CHAPTER IX
‘Wer nicht liebt Wein, Weib und Gesang,Der Bleibt ein Narr sein Leben lang.’‘Who loves not woman, wine and song,Remains a fool all his life long.’
‘Wer nicht liebt Wein, Weib und Gesang,Der Bleibt ein Narr sein Leben lang.’‘Who loves not woman, wine and song,Remains a fool all his life long.’
‘Wer nicht liebt Wein, Weib und Gesang,Der Bleibt ein Narr sein Leben lang.’‘Who loves not woman, wine and song,Remains a fool all his life long.’
‘Wer nicht liebt Wein, Weib und Gesang,Der Bleibt ein Narr sein Leben lang.’
‘Wer nicht liebt Wein, Weib und Gesang,
Der Bleibt ein Narr sein Leben lang.’
‘Who loves not woman, wine and song,Remains a fool all his life long.’
‘Who loves not woman, wine and song,
Remains a fool all his life long.’
Thebattle of Mantineia was fought, as all men know, in the month of June, 418 years before the Christian era; and, as all men do not know, Alkibiades saw it fought.
In 419, a year after what was the crowning glory of his early life, and perhaps its zenith, he was chosen as one of the strategi, who were ministers of state and generals of the Athenian army.
Before he could receive that dignity, one of the highest in Athens, and before, indeed, he could have been made one of the mission at the Olympic games, he, like everyone else elected to either of those offices, was called upon to show that there was no stain upon his public or his private character. This is an answer to those enemiesof his who charge his earlier years with acts of serious lawlessness.
In his capacity of general, with a picked force of men, he had been sent across the Peloponnesos, more for the sake of encouraging allies than to engage an enemy. He visited Argos, and there the prop and stay of Argos, the author of the treaty with them, and the victor at the recent games, was hailed by almost all as a hero and a deliverer.
The treaty strengthened and enlarged, he went to Patrai, on the west coast, taking with him a contingent from Argos, not so much to increase his force as to show how real was the alliance between Athens and the Argives. A glance at the map of Greece will show how useful Patrai would become to Athens in her struggle with Peloponnesian enemies. He convinced the citizens that if the city were fortified by long walls stretching to the sea, they might defend themselves against any enemy by land, while Athens would be able to bring them aid by sea.
His mission finished, he returned to Athens. Soon it was known that the Lakedaimonians were on the march for Argos. He was immediately placed at the head of a larger force than he had before commanded, and sent to Argos; but theenemy retired, so, after harrying some of the Lakedaimonian allies, he went back to Athens.
On his return, enraged at this fresh proof of Spartan perfidy—for they were still allies of Athens, and bound by their treaty not to make war upon Athenian allies—he so roused the people in the Ekklesia that they decreed there should be written at the bottom of the brass pillar, where the treaty between them and Sparta was engraved, these shameful words for Sparta: ‘The Spartans broke their oaths.’
After this, in March, 418, without further warning, the Spartans equipped a large force of all kinds under King Agis against Argos, and marched upon its territory. The Argives met them. There was no time to get help from Athens. Some of the higher families in Argos, like the aristocracy in Athens, favoured Sparta and an oligarchic government. By their influence a truce for four months was concluded with King Agis. Then the Athenians, seeing there was something weak in Argos, sent Alkibiades as ambassador there, to help the democratic party to keep up against their Spartan enemies without and their traitorous aristocracy within the city walls. They also sent a force of horse and foot to aid them, under Laches and Nikostratos. The people of Argoswere at first afraid to break the truce which had been made against their will with Sparta. It required all the eloquence of Alkibiades in their Assembly to prevent them sending back this help from Athens.
