Upon this, Philippus, who married the mother, and Marcellus, who married the sister of young Caesar, came with the young man to Cicero, and agreed with him that Cicero should give them the aid of his eloquence and political influence with the senate and people, and Caesar give Cicero the defence of his riches and arms. For the young man had already a great party of the soldiers of Caesar about him. And Cicero"s readiness to join him was founded, it is said, on some yet stronger motives; for it seems, while Pompey and Caesar were yet alive, Cicero, in his sleep, had fancied himself engaged in calling some of the sons of the senators into the capitol, Jupiter, according to the dream, being about to declare one of them the chief ruler of Rome. The citizens, running up with curiosity, stood about the temple, and the youths, sitting in their purple-bordered robes, kept silence. On a sudden the doors opened, and the youths, arising one by one in order, pa.s.sed round the G.o.d, who reviewed them all, and, to their sorrow, dismissed them; but when this one was pa.s.sing by, the G.o.d stretched forth his right hand and said, "O ye Romans, this young man, when he shall be lord of Rome, shall put an end to all your civil wars." It is said that Cicero formed from his dream a distinct image of the youth, and retained it afterwards perfectly, but did not know who it was. The next day, going down into the Campus Martius, he met the boys returning from their gymnastic exercises, and the first was he, just as he had appeared to him in his dream. Being astonished at it, he asked him who were his parents. And it proved to be this young Caesar, whose father was a man of no great eminence, Octavius, and his mother, Attia, Caesar"s sister"s daughter; for which reason, Caesar, who had no children, made him by will the heir of his house and property. From that time, it is said that Cicero studiously noticed the youth whenever he met him, and he as kindly received the civility; and by fortune he happened to be born when Cicero was consul.
These were the reasons spoken of; but it was princ.i.p.ally Cicero"s hatred of Antony, and a temper unable to resist honor, which fastened him to Caesar, with the purpose of getting the support of Caesar"s power for his own public designs. For the young man went so far in his court to him, that he called him Father; at which Brutus was so highly displeased, that, in his epistles to Atticus he reflected on Cicero saying, it was manifest, by his courting Caesar for fear of Antony, he did not intend liberty to his country, but an indulgent master to himself. Notwithstanding, Brutus took Cicero"s son, then studying philosophy at Athens, gave him a command, and employed him in various ways, with a good result. Cicero"s own power at this time was at the greatest height in the city, and he did whatsoever he pleased; he completely overpowered and drove out Antony, and sent the two consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, with an army, to reduce him; and, on the other hand, persuaded the senate to allow Caesar the lictors and ensigns of a praetor, as though he were his country"s defender. But after Antony was defeated in battle, and the two consuls slain, the armies united, and ranged themselves with Caesar. And the senate, fearing the young man, and his extraordinary fortune, endeavored by honors and gifts, to call off the soldiers from him, and to lessen his power; professing there was no further need of arms, now Antony was put to flight.
This gave Caesar a fright, and he privately sent friends to entreat Cicero to procure the consular dignity for them both together; saying that he should manage the affair as he pleased, should have the supreme power, and govern the young man who was only desirous of name and glory.
And now, more than at any other time, Cicero let himself be carried away and deceived, though an old man, by the persuasions of a boy. He joined him in soliciting votes, and procured the good-will of the senate, not without blame at the time on the part of his friends; and he, too, soon enough after, saw that he had ruined himself, and betrayed the liberty of his country. For the young man, once established, and possessed of the office of consul, bade Cicero farewell; and reconciling himself with Antony and Lepidus, joined his power with theirs, and divided the government, like a piece of property, with them. Thus united, they made a schedule of above two hundred persons who were to be put to death.
But the greatest contention in all their debates was on the question of Cicero"s case. Antony would come to no conditions, unless he should be the first man to be killed. Lepidus held with Antony, and Caesar opposed them both. They met secretly and by themselves, for three days together, near the town of Bononia. The spot was not far from the camp, with a river surrounding it. Caesar, it is said, contended earnestly for Cicero the first two days; but on the third day he yielded, and gave him up.
The terms of their mutual concessions were these; that Caesar should desert Cicero, Lepidus his brother Paulus, and Antony, Lucius Caesar, his uncle by his mother"s side. Thus they let their anger and fury take from them the sense of humanity, and demonstrated that no beast is more savage than man, when possessed with power proportioned to his rage.
