AI.CEDO. ANTONIO DB. 



of UM LapiUu. tad UM Oentaun. 

 beaidee a! Athens a suiu. 



of MOT in Ik* temple of Mar*; a triple-bodied statue of Hecate oo 

 UM Acropolis. UM ftnt in that form ; and 



lathe 

 mwhkhUW 



of 0,. 



of Procne and Itys, 



There was also a Vulcan or Hephaestus at 

 aasnse* wa* expressed without dertroying UM 

 ; U 1* noticed by Cicero and bv Valerius Maximo*. 

 BtitiiM t\\^* tut ^BsWdaWskM 4k jsUuitiiMsa- suvl I'lini 

 speaks of a broaie ifure at a psatethlete, or victor in the pentathlon, 

 or five athletic iisreb**. which was called Encrinomeno* ; these five 

 irames wer* Uapiag, running, UM diacu* or quoit, throwing the 



(Pliny, Hat. As*, xxxiv. 8, xxxvi. 6 ; Lndan, /suyuw*, 4, 6 ; Pan 

 aaia*. L 8, 19. SO, 84, 33 ; v. 10 ; viU. 9; ix. 11 ; Cicero, A'<K. Dear. L 

 SO; Valerius Maxima*, viii. 11 ; Tastes*. CA* viii 13 ; Winckelmann 

 ITer**, voL vi ; Thiersea, Sfodu dtr hOdnda K***, Ac.) 



ALCEIX). ANTONIO DE. Lent is known than could be desired 

 of the life of thi. deserving geographer. He wa* a native of Spanish 

 He published hk Dictionary of American Geography ' at 



Madrid, 1784, afUr having bMO twenty yean engaged in compiling it 

 He was at the time of ita publication a colonel in the royal guard, and 

 states, in hit preface, that hi* rtudiee had been often interrupted by 



hi* military avocation*. Tbi* brief account comprehend*' almoi't 

 everything that is known of him. Aloedo mention* that some of hi* 

 account* of place* were drawn from personal observation, but more 

 obtained from the library of printed and manuscript works relative to 

 America, and communications of a distinguished person who had filled 

 for forty years high office* in the ladies. He also ttates that he had 

 access to official document*, and bad received valuable original 

 information. The work is compiled with a good deal of critical 



and fill* s_gap in tne history, a* well a* the geography, of 

 Spanish America. The jealousy of the Spanish government occa- 

 sioned UM (oppression of the work. There are two copies of the 

 Spanish Aloedo (1780) in the library of the British Museum. It ha* 

 been translated into English by Mr. O. A. Thompson, whose trans- 

 lation (with considerable addition* from more recent author*) wa* 

 published in London, in fire volumes, in 1812-15. An atlas to Aloedo 

 wa* published in 1810 by A. Arrowsmith. 



