portant families like his had relationships in other cities. Sometimes the
ties were offi cial. One would be named proxenos for a foreign city—in
other words would be responsible for representing interests as well as the
citizens—rather like a consul today with the important difference that the
role did not make those individuals bureaucrats. At other times, this offi ce
might involve offering hospitality, something that held a strong element
of obligation in the fi fth century. In some cases, these relationships might
be quite personal—just as, in the modern world, aristocrats or business
leaders feel connected to their counterparts in foreign countries. Alcibi-
ades, through his family, found himself possessed of numerous ties of this
kind. One example: at the time Athens concluded the peace with Sparta,
in 421, Alcibiades was offended that the Spartans did not go through him
as intermediary and, according to Thucydides, had not shown the respect
owed him based on a former proxeny : his grandfather had given it up,
but he himself dreamed of renewing it by taking charge of the Spartan
prisoners (5.43.2). These ties were not insignifi cant. The grandfather in
question, Alcibiades the elder, had given up these functions during earlier
proceedings between Sparta and Athens. One of the most important men
of Sparta—on whom Alcibiades depended greatly, a man named Endius—
was the son of another Alcibiades, in Sparta! This Endius would later
welcome the exiled Alcibiades in Sparta.
It was much the same everywhere. Wishing to turn to Argos, Alcibi-
ades sent “a private message” there. We will meet, in the story, “the hosts
6 Chapter
1
Alcibiades had in Argos,” and we will also learn that he “was related
to the leaders of the Milesians as well.” 9 Foreign affairs were often conducted through personal relationships, and the family of Alcibiades had
no lack of these . . .
In a word, his family lacked nothing.
Wealth
Actually—and do not think this is unimportant—we are talking about
wealth on both sides. On the paternal side, we note that Cleinias pro-
vided, at his own expense, a warship for the state. On the Alcmeonids’
side, we know that they were related, after being exiled following a sacri-
lege, to the priest of Delphi and had contributed heavily to the reconstruc-
tion of the sanctuary there. Pericles himself was clearly in possession of
signifi cant resources: at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, the king
of Sparta who led the invasion and sacking of Attica intended to spare
Pericles’s property. Because there were social obligations between them,
such an exception would have aroused suspicion against Pericles. Pericles
defl ected this danger by declaring that if that were to happen, he would
make a gift to the city of all his property.
Alcibiades was born with every advantage, everything money could
buy to advance his career, from an excellent education among the greatest
minds to the means of achieving fame throughout the democracy.
What’s more, Alcibiades did not have to settle for his own inheritance.
Later, he would marry (in 422). And whom did he marry? A daughter of
Hipponicus, who was also from an important family, one especially fa-
mous for its wealth. Whenever a member of this family is named, it is with
the adjective rich : rich Hipponicus, or wealthy Callias. It was at the home
of this wealthy Callias (Alcibiades’s brother-in-law) that Plato’s dialogue
Protagoras took place, because Callias was rich enough to invite every
sophist around: Protagoras, Hippias, Prodicus, as well as all the fashion-
able men who came to hear them. Plato names a dozen, and Alcibiades, of
9. Thucydides 6.61.3, 8.17.2. If the cities of Chios, Ephesus, and Lesbos participated in the festivals in his honor (see below), it was no doubt because he had friends there.
Richly
Endowed 7
course, is among them. In fact, we never really leave this milieu: Pericles’s
wife had been married fi rst to Hipponicus; she was Callias’s mother. With
ancient Athens, we soon get the impression that we are in a country where
everyone knows everyone else, for it is a small world. And that is also true
for the aristocracy in general. And the aristocracy still maintained a very
privileged place in the most democratic of cities.
There is another aspect to the wealth of Alcibiades. Because he spent
so much, he always needed a lot of money. He had a stable of racehorses,
a huge luxury. And he always wanted to show off. He made large public
contributions sponsoring triremes (warships) and choruses for dramatic
productions. They were still talking about him in the next century, and
Plutarch will cite “his voluntary contributions of money, his support of
public exhibitions, his unsurpassed munifi cence towards the city.” 10 In addition to this there were occasional gifts here and there. It is said that
Phaedo—the philosopher who gives his name to a dialogue of Plato—was
taken captive and sold into slavery. Socrates had Alcibiades buy his free-
dom, according to some accounts at least. 11 Our man, as a true nobleman, loved grand deeds as well as opulence.
