ClassicsHistory 1M03 Dr. J. Reeves Winter 2018 Essay Assi.docx

Classics/History 1M03 Dr. J. Reeves
Winter 2018 Essay Assignment #1
The Religious Scandal of 415
In 415 BC, during a lull in the Peloponnesian War, the
Athenians decided to mount an enormous
campaign against the city of Syracuse in Sicily. The expedition
was prepared at tremendous cost
and no expense was spared. To the eyes of the other Greeks it
looked as though Athens was
making a display of its power in an aggressive campaign
designed not just to overawe Syracuse
nor even the whole of Sicily but to signal to the Greek world the
might and dominance of
Athens.
Just prior to the launching of the Sicilian expedition, the largest
and best-equipped armada ever
assembled by the Athenians, a religious crime shook the
confidence of the city. All throughout
Athens (at people’s front doors, at crossroads, at the entrances
to the Agora, for example) stood
Herms (Hermai in Greek), four-foot stone pillars with the god
Hermes’ head carved at the top
and genitals at the front. Shortly before the expedition was due
to sail, a group of men in the city
mutilated a large number of these Herms, defacing and
(probably) castrating them. This in
itself—an act of sacrilegious vandalism—was deeply offensive
to most Athenians. Moreover,
Hermes, the messenger god, patron of travelers, was for Greeks

the god who oversaw comings
and goings. The desecration of these Herms, therefore, was a
chilling omen to many. In response
the crime, the Athenians hastily organized incentives for
witnesses to come forward. In the days
of denunciations that followed, the names of several prominent
Athenians came to light as
suspects in this and other religious offenses; among the
individuals named was Alcibiades, one
of the generals of the imminent campaign and Athens’ leading
political figure. How and why
Alcibiades became the chief suspect of crimes that undermined
his own expedition are
interesting historical questions to which the ancient sources
give partial and sometimes
conflicting answers.
Instructions for assignment:
1) Read through all the ancient accounts (collected below) of
the events surrounding the
scandal of 415 and clarify for yourself what you think
Alcibiades’ role was. Consider
what kind of figure Alcibiades was in Athens. Did others have
reason to frame him? If so,
who are the likely culprits and why? Was he guilty of any of the
charges brought against
him? What impact, if any, did the mutilation of the Herms have
on the Sicilian
expedition? Were there wider consequences?
2) Having read the sources carefully and critically, write a
1200-word essay on the subject

(about FIVE double-spaced pages). In your paper, you may
choose to address all or some
of these questions, or you may choose to pose your own
questions of the material. The
goal of this (and any other) essay should not be to produce a
report that merely describes
what you find in your sources, but to produce an argument
based on your reading of
those sources; hence the word ‘essay’ from the French essayer
(‘to try’ as in “to try to
convince” your reader of something). Your argument will take
the form of a thesis, a
central claim supported by the presentation of subordinated
claims based on your analysis
of primary evidence.
Guidelines:
You may use the skills you learned in the library assignment to
do some background research,
but the aim of this assignment is for you to extract evidence
from the ancient sources in support
of your claims. Do not cite secondary sources (or tertiary
sources like websites or blogs) as
evidence within your paper. It is advisable to consult reliable
tertiary material to acquaint
yourself with the approximate date and circumstances of the
composition of the primary texts

(Wikipedia and most sites ending in ‘.edu’ are not bad for this
sort of thing, but do not build your
argument from material on these sites). Your paper should
include plenty of citation to passages
in the primary sources only. If you do choose to do extra
reading, you must include a
bibliography at the end of your paper (this does not count
towards the essay’s length).
Any quotation (direct quotations should be used very sparingly
in such a short essay) or
reference to a source (primary or secondary) must be
accompanied by a citation. Any factual
claim should be supported by citation of a source unless it is
general knowledge.
Due date: 14 February 2018 (essays must be submitted in hard
copy to your TAs at the end of
lecture)
Citation and attribution
1. Why we cite. A very important aspect of academic writing is
the citation of sources. We do this for
several reasons:
a) to acknowledge the sources of useful information and to
avoid suggestions of plagiarism;
b) to assure that the content in your paper is credible and can be
verified by others;

c) to point interested readers towards material that will help
them engage more deeply in
some question.
2. Primary, secondary, and tertiary material. Good university
essays cite primary and secondary
material and avoid tertiary material. (For assignment #1 you
should only cite primary material)
a) A primary source is a source that provides direct, or nearly
direct, evidence about the
situation or phenomenon you are writing about. For modern
history, primary sources
include official reports, letters, eyewitness accounts, etc. For
ancient history, they include
classical authors, documents surviving in inscriptions and
papyrus, and archaeological
artefacts.
b) Your secondary sources are expert interpretations of that
material, whether in the form
of books, commentaries, or articles in scholarly journals. They
offer independent and
original interpretations, engage with earlier scholarship, and
cite their own sources,
primary and secondary. (Τhey rarely cite tertiary material.)
c) Tertiary sources comprise material that is based on secondary
material, such as general
encyclopedias, most first and second-year textbooks, books
written for a popular
audience, etc. The coverage in such works is usually not
comprehensive, and they
typically do not offer and evaluate alternative interpretations.
Often tertiary works are

useful for confirming correct spellings, locations, or dates, and
will often identify
relevant primary sources and the best secondary literature.
You should always base university research on primary and
secondary material. Tertiary material
can be consulted but not relied upon.
3. References. University essays use in-text citations (Thuc.
6.27.3) or footnotes (or sometimes endnotes)
to attribute specific facts or interpretations with specific
sources.1
a. Ancient sources. Some works exist in many different
versions. Think of the Bible, which has
been reprinted thousands of times, each of which has its own
pagination. Because of this ancient
works have their own citation methods. The famous verse “God
so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten son” is never cited as The Bible, p. 354, but
by chapter and verse (John 3: 16).
Similarly, with Shakespearean drama, which is cited by play,
act and scene. So too, with, ancient
works, which are cited by author, work, book (where applicable)
and section. In this essay, you
have only a handful to cite. These should be cited as follows:
Thuc. 6.27.2
Andoc. 1.63
Diod. Sic.13.2.2
Plut. Alc. 19.4
Plut. Nic. 13

You do not need to include the dates of the passage or the name
of the translator in the reference. If you
need clarification in any of these points, or on any other aspects
of referencing, please ask your TA.
1 Plut. Nic. 1.2.
The Religious Scandal of 415:
The Ancient Sources
The following are the key passages concerning the religious
scandal of 415. If you would like to
get more context and to read more extensive passages from any
of these authors, you can find
complete versions of their works, freely available, at:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collection?collection=Pers
eus:collection:Greco-Roman
1. Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War (Book 6.15-
61) [composed c. 400 BC]
6.15. Most of the Athenians that came forward spoke in favour
of the expedition, and of not
annulling what had been voted, although some spoke on the
other side. [2] By far the warmest
advocate of the expedition was, however, Alcibiades, son of