He spoke to them of what, in times gone by, they had endured at Sparta’s hands; how Sparta was still as great an enemy to them as ever; how ‘two years ago they had made that solemn pact with Athens; how well the Athenians had kept it on their side; how it had been ratified at the ninetieth of the Olympic celebrations.’ There were shouts of applause as he thus modestly referred to the scene of his late victory. Warmed by this token of their favour, he concluded: ‘Oh men of Argos, while we are here to go with you to death or victory, while we are sworn never to leave you till you have overcome this treacherous foe, will you go back from your promises, and leave a name to after-times like that of Sparta, as breakers of your word and faith, and of a treaty of alliance ratified before the whole of Greece, and at the very dwelling-place of Zeus?’
He had almost as great a success in the Assembly at Argos as he had when he first proposed the treaty with them at Athens. The peopledecreed with acclamation that the war with Sparta should go on; the truce was at an end. They at once proceeded to lay siege to Orchomenos, in Arkadia, to the north of Mantineia. They took it, and then marched on towards the oligarchic Tegea, a firm ally of Sparta. The Spartans, too, marched towards Tegea, and took up their position near the temple of Herakles, and began plundering the Mantineian country. The Argives and Athenians, together with the Arkadians from Mantineia, met them in the low country near Mantineia. The Argive force took up a strong position on the steep side of Mount Artemision, where it would be difficult to attack them, and whence they might with advantage descend upon the Spartans in the plain below.
King Agis saw that to assail the allies upon this vantage-ground would be to court defeat, and yet he must do something. There were ugly rumours about him in the camp, as well as at Sparta. He was threatened with a prosecution. It was said against him that the truce he had made was in itself an act of treason, that he had the Argives in his power then, and had spared them for some purpose of his own, and had, by letting them go, enabled them to get help from Athens.
However, for all that they might say of him, he was firm, and led his army away till he came to a stream on the boundaries of Tegea and Mantineia, about which the inhabitants of those places were continually quarrelling. On to whichever territory it might be turned, it would do considerable damage. Agis began to divert this stream on to the land of Mantineia, thinking that this would bring the Mantineians, and perhaps the whole Argive force, down from their place of vantage to stop the flow of water.
Upon the other side there were murmurs too. ‘Are we to stay here like pigeons in a rock for ever? See how the Spartans leave their ground! Will you let them escape us now as you did before? It seems to us there must be treason amongst our generals. Are they not of the aristocrats, and oligarchs in secret? For aught we know they may be in correspondence with the oligarchs of Sparta.’ The Argive generals were weak and frightened, and knew not how to act. They had no doubt as to the tactics of the Spartan king, and yet they dare not keep their army waiting in its present mood. If Alkibiades had but been there, his firm command would soon have made itself respected, as it will be seen in this story to have often done. He could do anything with the Argive people, whohad greater faith in him than in their own generals. But he was away in Argos acting as ambassador, and had no authority to interfere in the military operations, or the future course of Greek affairs in this portion of Arkadia might have gone differently for Athens and for Sparta.
So on that night in June the Argive force, with their allies, descended from their strong position, whence they could defy the enemy, and bivouacked upon the plain, ready next day to meet or to pursue him.
The enemy soon returned in marching order, and took up their former post by the temple of Herakles, determined, if their strategy had not succeeded, to try to take the Argive position by assault. The strategy, they found, had succeeded but too well, and, as they descended the Tegean defile, they discovered their opponents, drawn up in full array, in the open plain before them. To change from column into line was with the well-drilled Spartans the work only of minutes, and their adroitness called forth admiration from Alkibiades, who, unable to get up to them, was watching from a distance.
He saw the Mantineians posted on the right, with a body of Argives and Arkadians in the centre, while on the left were the Athenian footand his own comrades of the cavalry. He saw the Argives advance in haste and fury, and the Spartans slowly to the music of their pipers, which kept them in step together and in perfect order. He saw the Mantineians charge the left wing of the Spartans grandly, and break their line, and follow them, as they retreated, to their waggons. He saw with anguish the Spartan king dealing out destruction on the Athenians and the others of the Argive force, and about to overwhelm them, when, to his astonishment and delight, Agis drew off his men and hastened to assist his left wing, which was being harassed by the Mantineians as it retreated.
