A L C 



-tyrants themfelves were apprifcd of it, tlicy determined 

 upon his dcith. Critias, one of the number, and for- 

 merly an intimate friend of Alcibiades, was aftive on the 

 occaiion ; and enjraged Lyfander to apply to Pharnabazus 

 for concurring in their purpofe. Alcibiades rcfided at this 

 time in a village of Phn,gia, with his mitlrcfs Timandra. 

 The aflAfrins furroiuided liis houfc and fct it on fue : having 

 in vain attempted to extinguilh it he rulhed for;li, and 

 fafely paffed through it; but the darts of his murderers 

 were poured upon hun from a dillance and difpatched h'.m. 

 Timandra wrapped up the body in her own garments, and 

 buried it in a town called MclilTa, where the emperor 

 Adrian long afterwards caufed a marble ftatue to be creftcd 

 to his memor)-, and a bull to be annually facrificcd on 

 his tomb. His death hapj)encd about the 40th year of his 

 age. Ante Chiift. 403. Some of his writings were ex- 

 tant in the time of Cicero, Orat. ii. 22. 



" It is not eafy to fay," fays RoUin, in defcribing the 

 charaderof Alcibiades, "whether his good or bad qua- 

 lities were moft pernicious to his country ; for with the 

 one he deceived, and with the other he opprefTed it. In 

 him d'.ftinguifhed valour was united with nobility of blood. 

 His perfon was beautiful and finely made ; he was eloquent, 

 of great ability in affairs, infmuating, and fermed for charm- 

 ing all mankind. He loved gloiy, but without prejudice 

 to his inclination for pleafure ; nor was he fo fond of plea- 

 fure as to negleft his gloiy for it. He knew how to give 

 into or abftracl himfelf from it, according to the fituation 

 of his affairs. Never was there duftillty of genius equal 

 to his. He metamoi-phofcd himfelf with incredible facihty, 

 like a Proteus, into the moll contrary forms, and fup- 

 ported them all with as mucli cafe and grace, as if each 

 had been natural to him. This convertibility of charafter, 

 according to occafions, the cuftoms of countries, and his 

 own intercfts, difcovers a heart void of principles, without 

 either ti-uth or jullice. He did not confme himfelf either 

 to religion, virtue, laws, duties, or his country. His fole 

 rule of aftion was his private ambition, to which he reduced 

 every thing. His aim was to pleafe, to dazzle, and to be 

 beloved ; but at the fame time to fubjeft thofe he foothed. 

 He favoured them only as they ferved his pui-pofes ; and 

 made his correfpondence and fociety a means of engroffing 

 eveiy thing to himfelf. His life was a pei"petual mixture 

 of good and evil. His failles for virtue were ill fuftained, 

 and quickly degenerated into vices and crimes, very little 

 to the honour of the inflruftions of that great phllofopher, 

 who took no fmall pains to cultivate him into a man of 

 worth. His aiflions were glorious, but without rule or 

 principle. His charafter was elevated and grand, but 

 without connection and confiftence. He was fucceffively 

 the fupport and the terror of the Lacedemonians and 

 Perfians. He was either the misfortune or refuge of his 

 own country, according to his declaring for or againft it. 

 In fme, he was the author of an univerfal deftruftive war 

 in Greece, from the fole motive of commanding, by in- 

 ducing the Athenians to befiege Syracufe ; much lefs from 

 the hope of conquering Sicily, and afterwards Africa, 

 than with the defign of keeping Athens in dependesce 

 upon himfelf; convinced, that having to deal with an in- 

 conftant, fufpicious, ungrateful, jealous people, averfe to 

 thofe that governed, it was neceffary to engage them con- 

 tinually in fomc great affair, in order to make his fervices 

 always necelfary to them, and that they might not be at 

 leifure to examine, cenfure, and condemn his conduft. 



He had the fate generally experienced by perfons of his 

 x:haracler, and of which they cannot reafonably complain. 