Clinias, who wished to thwart
Nicias both as his political opponent and also because of the
attack he had made upon him in his
speech, and who was, besides, exceedingly ambitious of a
command by which he hoped to
reduce Sicily and Carthage, and personally to gain in wealth and
reputation by means of his
successes. [3] For the position he held among the citizens led
him to indulge his tastes beyond
what his real means would bear, both in keeping horses and in
the rest of his expenditure; and
this later on had not a little to do with the ruin of the Athenian
state. [4] Alarmed at the greatness
of his license in his own life and habits, and of the ambition
which he showed in all things
whatsoever that he undertook, the mass of the people set him
down as a pretender to the tyranny,
and became his enemies; and although publicly his conduct of
the war was as good as could be
desired individually, his habits gave offence to everyone, and
caused them to commit affairs to
other hands, and thus before long to ruin the city.
. . .
26. Upon hearing the speeches, the Athenians at once voted that
the generals should have full
powers in the matter of the numbers of the army and of the
expedition generally, to do as they
judged best for the interests of Athens. [2] After this the
preparations began; messages being sent
to the allies and the rolls drawn up at home. And as the city had
just recovered from the plague
and the long war, and a number of young men had grown up and

capital had accumulated by
reason of the truce, everything was the more easily provided.
27. In the midst of these preparations all the stone Hermae in
the city of Athens, that is to say the
customary square figures so common in the doorways of private
houses and temples, had in one
night most of them their faces mutilated. [2] No one knew who
had done it, but large public
rewards were offered to find the authors; and it was further
voted that anyone who knew of any
other act of impiety having been committed should come and
give information without fear of
consequences, whether he were citizen, alien, or slave. [3] The
matter was taken up the more
seriously, as it was thought to be ominous for the expedition,
and part of a conspiracy to bring
about a revolution and to upset the democracy.
28. Information was given accordingly by some resident aliens
and body servants, not about the
Hermae but about some previous mutilations of other images
perpetrated by young men in a
drunken frolic, and of mock celebrations of the mysteries,
averred to take place in private houses.
[2] Alcibiades being implicated in this charge, it was taken hold
of by those who could least
endure him, because he stood in the way of their obtaining the
undisturbed direction of the

people, and who thought that if he were once removed the first
place would be theirs. These
accordingly magnified the manner and loudly proclaimed that
the affair of the mysteries and the
mutilation of the Hermae were part and parcel of a scheme to
overthrow the democracy, and that
nothing of all this had been done without Alcibiades; the proofs
alleged being the general and
undemocratic license of his life and habits.
29. Alcibiades repelled on the spot the charges in question, and
also before going on the
expedition, the preparations for which were now complete,
offered to stand his trial, that it might
be seen whether he was guilty of the acts imputed to him;
desiring to be punished if found guilty,
but, if acquitted, to take the command. [2] Meanwhile he
protested against their receiving
slanders against him in his absence, and begged them rather to
put him to death at once if he
were guilty, and pointed out the imprudence of sending him out
at the head of so large an army,
with so serious a charge still undecided. [3] But his enemies
feared that he would have the army
for him if he were tried immediately, and that the people might
relent in favour of the man whom
they already caressed as the cause of the Argives and some of
the Mantineans joining in the
expedition, and did their utmost to get this proposition rejected,
putting forward other orators
who said that he ought at present to sail and not delay the
departure of the army, and be tried on
his return within a fixed number of days; their plan being to
have him sent for and brought home
for trial upon some graver charge, which they would the more
easily get up in his absence.

Accordingly, it was decreed that he should sail.
30. After this the departure for Sicily took place, it being now
about midsummer. Most of the
allies, with the corn transports and the smaller craft and the rest
of the expedition, had already
received orders to muster at Corcyra, to cross the Ionian Sea
from thence in a body to the
Iapygian promontory. But the Athenians themselves, and such
of their allies as happened to be
with them, went down to Piraeus upon a day appointed at
daybreak, and began to man the ships
for putting out to sea. [2] With them also went down the whole
population, one may say, of the
city, both citizens and foreigners; the inhabitants of the country
each escorting those that
belonged to them, their friends, their relatives, or their sons,
with hope and lamentation upon
their way, as they thought of the conquests which they hoped to
make, or of the friends whom
they might never see again, considering the long voyage which
they were going to make from
their country.
31. Indeed, at this moment, when they were now upon the point
of parting from one another, the
danger came more home to them than when they voted for the
expedition; although the strength
of the armament, and the profuse provision which they remarked
in every department, was a
sight that could not but comfort them. As for the foreigners and
the rest of the crowd, they
simply went to see a sight worth looking at and passing all
belief.
Indeed, this armament that first sailed out was by far the most
costly and splendid Hellenic force

that had ever been sent out by a single city up to that time. [2]
In mere number of ships and
heavy infantry that against Epidaurus under Pericles, and the
same when going against Potidaea
under Hagnon, was not inferior; containing as it did four
thousand Athenian heavy infantry, three
hundred horse, and one hundred galleys accompanied by fifty
Lesbian and Chian vessels and
many allies besides. [3] But these were sent upon a short
voyage and with a scanty equipment.
The present expedition was formed in contemplation of a long
term of service by land and sea
alike, and was furnished with ships and troops so as to be ready
for either as required. The fleet
had been elaborately equipped at great cost to the captains and
the state; the treasury giving a
drachma a day to each seaman, and providing empty ships, sixty
men of war and forty transports,
and manning these with the best crews obtainable; while the
captains gave a bounty in addition
to the pay from the treasury to the thranitae (the best rowers)
and crews generally, besides
spending lavishly upon figure-heads and equipment, and one
and all making the utmost exertions
to enable their own ships to excel in beauty and fast sailing.
Meanwhile the land forces had been
picked from the best muster-rolls, and vied with each other in
paying great attention to their arms
and personal accoutrements. [4] From this resulted not only a
rivalry among themselves in their

different departments, but an idea among the rest of the
Hellenes that it was more a display of
power and resources than an armament against an enemy. [5]
For if anyone had counted up the
public expenditure of the state, and the private outlay of
individuals—that is to say, the sums
which the state had already spent upon the expedition and was
sending out in the hands of the
generals, and those which individuals had expended upon their
personal outfit, or as captains of
galleys had laid out and were still to lay out upon their vessels;
and if he had added to this the
journey money which each was likely to have provided himself
with, independently of the pay
from the treasury, for a voyage of such length, and what the
soldiers or traders took with them
for the purpose of exchange—it would have been found that
many talents in all were being taken
out of the city. [6] Indeed the expedition became not less
famous for its wonderful boldness and
for the splendour of its appearance, than for its overwhelming
strength as compared with the
peoples against whom it was directed, and for the fact that this
was the longest passage from
home hitherto attempted, and the most ambitious in its objects
considering the resources of those
who undertook it.
32. The ships being now manned, and everything put on board
with which they meant to sail, the
trumpet commanded silence, and the prayers customary before
putting out to sea were offered,
not in each ship by itself, but by all together to the voice of a
herald; and bowls of wine were
mixed through all the armament, and libations made by the
soldiers and their officers in gold and

silver goblets. [2] In their prayers joined also the crowds on
shore, the citizens and all others that
wished them well. The hymn sung and the libations finished,
they put out to sea, and first sailing
out in column then raced each other as far as Aegina, and so
hastened to reach Corcyra where the
rest of the allied forces were also assembling.
. . .
6.60. With these events in their minds, and recalling everything
they knew by hearsay on the
subject, the Athenian people grew difficult of humour and
suspicious of the persons charged in
the affair of the mysteries, and persuaded that all that had taken
place was part of an oligarchical
and monarchical conspiracy. [2] In the state of irritation thus
produced, many persons of
consideration had been already thrown into prison, and far from
showing any signs of abating,
public feeling grew daily more savage, and more arrests were
made; until at last one of those in
custody, thought to be the most guilty of all, was induced by a
fellow-prisoner to make a
revelation, whether true or not is a matter on which there are
two opinions, no one having been
able, either then or since, to say for certain who did the deed.
[3] However this may be, the other