ALCIBIADKS, son of Cleinias, an Athenian remarkable for hi* 

 ability as a soldier and statesman, for the great and varied influence 

 which be exercised over the fortune* of Greece, and for the versatility 

 aod splendour of bis talent*, was born about B.C. 453-50, when Athens 

 was rapidly rising to it* highest power. In early youth he seemed 

 marked out for distinction by the most brilliant endowments of per- 

 son, of station, and of intellect Though high ancestry conferred no 

 direct political privilege*, it was not indifferent in hi* own eyes, or 

 those of hi* fellow-citizen*. that he descended from the noblest 

 famOiae of Athens. By his father 1 * aide he traced his ancestry into 

 the heroic ages, through Ajax up to Jupiter ; and hi* mother, Deino- 

 maohe, wa* one of the Alcnueonidn. Be inherited one of the largest 

 fortunes in Athens, swelled by the savings of s long minority ; and 

 with his wife, Hipparete, daughter of Hipponicus, he received ton 

 talents, the largest dowry that had been given in Greece. His person 

 wa* remarkable for beauty, an advantage which he abused to licen- 

 tiousness. His powers of mind were extraordinary, and ho enjoyed 

 peculiar advantage* in their cultivation, being the ward of Pericles, 

 who wa* connected with him on the mother* aide, and the favourite 

 pupfl and companion of Socrates. But his great qualities were alloyed 

 by a frivolity of mind, shown in the importance which he attached to 

 preeminence and display, and in a childish love of notoriety, which 

 constantly led him into wanton and offensive excesses: and he i* 

 liable to UM graver charge of an intense selfishness, which postponed 

 truth, justice, sad patriotism to salf-aggrandisement, or to the gratifi 

 cation at a headstrong will. The advice which ha is said to have 

 given to rericlas, when at a loss in what palatable shape to render 

 hi. accounts to the state, may bo taken a* an index of his character : 

 - It would be better to study how to avoid rendering them at all." 



The Uf of Alcibudc. by Plutarch begin* with a long series of very 

 amusing storks, to which we can only refer. At the age of 18, 

 according to the Athenian law, be attained his majority. In ac. 482 

 he served at the siege of PoUdjee, in company with Socntes, who 

 there saved hi* life in battle. On that occasion, the crown and suit of 

 snaour. the priae of the most distinguished combatant, was awarded 

 to Aldbhdsa, at the iosUoce of Socrates, to whom it appears to have 

 bets i more jnstiy due. Kight yean later, at the battle of Delium, 

 Alttbiadee in hi* turn aved U.. life of the philosopher. Their iuti- 

 MT IMS caused Aldotedes to fill a prominent place in the dialogue* 

 FUto. Tb*y sought each other society from widely different 

 OWM : "Socrates saw in him many elements of a noble character, 

 ** .W* b *.**J perverted ; abilities which might greatly' serve 

 lally injure his country ; a strength of will capable of the moat 

 suler|>ri***, and the more dangerous if it took a wrong 

 ; an ardent love of glory, which needed to be purified and 

 iiii; ad he endeavoured to win all these advantages for 

 TirtaM, aad UM public good. It wa* one of the be.t token* of 

 M*or* in Aldbiadea, that he could strongly rtluh the 

 Socrates, and deeply admire his exalted character, not- 

 whfcstaadlag U* repulsive exterior, and the wide diff.rruoc of station 



and habit* by which they were parted But their intimacy 



produced no lasting fruit*." 



To keep himself before the eye* of the people suited both the 

 temper and the policy of Aloibiadea, Many of hi* eooenUicitie* seem 

 U> have been directed to this end. He served, like all Greek citizens, 

 hi UM army, and, a* ha* been stated, with credit. He had a powerful 

 and persuasive eloquence, which be used unscrupulously, " flattering 

 the people in the was*," say* Andocidea, "and deipitefully using any 

 individual" He lavished his wealth, sometime* in idle frolic or pro- 

 digal magnificence, sometimes in a more serious and well-considered 

 splendour. " He was not only liberal to profusion in the legal and 

 customary contribution* with which at Athens the affluent charged 

 themselves, as well to provide for certain parts of the naral service a* 

 to defray the expense of the public spectacles, but aspired to dazzle 



all Greece at the national games. He contended at Olympia 



with seven chariot* in the same race, and won the first, second, and 

 third or fourth crown success unexampled as the competition. }(e 

 afterwards feasted all the spectators ; and the entertainment was not 

 more remarkable for it* profusion, and for the multitude of the guests, 

 than for the new kind of homage paid to him by the subjects of 

 Athens. The Ephesian* pitched a splendid Persian tent for him ; the 

 Ctiians furnished provender for his bones ; the Cyzicenes, victim* for 

 the sacrifice; the Lesbians, wine and other requisites for the banquet. 

