SICILY, B.C. 421-413.

Several of the allies of Sparta were dissatisfied with the peace which
she had concluded; and soon afterwards some of them determined to
revive the ancient pretensions of Argos, and to make her the head of a
new confederacy, which should include all Greece, with the exception of
Sparta and Athens. The movement was begun by the Corinthians, and the
league was soon joined by the Eleans, the Mantineans, and the
Chalcidians.

Between Sparta and Athens themselves matters were far from being on a
satisfactory footing. Sparta confessed her inability to compel the
Boeotians and Corinthians to accede to the peace, or even to restore
the town of Amphipolis. Athens consequently refused to evacuate Pylus,
though she removed the Helots and Messenians from it. In the
negotiations which ensued respecting the surrender of Pylus, Alcibiades
took a prominent part. This extraordinary man had already obtained
immense influence at Athens. Young, rich, handsome, profligate, and
clever, Alcibiades was the very model of an Athenian man of fashion.
In lineage he was a striking contrast to the plebeian orators of the
day. He traced his paternal descent from Ajax, whilst on his mother's
side he claimed relationship with the Alcmaeonidae and consequently
with Pericles. On the death of his father Clinias Pericles had become
his guardian. From early youth the conduct of Alcibiades was marked by
violence, recklessness, and vanity. He delighted in astonishing the
more sober portion of the citizens by his capricious and extravagant
feats. He was utterly destitute of morality, whether public or
private. But his vices were partly redeemed by some brilliant
qualities. He possessed both boldness of design and vigour of action;
and, though scarcely more than thirty at the time of which we are now
speaking, he had already on several occasions distinguished himself by
his bravery. His more serious studies were made subservient to the
purposes of his ambition, for which some skill as an orator was
necessary. In order to attain it he frequented the schools of the
sophists, and exercised himself in the dialectics of Prodicus,
Protagoras, and above all of Socrates.

Such was the man who now opposed the application of the Lacedaemonian
ambassadors. Their reception had been so favourable, that Alcibiades
alarmed at the prospect of their success, resorted to a trick in order
to defeat it. He called upon the Lacedaemonian en