found arguments to persuade him, that even if he had not done
it, he ought to save himself by
gaining a promise of impunity, and free the state of its present
suspicions; as he would be surer
of safety if he confessed after promise of impunity than if he
denied and were brought to trial. [4]
He accordingly made a revelation, affecting himself and others
in the affair of the Hermae; and
the Athenian people, glad at last, as they supposed, to get at the
truth, and furious until then at
not being able to discover those who had conspired against the
commons, at once let go the
informer and all the rest whom he had not denounced, and
bringing the accused to trial executed
as many as were apprehended, and condemned to death such as
had fled and set a price upon
their heads. [5] In this it was, after all, not clear whether the
sufferers had been punished
unjustly, while in any case the rest of the city received
immediate and manifest relief.
61. To return to Alcibiades: public feeling was very hostile to
him, being worked on by the same
enemies who had attacked him before he went out; and now that
the Athenians fancied that they
had got at the truth of the matter of the Hermae, they believed
more firmly than ever that the
affair of the mysteries also, in which he was implicated, had
been contrived by him in the same
intention and was connected with the plot against the
democracy. [2] Meanwhile it so happened
that, just at the time of this agitation, a small force of
Lacedaemonians had advanced as far as the
Isthmus, in pursuance of some scheme with the Boeotians. It
was now thought that this had come
by appointment, at his instigation, and not on account of the

Boeotians, and that if the citizens
had not acted on the information received, and forestalled them
by arresting the prisoners, the
city would have been betrayed. The citizens went so far as to
sleep one night armed in the temple
of Theseus within the walls. [3] The friends also of Alcibiades
at Argos were just at this time
suspected of a design to attack the commons; and the Argive
hostages deposited in the islands
were given up by the Athenians to the Argive people to be put
to death upon that account: [4] in
short, everywhere something was found to create suspicion
against Alcibiades. It was therefore
decided to bring him to trial and execute him, and the Salaminia
was sent to Sicily for him and
the others named in the information, with instructions to order
him to come and answer the
charges against him, [5] but not to arrest him, because they
wished to avoid causing any agitation
in the army or among the enemy in Sicily, and above all to
retain the services of the Mantineans
and Argives, who, it was thought, had been induced to join by
his influence. [6] Alcibiades, with
his own ship and his fellow-accused, accordingly sailed off with
the Salaminia from Sicily, as
though to return to Athens, and went with her as far as Thurii,
and there they left the ship and
disappeared, being afraid to go home for trial with such a
prejudice existing against them. [7]
The crew of the Salaminia stayed some time looking for
Alcibiades and his companions, and at
length, as they were nowhere to be found, set sail and departed.
Alcibiades, now an outlaw,
crossed in a boat not long after from Thurii to Peloponnese; and
the Athenians passed sentence
of death by default upon him and those in his company.

(Translation by J. M. Dent, 1910)
2. Andocides, On the Mysteries (Andoc. 1.33-68) [composed c.
399 BC)
[33] I have committed no offence, and completely satisfy you of
the fact, then I ask you to let the
whole nation see that I have been brought to trial wrongfully.
Should Cephisius here, who was
responsible for the information laid against me, fail to gain one-
fifth of your votes and so lose his
rights as a citizen, he is forbidden to set foot within the
sanctuary of the Two Goddesses under
pain of death. And now, if you think my defence satisfactory up
to the present, show your
approval, so that I may present what remains with increased
confidence.
[34] Next comes the mutilation of the images and the
denunciation of those responsible. I will do
as I promised and tell you the whole story from the beginning.
On his return from Megara
Teucrus was guaranteed his immunity. Hereupon, besides
communicating what he knew about
the Mysteries, he gave a list of eighteen of those responsible for
the mutilation of the images. Of

these eighteen, a number fled the country upon being
denounced; the remainder were arrested
and executed upon the information lodged by Teucrus. Kindly
read their names.
[35] In the matter of the Hermae Teucrus denounced:
“Euctemon, Glaucippus, Eurymachus,
Polyeuctus, Plato, Antidorus, Charippus, Theodorus,
Alcisthenes, Menestratus, Eryximachus,
Euphiletus, Eurydamas, Pherecles, Meletus, Timanthes,
Archidamus, Telenicus.”
A number of these men have returned to Athens and are present
in court, as are several of the
relatives of those who have died. Any of them is welcome to
step up here, during the time now
allotted me, and prove against me that I caused either the exile
or the death of a single one.
[36] And now for what followed. Peisander and Charicles, who
were regarded in those days as
the most fervent of democrats, were members of the commission
of inquiry. These two
maintained that the outrage was not the work of a small group
of criminals, but an organized
attempt to overthrow the popular government: and that therefore
inquiries ought still to be
pursued as vigorously as ever. As a result, Athens reached such
a state that the lowering of the
flag, by the Herald, when summoning a meeting of the Council,
was quite as much a signal for
the citizens to hurry from the Agora, each in terror of arrest, as
it was for the Council to proceed
to the Council-chamber.
[37] The general distress encouraged Diocleides to bring an
impeachment before the Council. He

claimed that he knew who had mutilated the Hermae, and gave
their number as roughly three
hundred. He then went on to explain how he had come to
witness the outrage. Now I want you to
think carefully here, gentlemen; try to remember whether I am
telling the truth, and inform your
companions; for it was before you that Diocleides stated his
case, and you are my witnesses of
what occurred.
[38] Diocleides' tale was that he had had to fetch the earnings of
a slave of his at Laurium. He
arose at an early hour, mistaking the time, and started off on his
walk by the light of a fuIl moon.
As he was passing the gateway of the theatre of Dionysus, he
noticed a large body of men
coming down into the orchestra from the Odeum. In alarm, he
withdrew into the shadow and
crouched down between the column and the pedestal with the
bronze statue of the general upon
it. He then saw some three hundred men standing about in
groups of five and ten and, in some
cases, twenty. He recognized the faces of the majority, as he
could see them in the moonlight.
[39] Now to begin with, gentlemen, Diocleides gave his story
this particular form simply to be in
a position to say of any citizen, according as he chose, that he
was or was not one of the
offenders—a monstrous proceeding. However, to continue his
tale: after seeing what he had, he

went on to Laurium; and when he learned next day of the
mutilation of the Hermae, he knew at
once that it was the work of the men he had noticed. [40] On his
return to Athens he found a
commission already appointed to investigate, and a reward of
one hundred minae offered for
information; so, seeing Euphemus, the brother of Callias, son of
Telocles, sitting in his smithy,
he took him to the temple of Hephaestus. Then, after describing,
as I have described to you, how
he had seen us on the night in question, he said that he would
rather take our money than the
state's, as he would thereby avoid making enemies of us.
Euphemus thanked Diocleides for
confiding in him. “And now,” he added, “be good enough to
come to Leogoras' house, so that
you and I can see Andocides and the others who must be
consulted.” [41] According to his story,
Diocleides called next day. My father happened to be coming
out just as he was knocking at the
door. “Are you the man they are expecting in there?” he asked.
“Well, well, we must not turn
friends like you away.” And with these words he went off. This
was an attempt to bring about
my father's death by showing that he was in the secret.
We informed Diocleides, or so he alleged, that we had decided
to offer him two talents of silver,
as against the hundred minae from the Treasury, and promised
that he should become one of
ourselves, if we achieved our end. Both sides were to give a
guarantee of good faith. Diocleides
replied that he would think it over; [42] and we told him to meet
us at Callias' house, so that
Callias, son of Telocles, might be present as well. This was a
similar attempt to bring about the

