During this period
the principal states of Greece were involved in a network of political
intrigue, treaty following treaty, and alliance succeeding to
alliance, for the most part with no result. To this statement, there
is, however, one important exception. A year after the signing of the
second treaty between Athens and Sparta, a coalition was formed,
including Athens, Elis, and Mantinea, under the leadership of Argos;
and in mentioning this event we have to usher on to the stage one of
the most extraordinary characters in history. This was Alcibiades, a
young Athenian noble, endowed with every advantage of mind, person,
and fortune, whose fatal gifts, and lawless ambition, made him the
evil genius of his country. His high birth, his wealth, his wit, and
his wonderful beauty, attracted to him a host of flatterers, who fed
his vanity with soft adulation, and led him to believe that nothing
was too great for such powers as his. Like most of the brilliant young
men of his day, he attached himself for a time to the philosopher
Socrates, for whom he seems to have felt a warm admiration. But his
connexion with that great teacher and thinker, though it served to
sharpen his understanding, could not eradicate the effects of evil
habit and example.
Pages:
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173