Alcibiades

al-si-bi a-dez (450-404 B. C.), a brilliant but unprincipled Athenian. He was a nephew of Pericles and a pupil of Socrates. Socrates saved his life in battle. A few years later Alcibiades rendered the philosopher a similar service, thus cementing a friendship, which, however, appears to have had little influence on the character of the younger man. Alcibiades was wealthy and profligate, but he was popular. He posed as a radical. He is charged with inciting strife between the Greek cities. For personal ends he stirred up his native city against Sparta, and tried to renew the Peloponnesian War. He persuaded the Athenians to fit out an armament, partly under his command, for the capture of Sicily. On the night before his departure the statues of the god Hermes were thrown down throughout the city, it is believed by Alcibiades and a lot of his riotous companions by way of a parting lark. He was recalled on the charge of impiety to plead for his life, but fled instead to Sparta, where he adopted a plain mode of living, and ingratiated himself, as he had done at Athens, by pretending to be what he was not. From Sparta Alcibiades fled to Persia. From Persia he was recalled to Athens and restored to favor. Again he fled to Asia with his wealth, and finally was assassinated by a flight of arrows as he attempted to escape from his burning home. There is little in the life of Alcibiades worthy of study, except as it illustrates the factional spirit in Greece, and the facility with which an unprincipled man effects a change of base. His career was one of intrigue and wasted opportunity. A glimpse of his character may be gleaned from an incident related by Plutarch. Alcibiades paid 7,000 drachmas, the value of 100 oxen, for a very handsome dog, and then cut off his tail in order that the Athenians might have something fresh to talk about and stop gossiping about his other misdeeds.