death of my brother-in-law.
Diocleides said that he went to Callias' house, and after terms
had been arranged, pledged his
word on the Acropolis. we on our side agreed to give him the
money the following month; but
we broke our promise and did not do so. He had therefore come
to reveal the truth.
[43] Such was the impeachment brought by Diocleides,
gentlemen. He gave a list of forty-two
persons whom he claimed to have recognized, and at the head of
the forty-two appeared
Mantitheus and Apsephion who were members of the Council
and present at that very meeting.
Peisander hereupon rose and moved that the decree passed in
the archonship of Scamandrius be
suspended and all whose names were on the list sent to the
wheel, to ensure the discovery of
everyone concerned before nightfall. The Council broke into
shouts of approval. [44] At that
Mantitheus and Apsephion took sanctuary on the hearth, and
appealed to be allowed to furnish
sureties and stand trial, instead of being racked. They finally
managed to gain their request; but
no sooner had they provided their sureties than they leapt on
horseback and deserted to the
enemy, leaving the sureties to their fate, as they were now liable
to the same penalties as the
prisoners for whom they had gone bail.
[45] The Council adjourned for a private consultation and in the
course of it gave orders for our
arrest and close confinement. Then they summoned the Generals
and bade them proclaim that
citizens resident in Athens proper were to proceed under arms

to the Agora; those between the
Long Walls to the Theseum; and those in Peiraeus to the Agora
of Hippodamus. The Knights
were to be mustered at the Anaceum by trumpet before
nightfall, while the Council would take
up its quarters on the Acropolis for the night, and the Prytanes
in the Tholus.
[46] Now first of all I want those of you who witnessed all this
to picture it once more and
describe it to those who did not. Next I will ask the clerk to call
the Prytanes in office at the time,
Philocrates and his colleagues.
[47] And now I am also going to read you the names of those
denounced by Diocleides, so that
you may see how many relatives of mine he tried to ruin. First
there was my father, and then my
brother-in-law; my father he had represented as in the secret,
while he had alleged that my
brother-in-law's house was the scene of the meeting. The names
of the rest you shall hear. Read
them out to the court.
“Charmides, son of Aristoteles.”
That is a cousin of mine; his mother and my father were brother
and sister.
“Taureas.” That is, a cousin of my father's.

“Nisaeus.”
A son of Taureas.
“Callias, son of Alcmaeon.”
A cousin of my father's.
“Euphemus.”
A brother of Callias, son of Telocles.
“Phrynichus, son of Orchesamenus.”
A cousin. “Eucrates.”
The brother of Nicias. He is Callias' brother-in-law.
“Critias.”
Another cousin of my father's; their mothers were sisters.
All of these appeared among the last forty on Diocleides' list.
[48] We were all thrown into one prison. Darkness fell, and the
gates were shut. Mothers, sisters,
wives, and children had gathered. Nothing was to be heard save
the cries and moans of grief-
stricken wretches bewailing the calamity which had overtaken

them. In the midst of it all,
Charmides, a cousin of my own age who had been brought up
with me in my own home since
boyhood, said to me: [49] “You see the utter hopelessness of
our position, Andocides. I have
never yet wished to say anything which might distress you: but
now our plight leaves me no
choice. Your friends and associates outside the family have all
been subjected to the charges
which are now to prove our own undoing: and half of them have
been put to death—while the
other half have admitted their guilt by going into exile. [50] I
beg of you: if you have heard
anything concerning this affair, disclose it. Save yourself: save
your father, who must be dearer
to you than anyone in the world: save your brother-in-law, the
husband of your only sister: save
all those others who are bound to you by ties of blood and
family: and lastly, save me, who have
never vexed you in my life and who am ever ready to do
anything for you and your good.”
[51] At this appeal from Charmides, gentlemen, which was
echoed by the rest, who each
addressed their entreaties to me in turn, I thought to myself:
“Never, oh, never has a man found
himself in a more terrible strait than I. Am I to look on while
my own kindred perish for a crime
which they have not committed: while they themselves are put
to death and their goods are
confiscated: yet still, while the names of persons entirely
innocent of the deed which has been
done are inscribed upon stones of record as the names of men
accursed in the sight of heaven?
Am I to pay no heed to three hundred Athenians who are to be
wrongfully put to death, to the

desperate plight of Athens, to the suspicions of citizen for
citizen? Or am I to reveal to my
countrymen the story told me by the true criminal, Euphiletus?”
[52] Then a further thought struck me, gentlemen. I reminded
myself that a number of the
offenders responsible for the mutilation had already been
executed upon the information lodged
by Teucrus, while yet others had escaped into exile and been
sentenced to death in their absence.
In fact, there remained only four of the criminals whose names
had not been divulged by
Teucrus: Panaetius, Chaeredemus, Diacritus, and Lysistratus;
[53] and it was only natural to
assume that they had been among the first to be denounced by
Diocleides, as they were friends of
those who had already been put to death. It was thus still
doubtful whether they would escape:
but it was certain that my own kindred would perish, unless
Athens learned the truth. So, I
decided that it was better to cut off from their country four men
who richly deserved it—men
alive today and restored to home and property—than to let those
others go to a death which they
had done nothing whatever to deserve.
[54] If, then, any of you yourselves, gentlemen, or any of the
public at large has ever been
possessed with the notion that I informed against my associates
with the object of purchasing my
own life at the price of theirs—a tale invented by my enemies,
who wished to present me in the
blackest colours—use the facts themselves as evidence; [55] for
today not only is it incumbent
upon me to give a faithful account of myself—I am in the
presence, remember, of the actual

offenders who went into exile after committing the crime which
we are discussing; they know
better than anyone whether I am lying or not, and they have my
permission to interrupt me and
prove that what I am saying is untrue—but it is no less
incumbent upon you to discover what
truly happened. [56] I say this, gentlemen, because the chief
task confronting me in this trial is to
prevent anyone thinking the worse of me on account of my
escape: to make first you and then the
whole world understand that the explanation of my behaviour
from start to finish lay in the
desperate plight of Athens and, to a lesser degree, in that of my
own family, not in any lack of
principles or courage: to make you understand that, in
disclosing that Euphiletus had told me, I
was actuated solely by my concern for my relatives and friends
and by my concern for the state
as a whole, motives which I for one consider not a disgrace but
a credit. If this proves to be the
truth of the matter, I think it only my due that I should be
acquitted with my good name
unimpaired.
[57] Come now, in considering a case, a judge should make
allowances for human shortcomings,
gentlemen, as he would do, were he in the same plight himself.
What would each of you have
done? Had the choice lain between dying a noble death and
preserving my life at the cost of my