Some people thought that, in these moments of extravagance, he spent
too much; that happens in every age. And it may be that worry about his
fi nancial solvency weighed on his conduct. The very sober Thucydides
says so: “His tastes exceeded his means, for maintaining his stable as well
as other expenses” (6.15.3). 12
Nevertheless, the diffi culties caused by his extravagance have been
exaggerated. When he was exiled, there was a public sale of all his confi s-
cated assets. Stone fragments from this auction have been found. At fi rst
it was believed that the sale was very small. As a result, some thought
that he had been bankrupt, or that he had managed, before the seizure,
to conceal and keep some of his wealth (something that still happens
today, as we know). However, new fragments have been found and rest
assured: there were still beds and bedding, coats and chests, and the
10. See Isocrates 16.35; [Andocides] 4.20; Plutarch, Alcibiades 16.
11 . These also mention Crito: see Diogenes Laertius 2.105.
12 . Throughout the book, passages from Thucydides’s History are Richard Crawley’s translation in Robert B. Strassler, ed., The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War (New York: The Free Press, 1996).
8 Chapter
1
like. 13 Furthermore, the city would compensate him for this sale by offering a gold crown and an estate. Though Alcibiades may have lost a
fortune, he was never poor.
Clearly, this man was a prince.
Now we can see exactly what that meant. Athenian politics had long
been in the hands of this cultured and aristocratic group. But that tra-
dition was changing because many Athenians resented it. The rights of
citizenship had expanded, as had elementary education: the new social
classes were gaining importance. As long as Pericles lived, things were
fi ne; but after his death, power passed to Cleon, a rich tanner, and all
our sources commented on his
vulgarity, brutishness, and lack of cul-
ture. Apparently, ordinary people in every democracy are vulnerable
to a vulgarity that feels familiar and optimistic. Aristophanes wrote a
comedy, fi ve years after Pericles’s death, denouncing this rule by mer-
chants. In the play, the followers of Demos, the People, cite an invented
oracle according to which there would come a ruler of the city who was
a seller of hemp, until another came who was a sheep dealer, and fi nally
another individual, the worst of all, a sausage seller (Knights 126–45).
Naturally, he would not have any education: “I know my letters, and
then actually, very little, and very badly.” “Your only fault is knowing
anything, even ‘a little, even badly.’ Leading the people is not the work
of an educated man of good character, but demands an ignoramus, a
jerk” (188–94). We won’t go further into this social development that
always runs the risk of leading, as it did in Athens, to the emergence
of a terrible demagogue. This degeneracy was denounced by everyone,
from the comedians and tragedians to Thucydides and Aristotle. Such
a judgment demonstrates the superior wealth, class, and appeal that
the young descendant of two famous families had in contrast to these
new demagogues. Alcibiades was supposed to be the next Pericles for
Athens.
And now let’s acknowledge that Alcibiades’s advantages were not lim-
ited to the material and the practical.
13 . See chapter 5 regarding this sale. The steles were published in 1953. See articles by W. K. Pritchett and Anne Pippin in Hesperia, 1956, pp. 178, 317, and 318, 328. Even following the exile and return of Alcibiades, authors were still disputing the size of his fortune and his losses: see Lysias 14.37, 19.52
Richly
Endowed 9
Intellectual Superiority
Just imagine the early education of young Alcibiades, the ward of Pericles.
From childhood, he had heard political discussion among well-informed
men. According to them, his mind was sharp. In Pericles’s home he met,
fi rst as a child and then in adolescence, the most distinguished thinkers of
his time. He had undoubtedly learned rhetoric, for his mentor was a friend
of the greatest sophists. And we know the affection that Socrates always
showed him. How could such teachers and role models not have kindled
the dazzling intelligence that had so often been a mark of that family?
Moreover, no one ever questioned his keen eye for politics, the rapidity
and breadth of his grasp. Thucydides, whose praise of Alcibiades is always
reserved, says that the city lost a great deal in sending him away because
“publicly his conduct of the war was as good as could be expected.” 14
And in every case, when faced with a problem, Alcibiades found a solu-
tion, the right combination of the necessary steps to take.
He was also able to persuade others. Ah! How well he did this. He
could convince crowds with his eloquence; and he could do the same one
on one, arguing with a combination of promises and charm. Even the
authorities on such matters, Demosthenes and Theophrastus, said that he
spoke admirably. Theophrastus stated, according to Plutarch (10.4), that
of all men Alcibiades was “most capable of fi nding or inventing what-
ever the circumstances demanded.” He sometimes paused in his effort to
fi nd just the right words (a slight mispronunciation lending charm to his
words . . .). In short, he approached politics with a social superiority that
matched his undeniable intellectual superiority, each facilitating the other.
Even apart from these qualities, it was apparent that everything was
leading him into politics. He had the means and the talent. He also had
the desire. Accustomed from an early age to being fi rst in everything, he
strongly desired a political role. This is how he is portrayed in the dia-
logues of Plato where he appears, particularly in the dialogue called Al-
cibiades (sometimes called First Alcibiades to distinguish it from another dialogue of the same name). We will return to this Alcibiades . 15 For now
14 . Thucydides 6.15.4. On this expression, see below, chapters 2 and 5.