 He never loved any one, himfelf being his fole motive j 



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nor ever found a friend. He made it his merit and glory 

 to amufe all men, and nobody confided in, or adhered to 

 him. His fole view was to live with fplendour, and to 

 lord it univerfally ; and he pcri(hed miferably, abandoned 

 by the whole world, and obliged at his death to the feeble 

 fervices and impotent zeal of one only woman, for the 

 laft honours rendered to his remains." Plutarch in Aleib. 

 Opcr. torn. i. p. 191. Corn. Nepos. in Alcib. Thucydides, 

 p. 316, Sec. Ed. Dukeri. Diod. Sicul. torn. i. p. 502-647. 

 Ed. Weflehng. Xeuophon, Hellcn.hb. ii. RoUin's Anc. Hift. 

 vol. iii. p. 164-303. Anc. Un. Hill. vol. v. p. 293, &c. 



ALCIBIADES, was the name of one of the martyrs 

 at Lyons, A. D. 177. He came originally from Phiygia, 

 and led a ver)' auftere life, living upon bread and water : 

 but was aftenvards perfuaded, in order to avoid giving 

 offence, to partake of all forts of food promifcuouHy, and 

 to give God thanks. Lardner's works, vol. vii. p. 430. 



Alcibiades, in Ento/vology, a fpecies of PAPiLioiiyj/irj-, 

 with white wings, the anterior bounded by a black margin, 

 the poilerior marked below and at their tip with ferruginous 

 black fpots, found at Tranquebar. 



ALCIBIUiVr, in Botany, a word ufcd fometimes by the 

 ancients as an epithet for a kind of echium, or viper's bug- 

 lofs, and fometimes as the name of a peculiar plant. 



ALCIDAMAS, in Biography, a native of Elsa, ia 

 iEolla, was the difciple of Gorgias Leontinus, and contem- 

 porary with Ifocrates, and lived about 400 years before 

 Chritt. Two orations are extant under his name, ^'/z. 

 " Ulyfiis contra Palamedein," publifhed by Aldus, in his 

 edition of the Oi-ations of jEfchines, Lyfias, &c. in fol. at 

 Venice in 15 13, and by H. Stephens in 1575 ; and another 

 " Contra Sophiltas," annexed to Aldus's edition of Ifocrates 

 at Venice in 151 8. Cicero (Tufcul. lib. p. i. 48, Op. tom. ii. 

 p. 346, ed. Ohvet.) mentions Alcidamas as the author of a 

 difcourfe on the praife of death. Fabric. Bib. Gncc. lib. ii. 

 c. 26. tom. i. p. 900. 



Alcidamas, in EniomoJogy, a name given by Cramer to 

 the Papilio Tiirnus of Linnsus. 



ALCIDES, in Entomology, a ipecies of patiljo pliiejui, 

 with caudated black wings dotted with blue, ferruginous 

 below, and marked with a yellowifti ftreak ; found in Sierra 

 Leona in Africa. 



Alcides, is alfo a fpecies of scarab-cus, with the 

 horn of the thorax bent, bearded below, and unidentated» 

 and the head recurved and naked, found in India. 



Alcides, in Mythology, the furname of Hercules. See 

 Alc;eus. 



ALCIDON, in Ardent Geography, a river of Triphy- 

 lia, which rofe on the frontiers of Arcadia, and difchargcd 

 itfelf into the Jardanus. 



ALCIMEDON, a plain of Arcadia, north of Man- 

 tinea. 



ALCINOUS, in Biography and Hljlory, is reprtfented 

 by Homer as king of the Phxacians, in the ifland now 

 called Corfu. His fubjefts were exceOent mariners, and 

 much addiSed to the dance and fong, and every kind of 

 focial pleafure ; they were employed in condufting the ikip- 

 wrecked Ulyfles, who was hofpitably received by Alcinous, 

 to Ithaca. The tafte of Alcinous for horticulture is much 

 celebrated ; and his garden, or orchard, is defcribed by Ho- 

 mer as affording an abundance of fruit in quick fucceflion, 

 and alfo copious Itreams and pleafant fliade. Homer Odyf, 

 lib. vii. V. 108. 



Hence we read in ancient geography, of the port, and 

 alfo of the gardens of Alcinous, which pertained to this 

 ifland. 



Alcinous, a Platonic philofophcr, probably lived about 

 6 tlie 



