men."
One day he wished to speak to Perikles, and came to his house. Hearing
that he was not at leisure, but was engaged in considering how he was to
give in his accounts to the Athenians, Alkibiades, as he went away,
said, "It would be better if he considered how to avoid giving in any
accounts at all to the Athenians."
While yet a lad he served in the campaign of Potidaea, where he shared
the tent of Sokrates, and took his place next him in the ranks. In an
obstinate engagement they both showed great courage, and when Alkibiades
was wounded and fell to the ground, Sokrates stood in front of him,
defending him, and so saved his life and arms from the enemy. Properly,
therefore, the prize for valour belonged to Sokrates; but when the
generals appeared anxious to bestow it upon Alkibiades because of his
great reputation, Sokrates, who wished to encourage his love for glory,
was the first to give his testimony in his favour, and to call upon them
to crown him as victor and to give him the suit of armour which was the
prize. And also at the battle of Delium, when the Athenians were routed,
Alkibiades, who was on horseback, when he saw Sokrates retreating on
foot with a few others, would not ride on, but stayed by him and
defended him, though the enemy were pressing them and cutting off many
of them. These things, however, happened afterwards.
VIII. He once struck Hipponikus, the father of Kallias, a man of great
wealth and noble birth, a blow with his fist, not being moved to it by
anger, or any dispute, but having agreed previously with his friends to
do so for a joke. When every one in the city cried out at his indecent
and arrogant conduct, Alkibiades next morning at daybreak came to the
house of Hipponikus, knocked, and came to him. Here he threw off his
cloak, and offered him his body, bidding him flog him and punish him for
what he had done. Hipponikus, however, pardoned him, and they became
friends, so much so that Hipponikus chose him for the husband of his
daughter Hipparete. Some writers say that not Hipponikus but Kallias his
son gave Hipparete to Alkibiades to wife, with a dowry of ten talents,
and that when her first child was born Alkibiades demanded and received
ten more talents, as if he had made a previous agreement to that effect.
Upon this Kallias, fearing that Alkibiades might plot against his life,
gave public notice in the assembly that if he died childless, he would
leave his house and all his property to the State.
Hipparete was a quiet and loving wife, but was so constantly insulted by
her husband's amours with foreign and Athenian courtesans, that she at
length left his house and went to her brother's. Alkibiades took no heed
of this, but continued in his debauchery.
It was necessary for her to deliver her petition for separation to the
magistrate with her own hand, and when she came to do so, Alkibiades
laid hold of her, and took her home with him through the market-place,
no one daring to oppose him and take her from him. She lived with him
until her death, which took place not long after Alkibiades sailed for
Ephesus. In this instance his violence does not seem to have been
altogether lawless or without excuse, for the object of the law in
making a wife appear in person in public seems to be that she may have
an opportunity of meeting her husband and making up her quarrel with
him.
IX. He had a dog of remarkable size and beauty, for which he had paid
seventy minae. It had a very fine tail, which he cut off. When his
friends blamed him, and said that every one was sorry for the dog and
angry with him for what he had done, he laughed and said, "Then I have
succeeded; for I wish the Athenians to gossip about this, for fear they
should say something worse about me."
X. It is said that his first public act was on the occasion of a
voluntary subscription for the State. He did not intend doing anything
of the sort, but as he was passing he heard a great noise, and finding
that voluntary subscriptions were being made, went and subscribed. 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. His
rhetorical powers are borne witness to by the comic dramatists; and the
greatest of orators, Demosthenes, in his speech against Meidias, speaks
of Alkibiades as being most eloquent, besides his other charms. If we
are to believe Theophrastus, who has inquired more diligently into these
various tales than any one else, Alkibiades excelled all men of his time
in readiness of invention and resource. However, as he wished not merely
to speak to the purpose, but also to clothe his thoughts in the most
appropriate language, he did not always succeed in combining the two,
and often hesitated and stopped, seeking for the right word, and not
continuing his speech until it occurred to him.