Now was the time for the Athenian horsemen to charge the Spartans in the rear; now his own cavalry might outflank the king; but there they stood motionless, demoralized. Both their leaders, Laches—his old friend Laches—and the other general, were slain. There was no one to encourage them, no one to lead them, none who was capable of rising to the great occasion, and they slunk unworthily away.
The Mantineians and the remainder of the Argive host, seeing themselves abandoned, retreated in good order into Argos.
Thus Alkibiades, in vexation and despair, saw,for a time, his best-laid plans and hopes frustrated. The Spartans claimed, and rightly claimed, a victory. By this battle they recovered their renown as the first military power in Greece, which they had lost at Sphakteria, and their success threw discredit on the new Argo-Athenian alliance.
What Alkibiades had foreseen and feared soon took place. The oligarchic faction, which sided with Sparta against Athens, had been growing strong in Argos for some time. The Spartan success at Mantineia enabled these oligarchs to effect a peace with their Lakedaimonian friends. Alkibiades was forced to go back to Athens. The Spartans showed their gratitude to their friends within the walls of Argos by sending them a thousand soldiers to assist them. This enabled the Argive aristocracy to overthrow the democratic government and establish an oligarchy in its place, which managed to keep itself in power for some months—months which were marked by atrocious acts of cruelty and outrage.
This sort of government, established and maintained in such a way, upon the ruins of a popular control, seldom lasts for long. The means by which it seems to keep itself in existence generally put an end to it by at length rousing the suffering victims to such a state of rage that they becomewilling to risk all in their efforts to shake off the incubus.
The people of Argos, driven to despair, rose and drove out the tyrants, slaying a few of them by way of warning to the others. On the news of this rising reaching Athens, Alkibiades was sent there again to help the people. He persuaded them, as he had persuaded the citizens at Patrai, to build walls from the city to the sea. So great was his energy and his determination that this should be done without delay that he sent for a small army of masons, carpenters, and workmen of all kinds from Athens to assist, while he himself took part, encouraging by his words and presence the whole population, freemen and slaves, women and children, in the work. The walls had hardly been completed, and he had only just returned to Athens, when the wisdom of his advice was proved.
In the summer of 416 the oligarchs were found to be at their intrigues again, inside and out of Argos, and so dangerous did they become that he had to be sent for in haste from Athens, not merely as ambassador this time, but in full power as strategos, in command of twenty ships of war.
It was a proud moment for him as he sailed with his fine warships into the port, where the walls, which he had caused to be built, stretchedright up to Argos. He was obliged to take strong measures against the intestine enemies of the State. Three hundred of them he carried off and placed, disabled from doing further mischief, in various islands dependent upon Athens. And thus, as far as he was able, did he nullify, or at least minimize, the advantage Sparta gained at Mantineia.
And all this time that he was thus vigorously aiding his country and her allies by his wise counsel and his strong actions he was leading at home a life of splendour and pleasure quite unparalleled. No one was so courted as he—the model of all excellence for young men to imitate. His dress, his manners, his extravagance, his eccentricities, were the talk of everyone, and many were the deeds set down to him that he was never guilty of. The witty sayings, which only the choicer spirits could appreciate, were passed about amongst them; while his great orations at the Ekklesia, in spite of a slight lisp, which seemed to sit not ungracefully on him, moved the people to such a pitch of admiration that they would often escort him home in triumph afterwards.
Nor was he great in words alone. No general of troops was so active as he; no one more patientor practical in the supervision of the forces of the states; no one wiser or clearer-sighted in the council of the leaders. Nikias and the chief men on the other side ever sought his advice in serious difficulty. Nor could anyone be found to represent their country in an embassy where courage and prudence were required so well as Alkibiades.