honour, my behaviour might well be described as base—though
many would have made exactly
the same choice; they would rather have remained alive than
have died like heroes. [58] But the
alternatives before me were precisely the opposite. On the other
hand, if I remained silent, I
myself died in disgrace for an act of impiety which I had not
committed, and I allowed my
father, my brother-in-law, and a host of my relatives and
cousins to perish in addition. Yes, I, and
I alone, was sending them to their death, if I refused to say that
others were to blame; for
Diocleides had thrown them into prison by his lies, and they
could only be rescued if their
countrymen were put in full possession of the facts; therefore, I
became their murderer if I
refused to tell what I had heard. Besides this, I was causing
three hundred citizens to perish;
while the plight of Athens was growing desperate. [59] That is
what silence meant. On the other
hand, by revealing the truth I saved my own life, I saved my
father, I saved the rest of my family,
and I freed Athens from the panic which was working such
havoc. True, I was sending four men
into exile; but all four were guilty. And for the others, who had
already been denounced by
Teucrus, I am sure that none of them, whether dead or in exile,
was one whit the worse off for
any disclosures of mine.
[60] Taking all this into consideration, gentlemen, I found that
the least objectionable of the
courses open to me was to tell the truth as quickly as possible,
to prove that Diocleides had lied,
and so to punish the scoundrel who was causing us to be put to
death wrongfully and imposing

upon the public, while in return he was being hailed as a
supreme benefactor and rewarded for
his services. [61] I therefore informed the Council that I knew
the offenders, and showed exactly
what had occurred. The idea, I said, had been suggested by
Euphiletus at a drinking-party; but I
opposed it, and succeeded in preventing its execution for the
time being. Later, however, I was
thrown from a colt of mine in Cynosarges; I broke my collar-
bone and fractured my skull, and
had to be taken home on a litter. [62] When Euphiletus saw my
condition, he informed the others
that I had consented to join them and had promised him to
mutilate the Hermes next to the shrine
of Phorbas as my share in the escapade. He told them this to
hoodwink them; and that is why the
Hermes which you can all see standing close to the home of our
family, the Hermes dedicated by
the Aegeid tribe, was the only one in Athens unmutilated, it
being understood that I would attend
to it as Euphiletus had promised.
[63] When the others learned the truth, they were furious to
think that I was in the secret without
having taken any active part; and the next day I received a visit
from Meletus and Euphiletus.
“We have managed it all right, Andocides,” they told me. “Now
if you will consent to keep quiet
and say nothing, you will find us just as good friends as before.
If you do not, you will find that
you have been much more successful at making enemies of us
than at making fresh friends by
turning traitor to us.” [64] I replied that I certainly thought
Euphiletus a scoundrel for acting as

he had; although he and his companions had far less to fear
from my being in the secret than
from the mere fact that the deed was done.
I supported this account by handing over my slave for torture,
to prove that I was ill at the time
in question and had not even left my bed; and the Prytanes
arrested the women-servants in the
house which the criminals had used as their base. [65] The
Council and the commission of
inquiry went into the matter closely, and when at length they
found that it was as I said and that
the witnesses corroborated me without exception, they
summoned Diocleides. He, however,
made a long cross-examination unnecessary by admitting at
once that he had been lying, and
begged that he might be pardoned if he disclosed who had
induced him to tell his story; the
culprits, he said, were Alcibiades of Phegus and Amiantus of
Aegina. [66] Alcibiades and
Amiantus fled from the country in terror; and when you heard
the facts yourselves, you handed
Diocleides over to the court and put him to death. You released
the prisoners awaiting
execution—my relatives, who owed their escape to me alone—
you welcomed back the exiles,
and yourselves shouldered arms and dispersed, freed from grave
danger and distress.
[67] Not only do the circumstances in which I here found
myself entitle me to the sympathy of
all, gentlemen, but my conduct can leave you in no doubt about

my integrity. When Euphiletus
suggested that we pledge ourselves to what was the worst
possible treachery, I opposed him, I
attacked him, I heaped on him the scorn which he deserved. Yet
once his companions had
committed the crime, I kept their secret; it was Teucrus who
lodged the information which led to
their death or exile, before we had been thrown into prison by
Diocleides or were threatened with
death. After our imprisonment, I denounced four persons:
Panaetius, Diacritus, Lysistratus, and
Chaeredemus. [68] I was responsible for the exile of these four,
I admit; but I saved my father,
my brother-in-law, three cousins, and seven other relatives, all
of whom were about to be put to
death wrongfully; they owe it to me that they are still looking
on the light of day, and they are
the first to acknowledge it. In addition, the scoundrel who had
thrown the whole of Athens into
chaos and endangered her very existence was exposed; and your
own suspense and suspicions of
one another were at an end.
(Translation by K. J. Maidment, 1968)
3. Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library (Book 13.2-5)
[composed c. 80s BC]

13.2 [1] When Chabrias was archon in Athens, the Romans
elected in place of consuls three
military tribunes, Lucius Sergius, Marcus Papirius, and Marcus
Servilius. This year the
Athenians, pursuant to their vote of the war against the
Syracusans, got ready the ships, collected
the money, and proceeded with great zeal to make every
preparation for the campaign. They
elected three generals, Alcibiades, Nicias, and Lamachus, and
gave them full powers over all
matters pertaining to the war. [2] Of the private citizens those
who had the means, wishing to
indulge the enthusiasm of the populace, in some instances fitted
out triremes at their own
expense and in others engaged to donate money for the
maintenance of the forces; and many, not
only from among the citizens and aliens of Athens who favoured
the democracy but also from
among the allies, voluntarily went to the generals and urged that
they be enrolled among the
soldiers. To such a degree were they all buoyed up in their
hopes and looking forward forthwith
to portioning out Sicily in allotments.
[3] And the expedition was already fully prepared when it came
to pass that in a single night the
statues of Hermes which stood everywhere throughout the city
were mutilated. At this the
people, believing that the deed had not been done by ordinary
persons but by men who stood in
high repute and were bent upon the overthrow of the democracy,
were incensed at the sacrilege
and undertook a search for the perpetrators, offering large
rewards to anyone who would furnish
information against them. [4] And a certain private citizen,

appearing before the Council, stated
that he had seen certain men enter the house of a resident alien
about the middle of the night on
the first day of the new moon and that one of them was
Alcibiades. When he was questioned by
the Council and asked how he could recognize the faces at
night, he replied that he had seen
them by the light of the moon. Since, then, the man had
convicted himself of lying, no credence
was given to his story, and of other investigators not a man was
able to discover a single clue to
the deed.
[5] One hundred and forty triremes were equipped, and of
transports and ships to carry horses as
well as ships to convey food and all other equipment there was
a huge number; and there were
also hoplites and slingers as well as cavalry, and in addition
more than seven thousand men from
the allies, not including the crews.
. . .
13.5 [1] While these events were taking place, those in Athens
who hated Alcibiades with a
personal enmity, possessing now an excuse in the mutilation of
the statues, accused him in
speeches before the Assembly of having formed a conspiracy
against the democracy. Their
charges gained colour from an incident that had taken place
among the Argives; for private
friends of his in that city had agreed together to destroy the
democracy in Argos, but they had all
been put to death by the citizens. [2] Accordingly the people,
having given credence to the
accusations and having had their feelings deeply aroused by

their demagogues, dispatched their
ship, the Salaminia, to Sicily with orders for Alcibiades to
return with all speed to face trial.
When the ship arrived at Catane and Alcibiades learned of the
decision of the people from the
ambassadors, he took the others who had been accused together
with him aboard his own trireme
and sailed away in company with the Salaminia. [3] But when
he had put in at Thurii,
Alcibiades, either because he was privy to the deed of impiety
or because he was alarmed at the
seriousness of the danger which threatened him, made his
escape together with the other accused
men and got away. The ambassadors who had come on the
Salaminia at first set up a hunt for
Alcibiades, but when they could not find him, they sailed back
to Athens and reported to the
people what had taken place. [4] Accordingly the Athenians
brought the names of Alcibiades and
the other fugitives with him before a court of justice and
condemned them in default to death.
And Alcibiades made his way across from Italy to the
Peloponnesus, where he took refuge in
Sparta and spurred on the Lacedaemonians to attack the
Athenians.
(Translation by C. H. Oldfather, 1989)