While these things were contriving, Cicero was with his brother at his country-house near Tusculum; whence, hearing of the proscriptions, they determined to pa.s.s to Astura, a villa of Cicero"s near the sea, and to take shipping from there for Macedonia to Brutus, of whose strength in that province news had already been heard. They traveled together in their separate litters, overwhelmed with sorrow; and often stopping on the way till their litters came together, condoled with one another.
But Quintus was the more disheartened, when he reflected on his want of means for his journey; for, as he said, he had brought nothing with him from home. And even Cicero himself had but a slender provision. It was judged therefore most expedient that Cicero should make what haste he could to fly, and Quintus return home to provide necessaries, and thus resolved, they mutually embraced, and parted with many tears.
Quintus, within a few days after, was betrayed by his servants to those who came to search for him, and slain, together with his young son. But Cicero was carried to Astura, where, finding a vessel, he immediately went on board of her, and sailed as far as Circaeum with a prosperous gale; but when the pilots resolved immediately to set sail from there, whether he feared the sea, or did not wholly lose faith in Caesar, he went on sh.o.r.e, and pa.s.sed by land a hundred furlongs, as if he was going to Rome. But losing resolution and changing his mind, he again returned to the sea, and there spent the night in fear and perplexity. Sometimes he resolved to go into Caesar"s house privately, and there kill himself upon the altar of his household G.o.ds, to bring divine vengeance upon him; but the fear of torture restrained him. And after pa.s.sing through a variety of confused and uncertain counsels, at last he let his servants carry him by sea to Capitae, where he had a house, an agreeable place to retire to in the heat of summer, when the Etesian winds are so pleasant.
There was at that place a chapel of Apollo, not far from the sea-side, from which a flight of crows rose with a great noise, and made towards Cicero"s vessel as it rowed to land, and lighting on both sides of the yard, some croaked, others pecked the ends of the ropes. This was looked upon by all as an evil omen; and, therefore, Cicero went again ash.o.r.e, and entering his house, lay down upon his bed to compose himself at rest. Many of the crows settled about the window, making a dismal cawing; but one of them alighted upon the bed where Cicero lay covered up, and with its bill, little by little pecked off the clothes from his face. His servants, seeing this, blamed themselves that they should stay to be spectators of their master"s murder, and do nothing in his defence, while the brute creatures came to a.s.sist and take care of him in his undeserved affliction; and therefore, partly by entreaty, partly by force, they took him up, and carried him in his litter toward the sea-side.
But in the meantime the a.s.sa.s.sins had come with a band of soldiers--Herennius, a centurion, and Popillius, a tribune, whom Cicero had formerly defended when prosecuted for the murder of his father.
Finding the door shut, they broke them open, and when Cicero did not appear and those within said they did not know where he was, it is stated that a youth, who had been educated by Cicero in the liberal arts and sciences, an emanc.i.p.ated slave of his brother Quintus, Philologus by name, informed the tribune that the litter was on its way to the sea through the close and shady walks. The tribune, taking a few with him, ran to the place where he was to come out. And Cicero, perceiving Herennius running in the walks, commanded his servants to set down the litter; and stroking his chin, as he used to do, with his left hand, he looked steadfastly upon his murderers, his person covered with dust, his beard and hair untrimmed, and his face worn with his troubles. So that the greatest part of those that stood by covered their faces whilst Herennius slew him. And thus was he murdered, stretching forth his neck out of the litter, being now in his sixty-fourth year. Herennius cut off his head, and, by Antony"s command, his hands also, by which his Philippics were written; for so Cicero styled those orations he wrote against Antony, and so they are called to this day.
When these members of Cicero were brought to Rome, Antony was holding an a.s.sembly for the choice of public officers; and when he heard it, and saw them, he cried out, "Now let there be an end of our proscriptions."
He commanded his head and hands to be fastened up over the Rostra, where the orators spoke; a sight which the Roman people shuddered to behold, and they believed they saw there not the face of Cicero, but the image of Antony"s own soul.
