Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/57

39 ALKIBIADES. 3'j be found in Athens, that of Sokrates most of all and most fre- quently. The philosopher became greatly attached to him, and doubtless lost no opportunity of inculcating on him salutary les- sons, as far as could be done, without disgusting the pride of a haughty and spoiled youth who was looking forward to the celebrity of public life. But unhappily his lessons never pro- duced any serious effect, and ultimately became even distasteful to the pupil. The whole life of Alkibiades attests how faintly the sentiment of obligation, public or private, ever got footing in his mind ; how much the ends which he pursued were dictated by overbearing vanity and love of aggrandizement. In the later part of life, Sokrates was marked out to public hatred by hi* enemies, as having been the teacher of Alkibiades and Kritias. And if we could be so unjust as to judge of the morality of the teacher by that of these two pupils, we should certainly rank him among the worst of the Athenian sophists. At the age of thirty-one or thirty-two, the earliest at which it was permitted to look forward to an ascendent position in public life, Alkibiades came forward with a reputation stained by pri- vate enormities, and with a number of enemies created by his insolent demeanor. But this did not hinder him from stepping into that position to which his rank, connections, and club-parti- sans, afforded him introduction ; nor was he slow in displaying his extraordinary energy, decision, and capacity of command. From the beginning to the end of his eventful political life, he showed a combination of boldness in design, resource in contri- vance, and vigor in execution, not surpassed by any one of his contemporary Greeks : and what distinguished him from all was his extraordinary flexibility of character 1 and consummate the Athenian public : there were doubtless some who taught a better moral- ity, others who taught a worse. And this may be said with equal truth of the great body of professional teachers in every age and nation. Xenophon enumerates various causes to which he ascribes the corruption of the character of Alkibiades ; wealth, rank, personal beauty, flatterers, etc.; but he docs not name the Sophists among them (Memori.b. i, 2.24, 25). 1 Cornel. Nepos, Alkibiad. c. 1 ; Satyrus apud Athenseu~u. xii, p. 534 j Plutarch, Alkibiad. c. 23. Ow yap Toiov~uv del, TOIOVTO<; elfi' lyu, saya Odysseus, in Jic Philoktetes of Sophokles.