4. Plutarch, The Life of Alcibiades (17-23) [composed c. 100
AD]
17. [1] On Sicily the Athenians had cast longing eyes even
while Pericles was living; and after
his death they actually tried to lay hands upon it. The lesser
expeditions which they sent thither
from time to time, ostensibly for the aid and comfort of their
allies on the island who were being
wronged by the Syracusans, they regarded merely as stepping
stones to the greater expedition of
conquest. [2] But the man who finally fanned this desire of
theirs into flame, and persuaded them
not to attempt the island any more in part and little by little, but
to sail thither with a great
armament and subdue it utterly, was Alcibiades; he persuaded
the people to have great hopes,
and he himself had greater aspirations still. Such were his hopes
that he regarded Sicily as a mere
beginning, and not, like the rest, as an end of the expedition. [3]
So while Nicias was trying to
divert the people from the capture of Syracuse as an
undertaking too difficult for them,
Alcibiades was dreaming of Carthage and Libya, and, after
winning these, of at once
encompassing Italy and Peloponnesus. He almost regarded
Sicily as the ways and means
provided for his greater war. The young men were at once
carried away on the wings of such

hopes, and their elders kept recounting in their ears many
wonderful things about the projected
expedition. Many were they who sat in the palaestras and
lounging-places mapping out in the
sand the shape of Sicily and the position of Libya and Carthage.
[4] Socrates the philosopher, however, and Meton the
astrologer, are said to have had no hopes
that any good would come to the city from this expedition;
Socrates, as it is likely, because he
got an inkling of the future from the divine guide who was his
familiar. Meton—whether his fear
of the future arose from mere calculation or from his use of
some sort of divination—feigned
madness, and seizing a blazing torch, was like to have set fire to
his own house. [5] Some say,
however, that Meton made no pretense of madness, but actually
did burn his house down in the
night, and then, in the morning, came before the people begging
and praying that, in view of his
great calamity, his son might be released from the expedition.
At any rate, he succeeded in
cheating his fellow citizens, and obtained his desire.
18. [1] Nicias was elected general against his will, and he was
anxious to avoid the command
most of all because of his fellow commander. For it had seemed
to the Athenians that the war
would go on better if they did not send out Alcibiades
unblended, but rather tempered his rash
daring with the prudent forethought of Nicias. As for the third
general, Lamachus, though
advanced in years, he was thought, age notwithstanding, to be
no less fiery than Alcibiades, and
quite as fond of taking risks in battle. [2] During the
deliberations of the people on the extent and

character of the armament, Nicias again tried to oppose their
wishes and put a stop to the war.
But Alcibiades answered all his arguments and carried the day,
and then Demostratus, the orator,
formally moved that the generals have full and independent
powers in the matter of the
armament and of the whole war.
After the people had adopted this motion and all things were
made ready for the departure of the
fleet, there were some unpropitious signs and portents,
especially in connection with the festival,
namely, the Adonia. [3] This fell at that time, and little images
like dead folk carried forth to
burial were in many places exposed to view by the women, who
mimicked burial rites, beat their
breasts, and sang dirges. Moreover, the mutilation of the
Hermae, most of which, in a single
night, had their faces and forms disfigured, confounded the
hearts of many, even among those
who usually set small store by such things. It was said, it is
true, that Corinthians had done the
deed, Syracuse being a colony of theirs, in the hope that such
portents would check or stop the
war. [4] The multitude, however, were not moved by this
reasoning, nor by that of those who
thought the affair no terrible sign at all, but rather one of the
common effects of strong wine,
when dissolute youth, in mere sport, are carried away into
wanton acts. They looked on the

occurrence with wrath and fear, thinking it the sign of a bold
and dangerous conspiracy. They
therefore scrutinized keenly every suspicious circumstance, the
council and the assembly
convening for this purpose many times within a few days.
19. [1] During this time Androcles, the popular leader, produced
sundry aliens and slaves who
accused Alcibiades and his friends of mutilating other sacred
images, and of making a parody of
the mysteries of Eleusis in a drunken revel. They said that one
Theodorus played the part of the
Herald, Pulytion that of the Torch-bearer, and Alcibiades that of
the High Priest, and that the rest
of his companions were there in the role of initiates, and were
dubbed Mystae. [2] Such indeed
was the purport of the impeachment which Thessalus, the son of
Cimon, brought in to the
assembly, impeaching Alcibiades for impiety towards the
Eleusinian goddesses. The people were
exasperated, and felt bitterly towards Alcibiades, and
Androcles, who was his mortal enemy,
egged them on. At first Alcibiades was confounded. [3] But
perceiving that all the seamen and
soldiers who were going to sail for Sicily were friendly to him,
and hearing that the Argive and
Mantinean men-at-arms, a thousand in number, declared plainly
that it was all because of
Alcibiades that they were making their long expedition across
the seas, and that if any wrong
should be done him they would at once abandon it, he took
courage, and insisted on an
immediate opportunity to defend himself before the people. His
enemies were now in their turn
dejected; they feared lest the people should be too lenient in
their judgement of him because they

needed him so much.
[4] Accordingly, they devised that certain orators who were not
looked upon as enemies of
Alcibiades, but who really hated him no less than his avowed
foes, should rise in the assembly
and say that it was absurd, when a general had been appointed,
with full powers, over such a vast
force, and when his armament and allies were all assembled, to
destroy his beckoning
opportunity by casting lots for jurors and measuring out time
for the case. ‘Nay,’ they said, ‘let
him sail now, and Heaven be with him! But when the war is
over, then let him come and make
his defence. The laws will be the same then as now.’ [5] Of
course the malice in this
postponement did not escape Alcibiades. He declared in the
assembly that it was a terrible
misfortune to be sent off at the head of such a vast force with
his case still in suspense, leaving
behind him vague accusations and slanders; he ought to be put
to death if he did not refute them;
but if he did refute them and prove his innocence, he ought to
proceed against the enemy without
any fear of the public informers at home.
20. [1] He could not carry his point, however, but was ordered
to set sail. So, he put to sea along
with his fellow generals, having not much fewer than one
hundred and forty triremes; fifty-one
hundred men-at-arms; about thirteen hundred archers, slingers,
and light-armed folk; and the rest
of his equipment to correspond. [2] On reaching Italy and taking
Rhegium, he proposed a plan

for the conduct of the war. Nicias opposed it, but Lamachus
approved it, and so he sailed to
Sicily. He secured the allegiance of Catana, but accomplished
nothing further, since he was
presently summoned home by the Athenians to stand his trial.
At first, as I have said, sundry vague suspicions and calumnies
against Alcibiades were advanced
by aliens and slaves. [3] Afterwards, during his absence, his
enemies went to work more
vigorously. They brought the outrage upon the Hermae and upon
the Eleusinian mysteries under
one and the same design; both, they said, were fruits of a
conspiracy to subvert the government,
and so all who were accused of any complicity whatsoever
therein were cast into prison without
trial. The people were provoked with themselves for not
bringing Alcibiades to trial and
judgment at the time on such grave charges, [4] and any
kinsman or friend or comrade of his
who fell afoul of their wrath against him, found them
exceedingly severe. Thucydides neglected
to mention the informers by name, but others give their names
as Diocleides and Teucer. For
instance, Phrynichus the comic poet referred to them thus:—
Look out too, dearest Hermes, not to get a fall,
And mar your looks, and so equip with calumny
Another Diocleides bent on wreaking harm.
And the Hermes replies:—
I'm on the watch; there's Teucer, too; I would not give