A long time after, Augustus, when visiting one of his daughter"s sons, found him with a book of Cicero"s in his hand. The boy for fear endeavored to hide it under his gown; but Caesar took it from him, and turning over a great part of the book standing, gave it to him again, and said, "My child, this was a learned man, and a lover of his country." And immediately after he had vanquished Antony, being then consul, he made Cicero"s son his colleague in the office; and, under that consulship, the senate took down all the statues of Antony, and abolished all the other honors that had been given him, and decreed that none of that family should thereafter bear the name of Marcus; and thus the final acts of the punishment of Antony were, by the divine powers, devolved upon the family of Cicero.
COMPARISON OF DEMOSTHENES AND CICERO
These are the most memorable circ.u.mstances recorded in history of Demosthenes and Cicero which have come to our knowledge. But, omitting an exact comparison of their respective faculties in speaking, yet this seems fit to be said: That Demosthenes, to make himself a master in rhetoric, applied all the faculties he had, natural or acquired, wholly that way; that he far surpa.s.sed in force and strength of eloquence in political and judicial speaking all his contemporaries, in grandeur and majesty all the panegyrical orators, and in accuracy and science all the logicians and rhetoricians of his day; that Cicero was highly educated, and by his diligent study became a most accomplished general scholar in all these branches, having left behind him numerous philosophical treatises of his own on Academic principles; as, indeed, even in his written speeches, both political and judicial, we see him continually trying to show his learning by the way. And one may discover the different temper of each of them in their speeches. For Demosthenes"s oratory was, without all embellishment and jesting, wholly composed for real effect and seriousness; not smelling of the lamp, as Pytheas scoffingly said, but of the temperance, thoughtfulness, austerity, and grave earnestness of his temper. Whereas, Cicero"s love of mockery often ran him into scurrility; and in his love of laughing away serious arguments in judicial cases by jests and facetious remarks, with a view to the advantage of his clients, he paid too little regard to what was decent. We are told that Cicero, being consul, undertook the defence of Murena against Cato"s prosecution; and, by way of bantering Cato, made a long series of jokes upon the absurd paradoxes, as they are called, of the Stoic sect. When loud laughter pa.s.sed from the crowd to the judges, Cato, with a quiet smile, said to those that sat next to him, "My friends, what an amusing consul we have."
And, indeed, Cicero was by natural temper very much disposed to mirth and pleasantry, and always appeared with a smiling and serene countenance. But Demosthenes had constant care and thoughtfulness in his look, and a serious anxiety which he seldom, if ever, laid aside; and, therefore, was accounted by his enemies, as he himself confessed, morose and ill-mannered.
Also, it is very evident, out of their several writings, that Demosthenes never touched upon his own praises but decently and without offence when there was need of it, and for some weightier end. But Cicero"s immeasurable boasting of himself in his orations argues him guilty of an uncontrollable appet.i.te for distinction, his cry being evermore that "Arms should give place to the gown, and the soldier"s laurel to the tongue." And at last we find him extolling not only his deeds and actions, but his orations, as well those that were only spoken, as those that were published.
It is necessary for a political leader to be an able speaker; but it is an ign.o.ble thing for any man to admire the glory of his own eloquence.
And, in this matter, Demosthenes had a more than ordinary gravity and magnificence of mind, for he considered his talent in speaking nothing more than a mere accomplishment and matter of practice, the success of which must depend greatly on the good-will and candor of his hearers, and regarded those who pride themselves on such accounts to be men of a low and petty disposition.
The power of persuading and governing the people did, indeed, equally belong to both, so that those who had armies and camps at command stood in need of their a.s.sistance; as Chares, Diopithes, and Leosthenes did that of Demosthenes, and Pompey and young Caesar of Cicero"s, as the latter himself admits in his Memoirs addressed to Agrippa and Maecenas.
But what are thought and commonly said most to demonstrate and try the tempers of men, namely, authority and place, by moving every pa.s.sion, and discovering every frailty, these are things which Demosthenes never received; nor was he ever in a position to give such proof of himself, having never obtained any eminent office, nor led any of those armies into the field against Philip which he raised by his eloquence. Cicero, on the other hand, was sent quaestor into Sicily, and proconsul into Cilicia and Cappadocia, at a time when avarice was at the height, and the commanders and governors who were employed abroad, as though they thought it a mean thing to steal, set themselves to seize by open force; so that it seemed no heinous matter to take bribes, but he that did it most moderately was in good esteem. And yet he, at this time, gave the most abundant proofs alike of his contempt of riches and of his humanity and good-nature. And at Rome, when he was created consul in name, but indeed received sovereign and dictatorial authority against Catiline and his conspirators, he attested the truth of Plato"s prediction, that then only would the miseries of states be at an end, when by a happy fortune supreme power, wisdom, and justice should be united in one.
