Cornelius Nepos
Translated by William Casey, 1828
Cornelius Nepos (c. 110 BC–c. 25 BC) was – like Catullus – born in the region of Verona, and worked in Rome. He was the dedicatee of Catullus’ poetry book and wrote a history of the world in three volumes, which no longer survives, as well as a series of biographies, Of Celebrated Men. His biography of Alcibiades is not as famous as that of Plutarch, who paralleled his life with that of Coriolanus, a Roman general of the fifth century BC, but it is succinct and captures the dangerous allure of its subject. Alcibiades was one of the most fascinating statesmen of ancient Athens. Born in around 450 BC, he was a ward of Pericles and became a close friend (some suggested more than a friend) of Socrates, whose life he was said to have saved in the Peloponnesian War. Cornelius Nepos reveals a typically Roman disapproval of Alcibiades’ indulgent relationships with men.
Alcibiades, the son of Clinias, seems to have been endowed by nature with all the gifts which it could lavish on his person. All writers agree that no one ever excelled him either in virtues or vices. Descended from one of the most illustrious families, born at a stately city, and one of the most comely youths of his age, he possessed an uncommon judgment, and displayed the greatest aptitude for any post. He was a skilful commander both by sea and land, and exhibited such a flow of easy eloquence, aided by the charms of his person, that his speech had an irresistible effect on all who heard him. He was patient and laborious as occasion required; liberal and splendid at home and abroad; affable and condescending in his actions, showing a wonderful address in his conformity to time and circumstance. In his moments of relaxation, and when disengaged from the pursuits of the mind, he was found prodigal and irregular, indulging all sort of luxury and debauchery to such a degree as astonished all on observing in the same person so great an unlikeness in his manners, and so great a difference in his nature.
Alcibiades was brought up in the house of Pericles, to whom he was said to be step-son, and was instructed under the tuition of Socrates. He married the daughter of Hipponicus, the greatest orator then in Greece; so that, had he given free scope to his imagination, he could not have wished for, nor obtained greater favours than those fortune and nature had bestowed on him. According to the customs of the Greeks, he was beloved in his tender age by numbers, and especially by Socrates, as Plato observes in his banquet (symposio), where this philosopher represents Alcibiades as having spent the whole night with Socrates, and as having left him like a child who quits his father’s side. At a ripe age he conceived a fondness himself for several others, on whom he played many odious tricks, though with as much delicacy and humour as the possibility of the thing allowed of, and which I should not omit mentioning, were I not engrossed by the recital of others of a more important and dignified nature.
In the Peloponnesian war, the Athenians were led by the counsels and authority of Alcibiades to commence hostilities against the Syracusians. He was appointed general, and to conduct the war he was joined by two of his colleagues Nicias and Lamachus. While the preparations for this expedition were going on, before the fleet had sailed, all the effigies of Mercury throughout Athens happened to be pulled down except that which stood before the gate of Andocides, from whence it was styled the Mercury of Andocides. As this event was obviously the prelude of some grand plot, since it closely concerned the republic at large, and not the aims of any particular rank of persons, it excited the astonishment, and awoke the fears of the citizens, lest by some violent and sudden accident they should be deprived of their liberty. As Alcibiades, by his power and exaltation, was now above private persons, all suspicions turned naturally on him. His liberalities had gained him a number of friends, but his eloquence in pleading for them at the bar, many more; so that, whenever he appeared in public, he drew all eyes on himself; nor could he be found a match in the whole city. His presence thus became at once an object of deep fears and sanguine hopes; it being in his power to be productive of great good or evil. His character was, moreover, stigmatized on the report spread of having celebrated the misteries of Ceres in his own house, which was a crime among the Athenians, who regarded such meetings as acts of conspiracy rather than of religion.
Alcibiades was charged with this offense by the public assemblies, at the same time that the war urged his departure; but as he was aware of the conduct of his fellow-citizens, he availed himself of that very circumstance, and desired that if they thought any thing was intended against him, they should inquire into the matter while he was present, to obviate the accusation of the envy to which he might be exposed during his absence. His enemies finding they could not now injure him, thought proper to remain quiet for the moment, and wait for his departure, in order to asperse him when absent. This was the case; for as soon as they judged he had reached Sicily, they called him to trial as a person guilty of sacrilegious acts. Wherefore, he was now arraigned by a decree before the magistrates, to appear again at the city and defend himself from the charges brought against him. Alcibiades, though he had entertained the strongest hopes of succeeding in the expedition, would not disobey, but mounted the galley sent to convey him back. When he arrived at Thurium, a port in Italy, after having duly considered the immoderate licentiousness of his fellow-citizens and their severe proceedings with the nobles, he thought the properest thing to be done, in order to free himself from the impending storm, was to elope; for which purpose, by eluding the vigilance of his guards, he fled to Elis, and after to Thebes.