A prize for tattling to an alien of his guilt.
[5] And yet there was nothing sure or steadfast in the statements
of the informers. One of them,
indeed, was asked how he recognized the faces of the Hermae-
defacers, and replied, ‘By the light
of the moon.’ This vitiated his whole story, since there was no
moon at all when the deed was
done. Sensible men were troubled thereat, but even this did not
soften the people's feeling
towards the slanderous stories. As they had set out to do in the
beginning, so they continued,
haling and casting into prison anyone who was denounced.
21. [1] Among those thus held in bonds and imprisonment for
trial was Andocides the orator,
whom Hellanicus the historian included among the descendants
of Odysseus. He was held to be a
foe to popular government, and an oligarch, but what most made
him suspected of the mutilation
of the Hermae, was the tall Hermes which stood near his house,
a dedication of the Aegeid tribe.
[2] This was almost the only one among the very few statues of
like prominence to remain
unharmed. For this reason, it is called to this day the Hermes of
Andocides. Everybody gives it
that name, in spite of the adverse testimony of its inscription.
Now it happened that, of all those lying in prison with him
under the same charge, Andocides
became most intimate and friendly with a man named Timaeus,
of less repute than himself, it is
true, but of great sagacity and daring. [3] This man persuaded
Andocides to turn state's evidence
against himself and a few others. If he confessed,—so the man
argued,—he would have

immunity from punishment by decree of the people; whereas the
result of the trial, while
uncertain in all cases, was most to be dreaded in that of
influential men like himself. It was better
to save his life by a false confession of crime, than to die a
shameful death under a false charge
of that crime. One who had an eye to the general welfare of the
community might well abandon
to their fate a few dubious characters, if he could thereby save a
multitude of good men from the
wrath of the people. [4] By such arguments of Timaeus,
Andocides was at last persuaded to bear
witness against himself and others. He himself received the
immunity from punishment which
had been decreed; but all those whom he named, excepting such
as took to flight, were put to
death, and Andocides added to their number some of his own
household servants, that he might
the better be believed.
[5] Still, the people did not lay aside all their wrath at this
point, but rather, now that they were
done with the Hermae-defacers, as if their passion had all the
more opportunity to vent itself,
they dashed like a torrent against Alcibiades, and finally
dispatched the Salaminian state-galley
to fetch him home. They shrewdly gave its officers explicit
command not to use violence, nor to
seize his person, but with all moderation of speech to bid him
accompany them home to stand his

trial and satisfy the people. [6] For they were afraid that their
army, in an enemy's land, would be
full of tumult and mutiny at the summons. And Alcibiades
might easily have effected this had he
wished. For the men were cast down at his departure, and
expected that the war, under the
conduct of Nicias, would be drawn out to a great length by
delays and inactivity, now that their
goad to action had been taken away. Lamachus, it is true, was a
good soldier and a brave man;
but he lacked authority and prestige because he was poor.
22. [1] Alcibiades had no sooner sailed away than he robbed the
Athenians of Messana. There
was a party there who were on the point of surrendering the city
to the Athenians, but Alcibiades
knew them, and gave the clearest information of their design to
the friends of Syracuse in the
city, and so brought the thing to naught. Arrived at Thurii, he
left his trireme and hid himself so
as to escape all quest. [2] When someone recognized him and
asked, ‘Can you not trust your
country, Alcibiades?’ ‘In all else,’ he said, ‘but in the matter of
life I wouldn't trust even my own
mother not to mistake a black for a white ballot when she cast
her vote.’ And when he afterwards
heard that the city had condemned him to death, ‘I'll show
them,’ he said, ‘that I'm alive.’
[3] His impeachment is on record, and runs as follows:
‘Thessalus, son of Cimon, of the deme
Laciadae, impeaches Alcibiades, son of Cleinias, of the deme
Scambonidae, for committing
crime against the goddesses of Eleusis, Demeter and Cora, by
mimicking the mysteries and
showing them forth to his companions in his own house,
wearing a robe such as the High Priest

wears when he shows forth the sacred secrets to the initiates,
and calling himself High Priest,
Pulytion Torch-bearer, and Theodorus, of the deme Phegaea,
Herald, and hailing the rest of his
companions as Mystae and Epoptae, contrary to the laws and
institutions of the Eumolpidae,
Heralds, and Priests of Eleusis.’ [4] His case went by default,
his property was confiscated, and
besides that, it was also decreed that his name should be
publicly cursed by all priests and
priestesses. Theano, the daughter of Menon, of the deme
Agraule, they say, was the only one
who refused to obey this decree. She declared that she was a
praying, not a cursing priestess.
23. [1] When these great judgments and condemnations were
passed upon Alcibiades, he was
tarrying in Argos, for as soon as he had made his escape from
Thurii, he passed over into
Peloponnesus. But fearing his foes there, and renouncing his
country altogether, he sent to the
Spartans, demanding immunity and confidence, and promising
to render them aid and service
greater than all the harm he had previously done them as an
enemy. [2] The Spartans granted this
request and received him among them. No sooner was he come
than he zealously brought one
thing to pass: they had been delaying and postponing assistance
to Syracuse; he roused and
incited them to send Gylippus thither for a commander, and to

crush the force which Athens had
there. A second thing he did was to get them to stir up the war
against Athens at home; and the
third, and most important of all, to induce them to fortify
Deceleia. This more than anything else
wrought ruin and destruction to his native city.
[3] At Sparta, he was held in high repute publicly, and privately
was no less admired. The
multitude was brought under his influence, and was actually
bewitched, by his assumption of the
Spartan mode of life. When they saw him with his hair
untrimmed, taking cold baths, on terms of
intimacy with their coarse bread, and supping black porridge,
they could scarcely trust their eyes,
and doubted whether such a man as he now was had ever had a
cook in his own house, had even
so much as looked upon a perfumer, or endured the touch of
Milesian wool. [4] He had, as they
say, one power which transcended all others, and proved an
implement of his chase for men: that
of assimilating and adapting himself to the pursuits and lives of
others, thereby assuming more
violent changes than the chameleon. That animal, however, as it
is said, is utterly unable to
assume one color, namely, white; but Alcibiades could associate
with good and bad alike, and
found naught that he could not imitate and practice. [5] In
Sparta, he was all for bodily training,
simplicity of life, and severity of countenance; in Ionia, for
luxurious ease and pleasure; in
Thrace for drinking deep; in Thessaly, for riding hard; and when
he was thrown with
Tissaphernes the satrap, he outdid even Persian magnificence in
his pomp and lavishness. It was
not that he could so easily pass entirely from one manner of

man to another, nor that he actually
underwent in every case a change in his real character; but when
he saw that his natural manners
were likely to be annoying to his associates, he was quick to
assume any counterfeit exterior
which might in each case be suitable for them. [6] At all events,
in Sparta, so far as the outside
was concerned, it was possible to say of him, ‘‘No child of
Achilles he, but Achilles himself,’
such a man as Lycurgus trained’; but judging by what he
actually felt and did, one might have
cried with the poet, ‘'Tis the selfsame woman still!’
[7] For while Agis the king was away on his campaigns,
Alcibiades corrupted Timaea his wife,
so that she was with child by him and made no denial of it.
When she had given birth to a male
child, it was called Leotychides in public, but in private the
name which the boy's mother
whispered to her friends and attendants was Alcibiades. Such
was the passion that possessed the
woman. But he, in his mocking way, said he had not done this
thing for a wanton insult, nor at
the behest of mere pleasure, but in order that descendants of his
might be kings of the
Lacedaemonians. [8] Such being the state of things, there were
many to tell the tale to Agis, and
he believed it, more especially owing to the lapse of time. There
had been an earthquake, and he
had run in terror out of his chamber and the arms of his wife,
and then for ten months had had no
further intercourse with her. And since Leotychides had been
born at the end of this period, Agis
declared that he was no child of his. For this reason,
Leotychides was afterwards refused the
royal succession.