It is said, to the reproach of Demosthenes, that his eloquence was mercenary; that he privately made orations for Phormion and Apollodorus, though adversaries in the same cause; that he was charged with moneys received from the king of Persia, and condemned for bribes from Harpalus. And should we grant that all those (and they are not few) who have made these statements against him have spoken what is untrue, yet we cannot a.s.sert that Demosthenes was not the character to look without desire on the presents offered him out of respect and grat.i.tude by royal persons. But that Cicero refused, from the Sicilians when he was quaestor, from the king of Cappadocia when he was proconsul, and from his friends at Rome when he was in exile, many presents, though urged to receive them, has been said already.
Moreover, Demosthenes"s banishment was infamous, upon conviction for bribery; Cicero"s very honorable, for ridding his country of a set of villains. Therefore, when Demosthenes fled from his country, no man regarded it; for Cicero"s sake the senate changed their habit, and put on mourning, and would not be persuaded to make any act before Cicero"s return was decreed. Cicero, however, pa.s.sed his exile idly in Macedonia.
But the very exile of Demosthenes made up a great part of the services he did for his country; for he went through the cities of Greece, and everywhere, as we have said, joined in the conflict on behalf of the Greeks, driving out the Macedonian amba.s.sadors, and approving himself a much better citizen than Themistocles and Alcibiades did in a similar fortune. And, after his return, he again devoted himself to the same public service, and continued firm in his opposition to Antipater and the Macedonians. Whereas Laelius reproached Cicero in the senate for sitting silent when Caesar, a beardless youth, asked leave to come forward, contrary to the law, as a candidate for the consulship; and Brutus, in his epistles, charges him with nursing and rearing a greater and more heavy tyranny than that they had removed.
Finally, Cicero"s death excites our pity; for an old man to be miserably carried up and down by his servants, flying and hiding himself from that death which was, in the course of nature, so near at hand; and yet at last to be murdered. Demosthenes, though he seemed to supplicate a little at first, yet, by his preparing and keeping the poison by him, demands our admiration; and still more admirable was his using it.
When the temple of the G.o.d no longer afforded him a sanctuary, he took refuge, as it were, at a mightier altar, freeing himself from arms and soldiers, and laughing to scorn the cruelty of Antipater.
ALCIBAIDES
Alcibiades, it is supposed, was descended from Ajax, by his father"s side; and by his mother"s side from Alcmaeon. Dinomache, his mother, was the daughter of Megacles. His father (Clinias) having fitted out a galley at his own expense, gained great honor in the seafight at Artemisium, and was afterwards slain in the battle of Coronea, fighting against the Boeotians. The friendship which Socrates felt for him has much contributed to his fame; and though we have no account from any writer concerning the mother of Nicias or Demosthenes, of Lamachus or Phormion, of Thrasybulus or Theramenes, notwithstanding these were all ill.u.s.trious men of the same period, yet we know even the nurse of Alcibiades, that her country was Lacedaemon, and her name Amycla; and that Zopyrus was his teacher and attendant; the one being recorded by Antisthenes, and the other by Plato.
It is not, perhaps, material to say anything of the beauty of Alcibiades, only that it bloomed with him in all the ages of his life, in his infancy, in his youth, and in his manhood; and, in the peculiar character becoming to each of these periods, gave him, in every one of them a grace and a charm. What Euripides says, that "Of all fair things the autumn, too, is fair," is by no means universally true. But it happened so with Alcibiades, amongst few others, by reason of his happy const.i.tution and natural vigor of body. It is said that his lisping, when he spoke, became him well, and gave a grace and persuasiveness to his rapid speech. Aristophanes takes notice of it in the verses in which he jests at Theorus: "How like a colax he is," says Alcibiades, meaning a corax*; on which it is remarked,
"How very happily he lisped the truth,"
(*This fashionable Attic lisp, or careless articulation, turned the sound r into l. Colax, a flatterer; corax, a crow.)
