5*8 ATT! 
to be ranked among the Lacedemonian heroes. It was the 
mother of this general, who, on hearing the exploits of 
her fon commended, anfwered, “ It is trtie my fon was a 
brave man ; blit I doubt not that Sparta lias many citizens 
as brave as he.” As for Cleon, he merited no regret, 
having been no more than an infolent bonder, of a cruel 
overbearing difpofition, and very avaricious. 
The -Lacedemonians, in the mean time, apprehenfive 
left the Helots ihould take advantage of the prefent bad 
pofttire of their affairs, and revolt, ufed them with the 
mod barbarous perfidy. Having decoyed the braved: of 
them to Sparta, under pretence of giving them their li¬ 
berty, they are faid to have murdered no fewer than 2000 
of them; a ftriking inftance, to what excefs of barbarity 
a people, that is guided by no other motive than a blind 
hard-hearted policy will proceed ! 
The Athenians, after their late difader, began to think 
ferioufly of peace; to which the Lacedemonians were like- 
wife well difpofed, being deliroits to recover from capti¬ 
vity their brave citizens who had been taken at Sphafteria. 
After mutual conferences, a peace was agreed on, for the 
ipace of fifty years, between the two republics and their 
refpective allies. This was greatly forwarded by Nicias, 
w ho was as worthy a citizen as he was a fkilful general. 
The war was concluded by this peace; but, before the ex¬ 
piration of the fird year, difcord fprang up afredi betw een 
the Athenians and Lacedemonians, both ddes breathing 
nothing but war, Alcibiades, who was now beginning to 
appear in the public ademblies of the Athenians, was prin¬ 
cipally affive in oppodng the means of reconciliation pro- 
pofed b.y Nicias. 
Alcibiades had been educated by his uncle Pericles, 
who difeovered in him, while very young, extraordinary 
natural parts, and a fingular mixture of good and bad 
qualities. Socrates, too, entertained the mod tender friend¬ 
ship for him, and took delight in indilling into his mind 
the mod valuable branches of every kind of knowledge. 
That bed of philofophers laboured chiefly to infpire his 
fcholar with the pured maxims of morality, to fortify 
him againd the power of the paflions, and to preferve him 
from the dangerous allurements to vice, to which his 
youth and wealth expofed him. Alcibiades, fendble of 
the affection of Socrates, and charmed with the graces of 
his converfation, lidened attentively to the leffons of his 
mader ; though his natural inclination for pleafure, and 
the fedudlion of his companions, made him frequently 
forget them. On his fird appearance in public, Alcibiades 
difplayed a daring factious genius capable of the bolded 
and mod hazardous deligns. Though addicted to pleafure, 
even to debauchery, he was fo perfedlly mader of his paf- 
fions, that he could accommodate himfelf, with eafe, to 
the humour and way of life of every perfon w ith whom he 
had occalion to converfe, however different from his own. 
He was a rake in Ionia ; temperate and audere in Sparta; 
and, in Perfia, he exceeded the natives in luxury and mag¬ 
nificence. Never did any man deferve fo well the name 
of Proteus. Ambition, however, was his ruling paflion; 
and, in every difpiite, he afpired at fuperiority with the 
utmod eagernefs. He was, indeed, in all refpeffs, inti- 
tled to pre-eminence in Athens; for he poifeffed every 
quality requidte in a leading man. His ability in budnefs ; 
iiis illudrious defeent; the beauty of his perfon, which 
was calculated to procure him the love and admiration of 
all who faw him; his immenfe riches, which he fpent 
with oftentatious profufion; the public feads furnidicd by 
him to the people ; and the high magnificence in which 
he lived, dazzled the eyes, and attraited the refpeft and 
confidence, of his fellow-citizens. When, '<o all thefe ad¬ 
vantages, are added his admirable eloquence, and his an¬ 
gular knowledge in the art of war, we clearly fee, that he 
snuft eafily become the idol of the people. His faults 
were overlooked ; thofe airs of fuperiority, which, in this 
republic, would have been accounted criminal in any other 
perfon, were excufed in him ; and his wild exceffes were 
called by the iofter name of youthful frolics. 
C A. 