(Translation by B. Perrin, 1916)
5. Plutarch, The Life of Nicias (12-14.4) [composed c. 100 AD]
Before the assembly had met at all, Alcibiades had already
corrupted the multitude and got them
into his power by means of his sanguine promises, so that the
youth in their training-schools and
the old men in their work-shops and lounging-places would sit
in cluster drawing maps of Sicily,
charts of the sea about it, and plans of the harbors and districts
of the island which look towards
Libya. [2] For they did not regard Sicily itself as the prize of
the war, but rather as a mere base of
operations, purposing therefrom to wage a contest with the
Carthaginians and get possession of
both Libya and of all the sea this side the Pillars of Heracles.
Since, therefore, their hearts were fixed on this, Nicias, in his
opposition to them, had few men,
and these of no influence, to contend on his side. For the well-
to-do citizens feared accusations
of trying to escape their contributions for the support of the
navy, and so, despite their better
judgement, held their peace. [3] But Nicias did not faint nor
grow weary. Even after the

Athenians had actually voted for the war and elected him
general first, and after him Alcibiades
and Lamachus, in a second session of the assembly he rose and
tried to divert them from their
purpose by the most solemn adjurations, and at last accused
Alcibiades of satisfying his own
private greed and ambition in thus forcing the city into grievous
perils beyond the seas. [4] Still,
he made no headway, nay, he was held all the more essential to
the enterprise because of the
experience from which he spoke. There would be great security,
his hearers thought, against the
daring of Alcibiades and the roughness of Lamachus, if his
well-known caution were blended
with their qualities. And so, he succeeded only in confirming
the previous vote. For Demostratus,
the popular leader who was most active in spurring the
Athenians on to the war, rose and
declared that he would stop the mouth of Nicias from uttering
vain excuses; so, he introduced a
decree to the effect that the generals have full and independent
powers in counsel and in action,
both at home and at the seat of war, and persuaded the people to
vote it.
13. [1] And yet the priesthood also is said to have offered much
opposition to the expedition. But
Alcibiades had other diviners in his private service, and from
sundry oracles reputed ancient he
cited one saying that great fame would be won by the Athenians
in Sicily. To his delight also
certain envoys who had been sent to the shrine of Ammon came
back with an oracle declaring
that the Athenians would capture all the Syracusans; but
utterances of opposite import the envoys
concealed, for fear of using words of ill omen. [2] For no signs

could deter the people from the
expedition, were they never so obvious and clear such as, for
instance, the mutilation of the
‘Hermae.’ These statues were all disfigured in a single night
except one, called the Hermes of
Andocides, a dedication of the Aegeid tribe, standing in front of
what was at that time the house
of Andocides. Then there was the affair of the altar of the
Twelve Gods. An unknown man
leaped upon it all of a sudden, bestrode it, and then mutilated
himself with a stone. [3]
At Delphi, moreover, there stood a Palladium, made of gold and
set upon a bronze palm tree, a
dedication of the city of Athens from the spoils of her valor in
the Persian wars. Ravens alighted
on this image and pecked it for many days together; they also
bit off the fruit of the palm-tree,
which was of gold, and cast it to the ground. [4] The Athenians,
it is true, said that this whole
story was an invention of the Delphians, at the instigation of the
Syracusans; but at any rate when
a certain oracle bade them bring the priestess of Athena from
Clazomenae, they sent and fetched
the woman, and lo! her name was Peace. And this, as it seemed,
was the advice which the
divinity would give the city at that time, namely, to keep the
peace.
[5] It was either because he feared such signs as these, or

because, from mere human calculation,
he was alarmed about the expedition, that the astrologer Meton,
who had been given a certain
station of command, pretended to be mad and set his house on
fire. Some, however, tell the story
in this way: Meton made no pretense of madness, but burned his
house down in the night, and
then came forward publicly in great dejection and begged his
fellow citizens, in view of the great
calamity which had befallen him, to release from the expedition
his son, who was about to sail
for Sicily in command of a trireme. [6] To Socrates the wise
man also, his divine guide, making
use of the customary tokens for his enlightenment, indicated
plainly that the expedition would
make for the ruin of the city. Socrates let this be known to his
intimate friends, and the story had
a wide circulation.
[7] Not a few also were somewhat disconcerted by the character
of the days in the midst of
which they dispatched their armament. The women were
celebrating at that time the festival of
Adonis, and in many places throughout the city little images of
the god were laid out for burial,
and funeral rites were held about them, with wailing cries of
women, so that those who cared
anything for such matters were distressed, and feared lest that
powerful armament, with all the
splendor and vigor which were so manifest in it, should speedily
wither away and come to
naught.
14. [1] Now, that Nicias should oppose the voting of the
expedition, and should not be so buoyed
up by vain hopes nor so crazed by the magnitude of his

command as to change his real
opinion,—this marked him as a man of honesty and discretion.
But when he availed naught
either in his efforts to divert the people from the war or in his
desire to be relieved of his
command,—the people as it were picking him up bodily and
setting him over their forces as
general,— [2] then it was no longer a time for the exceeding
caution and hesitation which he
displayed, gazing back homewards from his ship like a child,
and many times resuming and
dwelling on the thought that the people had not yielded to his
reasonings, till he took the edge
from the zeal of his colleagues in command and lost the fittest
time for action. He ought rather at
once to have engaged the enemy at close quarters and put
fortune to the test in struggles for the
mastery. [3] Instead of this, while Lamachus urged that they sail
direct to Syracuse and give
battle close to the city, and Alcibiades that they rob the
Syracusans of their allied cities first and
then proceed against them, Nicias proposed and urged in
opposition that they make their way
quietly by sea along the coasts of Sicily, circumnavigate the
island, make a display of their
troops and triremes, and then sail back to Athens, after having
first culled out a small part of their
force to give the Egestaeans a taste of succor. In this way, he
soon relaxed the resolution and
depressed the spirits of his men.
[4] After a little while the Athenians summoned Alcibiades
home to stand his trial, and then
Nicias, who nominally had still a colleague in the command, but
really wielded sole power, made
no end of sitting idle, or cruising aimlessly about, or taking

deliberate counsel, until the vigorous
hopes of his men grew old and feeble, and the consternation and
fear with which the first sight of
his forces had filled his enemies slowly subsided.
(Translation by B. Perrin, 1916)

ClassicsHistory 1M03 Dr. J. Reeves Winter 2018 Essay Assi.docx

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