His conduct displayed many inconsistencies, not unnaturally, in accordance with the many wonderful vicissitudes of his fortunes; but, among the many strong pa.s.sions of his real character, the most powerful of all was his ambition for superiority, which appears in several anecdotes told of him while he was a child. Once being hard pressed in wrestling, and fearing to be thrown, he got the hand of his antagonist to his mouth, and bit it with all his force; and when the other loosed his hold presently, and said, "You bite, Alcibiades, like a woman."
"No," replied he, "like a lion." Another time, when playing at dice in the street, being then only a child, a loaded cart came that way, just as it was his turn to throw; at first he called to the driver to stop, because he was about to throw in the way over which the cart would pa.s.s; but when the man paid him no attention, and was driving on, the rest of the boys divided and sprang away; but Alcibiades threw himself on his face before the cart, and, stretching himself out, bade the carter pa.s.s on now if we would. The man was so startled that he put back his horses, while all that saw it were terrified, and, crying out, ran to a.s.sist Alcibiades. When he began to study, he obeyed all his other masters fairly well, but refused to learn upon the flute, as a thing unbecoming a free citizen; saying that to play upon the lute or the harp does not in any way disfigure a man"s body or face, but one is hardly to be known by his most intimate friends, when playing on the flute. Besides, one who plays on the harp may speak or sing at the same time; but the use of the flute stops the mouth, intercepts the voice, and prevents all articulation. "Therefore," said he, "let the Theban youths pipe, who do not know how to speak, but we Athenians, as our ancestors have told us, have Athena for our patroness, and Apollo for our protector, one of whom threw away the flute, and the other stripped the Flute-player of his skin." Thus, between raillery and good earnest, Alcibiades kept not only himself but others from learning, as it presently became the talk of the young boys, how Alcibiades despised playing on the flute, and ridiculed those who studied it. In consequence of which, it ceased to be reckoned amongst the liberal accomplishments, and became generally neglected.
It was manifest that the many well-born persons who were continually seeking his company, and making court to him, were attracted and captivated by his extraordinary beauty only. But the affection which Socrates entertained for him is a great evidence of the natural n.o.ble qualities and good disposition of the boy, which Socrates, detected under his personal beauty; and fearing that his wealth and station, and the great number both of strangers and Athenians who flattered and caressed him, might at last corrupt him, resolved, if possible, to interpose, and preserve so hopeful a plant from perishing in the flower, before its fruit came to perfection. For never did fortune surround a man with so many of those things which we vulgarly call goods, or so protect him from every weapon of philosophy, and fence him from every access of free and searching words, as she did Alcibiades; who, from the beginning, was exposed to the flatteries of those who sought merely his gratification, such as might well unnerve him, and indispose him to listen to any real adviser or instructor. Yet such was the happiness of his genius, that he selected Socrates from the rest, and admitted him, while he drove away the wealthy and the n.o.ble who made court to him.
In a little time, they grew intimate and Alcibiades, listening now to language entirely free from every thought of unmanly fondness and silly displays of affection, found himself with one who sought to la open to him the deficiencies of his mind and repress his vain and foolish arrogance, and "Dropped like the craven c.o.c.k his conquered wing." He esteemed these endeavors of Socrates as most truly a means which the G.o.ds made use of for the care and preservation of youth, and it was a matter of general wonder, when people saw him joining Socrates in his meals and his exercises, living with him in the same tent, while he was reserved and rough to all others who made their addresses to him.
He behaved in the same manner to all others who courted him, except one stranger, who, as the story is told, having but a small estate, sold it all for about a hundred staters, which he presented to Alcibiades, and besought him to accept. Alcibiades, smiling and well pleased at the thing, invited him to supper, and, after a very kind entertainment, gave him his gold again, requiring him, moreover, not to fail to be present the next day, when the public revenue was offered to farm, and to outbid all others. The man would have excused himself, because the contract was so large, and would cost many talents; but Alcibiades, who at that time a private pique against the existing farmers of the revenue threatened to have him beaten if he refused. The next morning, the stranger, coming to the market-place, offered a talent more that the existing rate; upon which the farmers, enraged and consulting together, called upon him to name his sureties, concluding that he could find none. The poor man, being startled at the proposal, began to retire; but ALCIBAIDES, standing at a distance, cried out to the magistrates, "Set my name down, he is a friend of mine; I will be security for him." When the other bidders heard this, they perceived that all their contrivance was defeated; for their way was, with the profits for the second year to pay the rent for the year preceding; so that, not seeing any other way to extricate themselves out of the difficulty, they began to treat with the stranger, and offered him a sum of money. Alcibiades would not suffer him to accept of less than a talent; but when that was paid down, he commanded him to relinquish the bargain, having by this device relieved his necessity.