On learning, therefore, he had been condemned to death; that his property had been sequestered and that the Eumolpides, constrained by the people, had curst him, as customary then, and, in fine, by way of perpetuating the memory of their malediction, a copy thereof had been engraved on a stone-pillar raised to public view; he sought refuge in Lacedemonia. There, as he himself used to say, he made war not on his country, but on his own and his country’s enemies, who had driven him out from a knowledge of the important services he was likely to render it; whilst they had only sought the gratification of private animosities, and not the object of public good. The Lacedemonians, by the advice of Alcibiades, entered into a league with the king of Persia; fortified Decelea, a town in Attica, and, by placing a garrison there on a permanent footing, kept Athens at bay. It was by his endeavours, too, that the alliance subsisting between the Ionians and Athenians, was broken off which circumstance proved highly advantageous to the Lacedemonians in their wars.
These signal services, however, far from inspiring the Lacedemonians with a greater fondness towards Alcibiades, only tended to augment their fears, and preclude their good will. As they were all sensible of the uncommon ability and prudence displayed by this great man in all matters, they now conceived apprehensions, lest the love of his country should induce him some day to abandon them, in case a reconciliation should be brought about between him and his fellow-citizens. Impressed with these ideas, the Lacedemonians now resolved to dispatch him when an opportunity should present itself. Alcibiades, whose penetration could baffle any attempt of surprise, when on his guard, soon saw through their designs, and fled for protection to Tissaphernes, one of Darius’ governors.
When he had acquired a thorough intimacy with this chief, and now saw the Athenian power reduced to a low ebb from their reverses in Sicily (whilst that of Sparta was on the rise), he opened an intercourse through the medium of commissioners with Pisander who then commanded an army near Samos, and to whom he expressed a wish of returning to Athens. Pisander was animated with the same sentiments as Alcibiades, an enemy to the overpower of the people, and an advocate for the nobles. Though he failed of success in that quarter, yet, through the influence of Thrasybulus, the son of Lycus, he was received in the army, and appointed to command at Samos, after which, and in consequence of the endeavours of Theramenes, he was recalled by an edict of the people, and invested, though yet absent, with as much authority as Thrasybulus and Theramenes themselves in the command of the army.
Under the directions of these generals affairs assumed so different an aspect, that the Lacedemonians who had hitherto proved victorious and powerful, were now intimidated to such a degree, that they sued for peace. They had now suffered five defeats by land, and three by sea, having lost in the latter two hundred thrireme gallies which fell into their enemy’s hands. Besides all this, Alcibiades, acting in conjunction with the other colleagues, had regained Ionia, the Hellespont and several other Grecian cities lying on the coast of Asia; in the recovery whereof, especially of Byzantium, he had recourse to arms; whilst the rest voluntarily surrendered on seeing the political lenity which had been used towards the vanquished. After these great exploits the three commanders returned to Athens, both they and the army being loaded with the rich spoils of conquest.
The whole city flocked down to the Piraeus to receive them; and such was the ardent desire of the people to behold Alcibiades, that his galley attracted the notice of all, as if he alone had only arrived; for he was deemed in public persuasion both as the cause of past mishaps and present success. The loss of Sicily and the victories gained by the enemy, were now imputed to their having banished a man of so much merit; nor did this appear an unjust reproach on their side, for the moment the command of the army was given to Alcibiades, the Lacedemonians were no longer able to cope with the Athenians either by sea or land.
Although Theramenes and Thrasybulus were equals in commanding the warlike operations; and had entered the Piraeus at the same time, yet when Alcibiades went on shore, he was followed by the crowd, and presented on all sides with gold and brazen crowns, an honour which had never been conferred before, except on victors at the Olympic games. Alcibiades, on receiving such testimonies of affection from the people, wept with joy when he called to mind the undeserved severity he had formerly experienced from his fellow-citizens.