XI. He was renowned for his stud, and for the number of his racing
chariots. No other person, king or commoner, ever entered seven
four-horse chariots for the race at Olympia except Alkibiades. His
winning the first, second, and fourth prizes with these, as Thucydides
tells us, though Euripides says that he won the third also, excels in
glory any other successes by other persons in these races. The poem of
Euripides runs as follows:
"Son of Kleinias, thee I sing,
In truth it is a noble thing,
First, second, and third place
To win in chariot race,
To hear the herald thrice thy name proclaim,
And thrice to bear away the olive crown of fame."
XII. His success was rendered all the more conspicuous by the manner in
which the various States vied with one another in showing him honour.
Ephesus pitched a magnificent tent for his accommodation, Chios
furnished his horses with provender, and himself with animals for
sacrifice; and Lesbos supplied him with wine, and every thing else
necessary for giving great entertainments. Yet even at this brilliant
period of his life he incurred discredit, either by his own fault or
through the spite of his enemies. The story is that an Athenian named
Diomedes, a respectable man and a friend of Alkibiades, was desirous of
winning a victory at Olympia. Hearing that there was a chariot and four
which belonged to the city of Argos, and knowing that Alkibiades had
great influence and many friends in that place, he persuaded him to buy
the chariot for him. Alkibiades, however, bought the chariot and entered
it for the race as his own, leaving Diomedes to call upon heaven and
earth to witness his ill-treatment. It appears that a trial took place
about this matter, and Isokrates wrote a speech about this chariot in
defence of the son of Alkibiades, in which Tisias, not Diomedes, is
mentioned as the prosecutor.
XIII. When, as a mere boy, Alkibiades plunged into political life, he at
once surpassed most of the statesmen of the age. His chief rivals were
Phaeax, the son of Erasistratus, and Nikias, the son of Nikeratus, the
latter a man advanced in life, and bearing the reputation of being an
excellent general, while the former, like Alkibiades himself, was a
young man of good family, just rising into notice, but inferior to him
in many respects, particularly in oratory. Though affable and persuasive
in private circles, he could not speak equally well in public, for he
was, as Eupolis says,
"At conversation best of men, at public speaking worst."
In a certain attack on Alkibiades and Phaeax, we find, among other
charges, Alkibiades accused of using the gold and silver plate of the
city of Athens as his own for his daily use.
There was at Athens one Hyperbolus, of the township of Peirithois, whom
Thucydides mentions as a worthless man, and one who was constantly
ridiculed by the comic dramatists. From his utter disregard of what was
said of him, and his carelessness for his honour, which, though it was
mere shameless impudence and apathy, was thought by some to show
firmness and true courage, he was pleasing to no party, but frequently
made use of by the people when they wished to have a scurrilous attack
made upon those in power. At this time he was about to resort to the
proceeding called ostracism, by which from time to time the Athenians
force into exile those citizens who are remarkable for influence and
power, rather because they envy them than because they fear them.
But as it was clear that one of the three, Nikias, Phaeax, and
Alkibiades, would be ostracised, Alkibiades combined their several
parties, arranged matters with Nikias, and turned the ostracism against
Hyperbolus himself. Some say that it was not Nikias but Phaeax with whom
Alkibiades joined interest, and that with the assistance of his
political party he managed to expel Hyperbolus, who never expected any
such treatment; for before that time this punishment had never been
extended to low persons of no reputation, as Plato, the comic dramatist,
says in the lines where he mentions Hyperbolus:
"Full worthy to be punished though he be,
Yet ostracism's not for such as he."
We have elsewhere given a fuller account of this affair.
XIV. Alkibiades was dissatisfied at the respect shown for Nikias, both
by enemies of the State and by the citizens of Athens. Alkibiades was
the proxenus[A] of the Lacedaemonians at Athens, and paid especial court
to those Spartans who had been captured at Pylos; yet, when the
Lacedaemonians discovered that it was chiefly by Nikias's means that
they obtained peace, and recovered their prisoners, they were lavish of
their attentions to him. The common phrase among the Greeks of that time
was that Perikles had begun the war, and Nikias had finished it; and the
peace was usually called the peace of Nikias. Alkibiades, irritated
beyond measure at his rival's success, began to meditate how he could
destroy the existing treaty. He perceived that the Argives, hating and
fearing Sparta, wished to break off from it, and he encouraged them by
secret assurances of an Athenian alliance, and also both by his agents
and in person he urged the leading men not to give way to the
Lacedaemonians, or yield any points to them, but to turn to Athens, and
await their co-operation, for the Athenians, he said, already began to
regret that they had made peace at all, and would soon break it.