Though Socrates had many power rivals, yet the natural good qualities of Alcibiades gave his affection the mastery. His words overcame him so much, as to draw tears from his eyes, and to disturb his very soul. Yet sometimes he would abandon himself to flatteries, when they proposed to him varieties of pleasure, and would desert Socrates; who, then, would pursue him, as if he had been a fugitive slave. He despised every one else, and had no reverence or awe for any but him. But as iron which is softened by the fire grows hard with the cold, and all its parts are closed again; so, as often as Socrates observed Alcibiades to be misled by luxury or pride he reduced and corrected him by his addresses, and made him humble and modest, by showing him in how many things he was deficient, and how very far from perfection in virtue.
When he was past his childhood, he went once to a grammar-school, and asked the master for one of Homer"s books; and when he made answer that he had nothing of Homer"s, Alcibiades gave him a blow with his fist, and went away. Another schoolmaster telling him that he had a copy of Homer corrected by himself; "Why?" said Alcibiades, "do you employ your time in teaching children to read? You, who are able to amend Homer, may well undertake to instruct men."
When he was very young, he was a soldier in the expedition against Potidaea, where Socrates lodged in the same tent with him, and stood next to him in battle. Once there happened a sharp skirmish, in which they both behaved with signal bravery; but Alcibiades receiving a wound, Socrates threw himself before him to defend him, and beyond any question saved him and his arms from the enemy, and so in all justice might have challenged the prize of valor. But the generals appearing eager to adjudge the honor to Alcibiades, because of his rank, Socrates, who desired to increase his thirst after glory of a n.o.ble kind, was the first to give evidence for him, and pressed them to crown, and to decree to him the complete suit of armor. Afterwards, in the battle of Delium, when the Athenians were routed and Socrates with a few others was retreating on foot, Alcibiades, who was on horseback, observed it, and would not pa.s.s on, but stayed to shelter him from the danger, and brought him safely off, though the enemy pressed hard upon them, and cut off many.
He gave a box on the ear to Hipponicus, the father of Callias, whose birth and wealth made him a person of great influence and repute. And this he did unprovoked by any pa.s.sion or quarrel between them, but only because, in a frolic, he had agreed with his companions to do it. People were justly offended at this insolence, when it became known through the city; but early the next morning, Alcibiades went to his house and knocked at the door, and, being admitted to him, took off his outer garment, and presenting his naked body, desired him to scourge and chastise him as he pleased. Upon this Hipponicus forgot all his resentment, and not only pardoned him, but soon after gave him his daughter Hipparete in marriage.
Alcibiades had a dog which cost him seventy minas, and was very large and handsome. His tail, which was his princ.i.p.al ornament, he caused to be cut off, and an acquaintance exclaiming at him for it, and telling him that all Athens was sorry for the dog, and cried out against him for this action, he laughed and said, "Just what I wanted has happened, then, I wished the Athenians to talk about this, that they might not say something worse of me."
It is said that the first time he came into the a.s.sembly was upon occasion of a largess of money which he made to the people. This was not done by design, but as he pa.s.sed along he heard a shout, and inquired the cause; and having learned that there was a gift-making to the people, he went in among them and gave money also. The mult.i.tude thereupon applauding him, and shouting, he was so transported at it, that he forgot a quail which he had under his robe, and the bird, being frightened at the noise, flew off; upon which the people made louder acclamations than before, and many of them started up to pursue the bird; and Antiochus, a pilot, caught it and restored it to him, for which he was ever after a favorite with Alcibiades.
He had great advantages for entering public life; his n.o.ble birth, his riches, the personal courage he had shown in divers battles, and the mult.i.tude of his friends and dependents, threw open, so to say, folding doors for his admittance. But he did not consent to let his power with the people rest on any thing, rather than on his own gift of eloquence.