 .... Reflecting men could not but ask, whether any private fortune 

 could support such an expenditure, and whether such honours were in 

 harmony with a spirit of civic equality." (Thirlwall, 'History of 

 Greece.') And such a doubt might well be increased by his light and 

 fearless violations, not only of individual rights and persons, but of 

 the majesty of the public tribunals and of religion. "At these things," 

 says Plutarch, " the best citizens of Athens were much offended, and 

 were afraid withal of his rashness and insolency ; " and be goes on to 

 quote a passage from ^Escbylua applied to Alcibiades by Aristophanes, 

 to the effect that a lion's whelp should not be brought up iu a city, but 

 that whosoever rears one must let him have his own way. 



The family of Alcibiades had been connected with Sparta by the 

 respected tie of hereditary hospitality. That tie, which had been 

 broken by bis grandfather, Alcibiades wished to renew, and to consti- ' 

 tuto himself the head of the Spartan party. But the Spartan govern- 

 ment, jealous probably of hi* temper and ignorant of his power, 

 preferred to retain their connection with Nk-ias, the recognised leader 

 of the aristocratic party ; and thereon Alcibiades went over to the 

 opposite extreme. Hi* first public measure seems to have been a 

 proposition for increasing the tribute paid by the Athenian allies, 

 which was doubled in amount, he being one of the commissioners 

 appointed to effect the change. This appears to have been before the 

 peace between Athens and Sparta, B.C. 421. Soon after that peace he 

 aune forward as the advocate of the democratic party against the 

 Spartan alliance; and by a clever and unscrupulous trick, in which he 

 outwitted the Spartan ministers, obtained the enactment of a treaty 

 of alliance with Argos, Elis, and Mantineia (B.C. 420). This meant 

 iittle less than a declaration of hostilities against Sparta, and toon led 

 to open war. In B.C. 419 Alcibiades was elected one of the board of 

 general* (itrategot), and he bore an active part in the complicated 

 rars and negocUtions carried on in Peloponnesus during the next 

 .hree years, a period unmarked by any leading events in his personal 

 lietory. He is however charged with having been a leading agent iu 

 irocuring the atrocious decree by which the male citizens of Melos 

 rere put to death by the Athenians, their lauds occupied by Athenian 

 settlers, and their families enslaved a transaction iufamous iu history 

 under the name of the Melian massacre. 



At this time Alcibiades and Nicias were the unquestioned leaders of 

 the democratic and aristocratic, the war and peace parties ; the latter 

 desirous above all thing* to secure, by a good uuderstaudiug with 

 Sparta, that power and wealth which bad grown up so wonderfully iu 

 some sixty years ; the former eager to extend them, and open new 

 >rospects of conquests, gain, and glory to the young, the needy, aud 

 hat large class of citizen* who were in one way or another to be fed 

 at the public expense. The only man who could be formidable to 

 either was Hyperbolus, Cleou'i successor a* leader of the lowest class 

 of citizens. He had the boldness to threaten Alcibiades with ostra- 

 cism, but was himself banished under that strange law, through the 

 co-operation of the two leaden, of whom Nicias hated him on political 

 a* heartily a* Alcibiades on personal grounds. Soon after (n.r. 415), 

 the cardinal event of the war came under discussion, the interference 

 of Athens with the affair* of Sicily. That she did interfere was 

 principally due to Alcibiades, whose argument* are presumed to be 

 faithfully represented by Thucydides, in the ipeech ascribed to him 

 (vi. 16-18). A powerful armament wa* voted, in the command of 

 which he wa* joined with Nicias and Lamachu*; but before it sailed, 

 the general exultation was damped by a strange occurrence, never 

 clearly explained. One morning most of the Hennao (stone figures of 

 Mercury placed in the streets as guardian images) were found defaced. 

 This was a great sacrilege, and raised an extraordinary commotion. 

 Inquiry wa* made ; reward* were offered to wituessea and informers ; 

 and finally a charge of profaning the Kleusiuian mysteries, connected 

 with the mutilation of the HeruKc and the existence of a plot against 

 the democracy, wa* brought against Alcibiades. To the charge of 

 profanation the excesses of his youth gave colour ; the rest of it had 