The office of the strategi was a great and important one. It combined the functions of a Minister of War and of Foreign Affairs as well as those of a Minister of the Interior, besides including the active executive work of general and admiral, and the management of all the forces. Alkibiades discharged the arduous duties of his office with zeal and efficiency. But, his work over, there was a buoyancy about him which rebounded from restraint; then he threw off all cares, and, underneath a high ambition, he showed an eagerness for sport and love of amusement. After a day of toil, when it was his wisdom and advice which had determined the policy of Athens, he could not keep his boyish spirits down, or hide a sly contemptuousness of his fellow-men and their formalities.
Thus this man of indomitable courage and energy, of infinite resources and ambition, the man to whom statesmen at home looked forguidance, because of his greater foresight of that which was to be, and foreign states for help because of his influence and power,—this man, the first in Athens, the man whom all men knew and most loved and admired,—might be seen, his serious day’s work done, running through the streets like any schoolboy on a holiday, crowned with violets and ivy, followed by a joyous band and the mad music of the oboe and the double flageolet.
He was, indeed, and in spite of all, the best-loved man in Athens. There was good reason for it. Besides what he had done in public for the people against their natural enemies, ever on the look-out for opportunities to get the better of them, there were numberless poor folk whose pains and sufferings, wants and miseries, his generosity and kindness had solaced and relieved.
Such pre-eminence above other men cannot exist in this world without engendering envious serpents. Given a man of more than ordinary parts, of luck or fortune, and we are sure to find detractors, and delators, too, as we are equally sure to find some evil mixed with good in almost everything. And by so much as the hero is the greater than other men, you are the more sure, if you look deep enough, to find some faults. If he has more of human nature in him than the commonrun of ordinary men, the greater will the certainty become that faults will be discovered, and anxiously laid hold of, too, by those who know not how to imitate his virtues.
It was at the end of this year 416, on his return from Argos, that the snakes first raised their heads and hissed. His greater opponents could not help admiring him: they were too generous to attack him secretly. It was one of the democracy who struck the first blow at Alkibiades. A poor potter named Hyperbolos, a maker of earthen lamps, the butt of Aristophanes, who, on the death of Kleon, had thought he ought to be chosen leader of the people, was put forward as the tool of others.
The secret remedy of ostracism had been invented as a last resource if ever the influence of any individual threatened to make his power greater than was becoming for a citizen in the democracy. This instrument had not been used except against the greatest men. When it was to be put in force no name was mentioned publicly; only a proposition was moved that it should be put to the vote whether some one should be banished. In private conversation the promoters of the scheme canvassed their friends, and pointed out to them who it was that, in their opinion, ought to go.
Upon this occasion Hyperbolos used all the power of his small malignity to hit his hated and successful rival. There was considerable risk that a majority of votes, making up the necessary number, would be given against the inoffensive Nikias. But Alkibiades, too, was in some danger. He had naturally the oligarchic faction against him, besides a considerable portion of the country party; and the railing tongue of the democratic traitor stirred up the sterner democrats by talking of his mad caprices, his extravagance, his high birth, his wealth, even his popularity, as reasons why his presence was dangerous to the state.
With consummate skill the object of this secret blow turned it aside and made it fall upon his enemy. He arranged with Nikias that none of their friends whom they could influence should vote against either of them, but that they should all write the name of Hyperbolos upon the piece of pottery by which the vote was given. So it happened that poor Hyperbolos was banished. When the people saw that this two-edged sword had smitten the man who tried to wield it, and that so formidable a weapon had struck so mean an object, it was felt to be dishonoured, and was never used again.
Book II
Book II
Book II
‘La plus riche vie, que je sçache, à estre vescue entre les vivants, comme on dit, et estoffée de plus de riches parties et désirables, c’est, tout considéré, celle d’Alcibiades.’Montaigne.
‘La plus riche vie, que je sçache, à estre vescue entre les vivants, comme on dit, et estoffée de plus de riches parties et désirables, c’est, tout considéré, celle d’Alcibiades.’
Montaigne.