That he was a master in the art of speaking, the comic poets bear him witness; and the most eloquent of public speakers, in his oration against Midias, allows that Alcibiades, among other perfections, was a most accomplished orator.
His expenses in horses kept for the public games, and in the number of his chariots, were matters of great observation; never did any one but he, either private person king, send seven chariots to the Olympic games. And to have carried away at once the first, the second, and the fourth prize, as Thucydides says, or the third, as Euripides relates it, outdoes every distinction that was ever thought of in that kind.
The emulation displayed by the deputations of various states, in the presents which they made to him, rendered this success yet more ill.u.s.trious. The Ephesians erected a tent for him, adorned magnificently; the city of Chios furnished him with provender for his horses and with great numbers of beasts for sacrifice; and the Lesbians sent him wine and other provisions for the many entertainments which he made.
As soon as he began to intermeddle in the government, which was when he was very young, he quickly lessened the credit of all who aspired to the confidence of the people, except Phaeax and Nicias, who alone could contest with him. Nicias was arrived at a mature age, and was esteemed their first general. Phaeax was but a rising statesman like Alcibiades; he was descended from n.o.ble ancestors, but was his inferior in many other things, but princ.i.p.ally in eloquence.
Alcibiades was not less disturbed at the distinction which Nicias gained among the enemies of Athens, than at the honors which the Athenians themselves paid to him. It was commonly said in Greece, that the war in the Peloponnesus was begun by Pericles, and that Nicias made an end of it, and the peace was generally called the peace of Nicias. Alcibiades was extremely annoyed at this, and being full of envy, set himself to break the league. First, therefore observing that the Argives as well out of fear as hatred to the Lacedaemonians, sought for protection against them, he gave them a secret a.s.surance of alliance with Athens.
He exclaimed fiercely against Nicias, and accused him of many things, which seemed probable enough: as that, when he was general, he made no attempt himself to capture their enemies that were shut up in the isle of Sphacteria, but, when they were afterwards made prisoners by others, he procured their release and sent them back to the Lacedaemonians, only to get favor with them.
It happened, at the very time when Nicias was by these arts brought into disgrace with the people, that amba.s.sadors arrived from Lacedaemon, who, at their first coming, said what seemed very satisfactory, declaring that they had full powers to arrange all matters in dispute upon fair and equal terms. The council received their propositions, and the people was to a.s.semble on the morrow to give them audience. Alcibiades grew very apprehensive of this, and contrived to gain a secret conference with the amba.s.sadors. When they were met, he said: "What is it you intend, you men of Sparta? If you expect to obtain equal terms from the Athenians, and would not have things extorted from you contrary to your inclinations, begin to treat with he people upon some reasonable articles, not avowing yourselves plenipotentiaries; and I will be ready to a.s.sist you, out of good-will to the Lacedaemonians." When he had said this, he gave them his oath for the performance of what he promised, and by this way drew them from Nicias to rely entirely upon himself, and left them full of admiration of the discernment and sagacity they had seen in him. The next day, when the people were a.s.sembled and the amba.s.sadors introduced, Alcibiades, with great apparent courtesy, demanded of them: With what powers they had come? They made answer that they had not come as plenipotentiaries.
Instantly upon that, Alcibiades, with a loud voice, as though he had received and not done the wrong, began to call them dishonest prevaricators, and to urge that such men could not possibly come with a purpose to say or do anything that was sincere. The council was incensed, the people were in a rage, and Nicias, who knew nothing of the deceit and the imposture, was in the greatest confusion, equally surprised and ashamed at such a change in the men. So thus the Lacedaemonian amba.s.sadors were utterly rejected, and Alcibiades was declared general, who presently united the Argives, the Eleans, and the people of Mantinea, into a confederacy with the Athenians.
No man commended the method by which Alcibiades effected all this, yet it was a great political feat thus to divide and shake almost all Peloponnesus, and to combine so many men in arms against the Lacedaemonians in one day before Mantinea; and, moreover, to remove the war and the danger so far from the frontier of the Athenians, that even success would profit the enemy but little, should they be conquerors, whereas, if they were defeated, Sparta itself was hardly safe.