15 . See below, “First Interlude” and chapter 12.
10 Chapter
1
we must bear in mind the ambition propelling this young man to political
triumphs that Socrates boldly explains: “What is the hope that fi lls you? I
will tell you. You think that if one day you address the people—and you
intend to do so very soon—Athenians will immediately be persuaded that
you merit even more respect than Pericles or anyone before him, and you
will say to yourself that henceforth you will be the most powerful man in
this city. And if you are the most powerful man among us, you will be the
same among all Greeks; no, not just among Greeks, but also among the
barbarians who inhabit this continent” (105a–c). Naturally, this ambition
doesn’t stop with a continent: true ambition knows no limits. And this
text says exactly what is driving him.
And before long that ambition will move him to act. We see him fi rst in
war—he was very brave—and soon he will make his appearance in poli-
tics. He will assume the highest offi ces that his age will allow.
Socrates’s name has already been mentioned on two occasions. In this
picture of all the gifts accorded the young Alcibiades, it would be an odd
omission to leave out one very unusual advantage, unlike all the others
and not derived from his family: it was his access to the philosophical
ideal and infl uence of Socrates.
Socrates’s Friendship
The friendship between the young man and the philosopher is seen best
in the dialogue that opened this chapter, Plato’s Symposium . But the ties
they shared are confi rmed in many quarters, in both dialogues and bi-
ographies. It is true that Socrates loved Alcibiades and Alcibiades loved
Socrates. Even if we put aside the erotic aspect of their relationship, it sug-
gests Alcibiades’s deep comprehension, at least temporarily or sporadi-
cally, of another Socratic ideal, the desire to follow the path of goodness,
which reveals an exceptional understanding and admiration. After all, it
was to Alcibiades, the failed disciple, that Plato assigned the task of de-
scribing his master. 16
In the Symposium a handsome young man enters and sits next to his
host. Once there, he notices with awe that his neighbor on the other side
16 . On his reasons for this choice, see chapter 12.
Richly
Endowed 11
is Socrates. They exchange coy remarks. Alcibiades learns what the din-
ers were talking about and decides that he himself will give a toast to
Socrates. He begins, and it is these famous pictures of Socrates that have
moved generations of readers. In all of Plato’s works, no text is more per-
sonal, or more profound, on the subject of the master.
In other words, Alcibiades could depict, in the liveliest way, the person-
ality of Socrates; and, by his own account, he was also touched, moved,
and inspired.
He begins with a comparison to the statues of the Sileni. Like them, but
/> without the fl ute, Socrates charmed all who heard him, and Alcibiades de-
scribed the effect of his words: “They strike us, trouble us, and we are pos-
sessed.” 17 And then he says, speaking only for himself: “When I hear him speak, my heart beats faster than any Corybantes in a trance; his words
make my tears fl ow; and I see great numbers of other people who feel the
same emotions.” After listening to Socrates, “it didn’t seem possible to go
on living as I had before . . . ; he forced me to promise myself that, when I
was lacking so much, I should persist in thinking not of myself but of the
affairs of Athens.”
In other words, Socrates was like these statuettes (Sileni) in that inside
he holds the most precious wisdom: “When he grows serious and the Si-
lenus is exposed, has anyone else ever seen the fi gurines enclosed inside?
I don’t know. But I have. And I found them to be so divine, so precious,
of such complete beauty, so extraordinary, that I would have done on the
spot whatever Socrates asked me to do.”
There followed a long speech on Socrates’s temperance, 18 on his independence from external things, and on his courage.
The speech describes Socrates admirably, but it also shows something
about Alcibiades. It shows him impassioned in the evocation of a moral
idealism, moved by the idea of the good, ready to change his life, a disciple
more sensitive, more moved, more passionate than any other.
The beautiful youth, inebriated from the beginning, could also be
drunk with exaltation for the discovery of the good: “I myself have seen
it . . .”
17 . 215d. Subsequent quotations are all in the pages that follow this one. The translation is that of Benjamin Jowett.
18. See chapter 2.
12 Chapter
1
That is quite a gift Plato has given him. None of the previous speakers
and none of the disciples who appear in the dialogues have had such royal
treatment. Whatever the reasons for this choice, which will not become
clear until the end of the book, we must admit that it refl ects a real rela-
tionship that left a deep impression. Alcibiades may have been infl uenced
by a charm that affected him deeply.
We will return to this charm in the next chapter, and to an implied
amorous context. What mattered here, in a chapter that opened with Pla-
The Life of Alcibiades Page 3