[Footnote A: An office resembling that of a modern consul for a foreign
nation.]
When the Lacedaemonians made an alliance with the Boeotians, and
delivered up Panaktus to the Athenians in a dismantled condition, not
with its walls standing, as they ought to have done, Alkibiades
exasperated the rage of the Athenians by his speeches, and raised a
clamour against Nikias by the plausible accusation that he, when
general, had hung back from capturing the enemy's forces which were cut
off in the island of Sphakteria, and that when they had been captured by
another, he had released them and restored them to their homes, in order
to gain the favour of the Lacedaemonians. And for all that, although he
was such a friend of the Lacedaemonians, he had not dissuaded them from
forming alliances with Corinth and with the Boeotians, while he
prevented the Athenians from becoming allies of any Greek State which
might wish it, if the step did not happen to please the Lacedaemonians.
Upon this, while Nikias was smarting under these accusations,
ambassadors arrived from Lacedaemon with instructions to propose
reasonable terms, and announcing that they came with full powers to
conclude the negotiations for peace on an equitable basis. The Senate
received them willingly, and next day they were to appear before the
people. Fearing that they would succeed, Alkibiades contrived to obtain
a private interview with them, in which he addressed them as follows:
"What is this that you do, men of Sparta! Do you not know that the
Senate always treats those who appear before it in a kindly and
reasonable manner, but the people are always full of pride and ambition?
If you say that you have plenary powers, they will bewilder you by their
violence and force great concessions from you. So come, cease this
folly, if you wish to negotiate with the Athenians in a moderate way,
and not to be forced into conceding points against your will. Discuss
all the points at issue, but do not say that you have full power to
decide them. I will do my best to assist you, as a friend to
Lacedaemon." After these words he confirmed his promise by an oath, and
thus completely detached them from Nikias and left them trusting him
only, and admiring him as a man of remarkable sense and intelligence. On
the following day the people assembled, and the ambassadors appeared
before them. When they were politely asked by Alkibiades in what
capacity they came, they said that they were not plenipotentiaries.
Immediately upon this Alkibiades assailed them with furious invective,
as though they, not he, were in the wrong, calling them faithless
equivocators, who had not come either to speak or to do anything honest.
The Senate was vexed at its treatment, and the people were excessively
enraged, while Nikias, who knew nothing of the trick, was astounded and
covered with confusion at the conduct of the ambassadors.
XV. The Lacedaemonian alliance being put an end to by this means,
Alkibiades, who was now elected one of the generals of Athens, at once
formed an alliance with Argos, Elis and Mantinea. No one approved of the
way in which he effected this, but still the result was very important,
as it agitated all the States in Peloponnesus, and set them against one
another, brought so many men into line to fight the Lacedaemonians at
the battle of Mantinea, and removed the scene of conflict so far from
Athens, that the Lacedaemonians could gain no great advantage by
victory, whereas if they failed, they would have to struggle for their
very existence. After this battle the select regiment at Argos, called
the "Thousand," endeavoured to overthrow the government and establish
themselves as masters of the city; and with the assistance of the
Lacedaemonians they destroyed the constitution. But the people took up
arms again, and defeated the usurpers; and Alkibiades coming to their
aid, made the victory of the popular side more complete. He persuaded
the citizens to build long walls down to the sea, and to trust entirely
to the Athenian naval forces for support. He even sent them carpenters
and stonemasons from Athens, and showed great zeal on their behalf,
which tended to increase his personal interest and power no less than
that of his country. He advised the people of Patrae also to join their
city to the sea by long walls; and when some one said to the people of
Patrae, that the Athenians would swallow them up, he answered, "Perhaps
they may, but it will be by degrees and beginning with the feet,
whereas the Lacedaemonians will seize them by the head and do it at
once."
However, Alkibiades ever pressed the Athenians to establish their empire
by land as well as by sea, reminding them of the oath which the young
men take in the Temple of Agraulos, and which it was their duty to
confirm by their deeds. This oath is, that they will regard wheat,
barley, vines and olives as the boundaries of Attica, by which it is
hinted that they ought to make all cultivated and fruitful lands their
own.