It has been already obferved, that he exhibited* the 
fird proofs of his bravefy at Potidea. Having been flat¬ 
tered, on that occafion, with predictions of his°foon eclipf- 
ing the abled generals of Greece, he conceived a deftre 
for war ; and, becoming jealous of the high reputation of 
Nicias, he exerted his utmod efforts to prevent the peace 
concluded by that wife Athenian, between his country¬ 
men and the Lacedemonians, from taking effeCf. He la¬ 
boured underhand to detach the Argives from the Spartan 
intereft, and to exafperate the Athenians againff: the Spar¬ 
tans, on account of the latter having delivered up the 
fort of PanaChis in a ruinous condition, and not fortified 
as it ought to have been in terms of the treaty. He en¬ 
deavoured, at the fame time, to render Nicias fufpeCfed. 
While thefe intrigues w ere going on, ambaffadors from 
Sparta arrived at Athens. Alcibiades, by ftratagein, or 
rather by a piece of unjtiffifiable roguery, provoked the 
people to Inch a degree againff the ambaffadors, that they 
difmiffed them in a very contumelious manner. The am¬ 
baffadors returned to Sparta, full of indignation at the 
infolent ufage they had received at Athens ; and the war 
was immediately renewed. The Athenians now concluded 
an alliance with the Mantineans and Eleans, named Alci¬ 
biades their general, and fent an army to ravage Laconia. 
Nicias and Alcibiades enjoyed between them all autho¬ 
rity in Athens. The former had difgufted the people, by 
oppofing their unreafonable defires ; the latter had pro¬ 
voked them by his haughty behaviour and diffolute life. 
Each of them, however, was fupported by a faction, and 
they reciprocally ran the hazard of being banilhed by of- 
tracifm. For Hyperbolus, a man of a profligate charac-- 
ter, who poffeffed fome influence in the republic, tiled 
every art to irritate the people againff: them, flattering 
himfelf with the hope of fucceeding to the place and pow¬ 
er of him that fhould be banilhed. But Nicias and Alci¬ 
biades, uniting their interefts, procured the baniffnuent of 
Hyperbolus. As this punifliment of oftraeifm had never 
before been employed except againff perfons of fuperior 
merit and diftindtion, it fell into difufe ever after this time, 
on account of its having been exercifed upon fo unworthy 
a fubjeft. Alcibiades, in the mean time, indulged him¬ 
felf without referve in his pleafures. The luxury and 
voluptuoufnefs in which he lived, made every virtuous 
Athenian afhamed. He was engaged in a continual round 
of feafting and debauchery ; and the wifer fort became 
apprehenfive, left by means of his extravagant profufion 
to the people, and of the daily (hows with which he en¬ 
tertained them, he fhould arrive at laft at fupreme and 
abfolute power, and become their tyrant. 
Since the death of Pericles, the .Athenians had main¬ 
tained a ftridt alliance with the Leontines in Sicily, who, 
on being attacked by the Syracufans, had fent an embaffy 
to Athens, at the head of which was the celebrated orator 
Gorgias, who pleaded the caufe of the Leontines in an 
oration fo elegant and pathetic, that the requeft of the 
ambaffadors was complied with ; and the Athenians fent 
a fleet to Rhegium toaffiffthe Leontines. Next year they 
fent thither a more numerous fleet (till, under pretence of 
aflifting the town oppreffed by the Syracufans, bur, in 
fa£l, to open to themfelves a way to the conqueft of Sicily. 
Alcibiades, by his harangues, inffigated the Athenians 
(till more and more to this undertaking, and talked of no¬ 
thing lefs than extending the conquefts of Athens over 
Africa and Italy. 
While the minds of the Athenians were full of thefe 
mighty projects, ambaffadors arrived from the Egiftians, 
to implore their affiftance againff the Selinontines, who 
were fupported by the Syracufans ; offering, at the fame 
time, to pay the troops that fhould be fent to their affift¬ 
ance. The Athenians, tempted by thefe promifes, nam¬ 
ed Alcibiades, Nicias, and Lamachus, to command a fleet 
deftined to fuccour the Egiftians. Nicias remonftrated 
againft this expedition in the Itrongeft terms, and painted 
out, in the mod lively colours, what ruinous confequences 
might thence refult to the republic. He reprefented to 
