Sex, Love, & Politics I: Alcibiades I

Although we Gallipots tend to partake of only so much wisdom as is short and easily quotable, it is nonetheless the case that on long weekends afternoons one's thoughts do tend towards contemplation of eternal verities. Such, in fact, is the current state of mind of your humble correspondent this Sunday. I would like, therefore, to take a slightly more serious tone for a few posts on a work that I have been wrestling with  recently, Plato's Alcibiades I.  Interested parties may find an online version with accompanying Greek here.

Mosaic Portrait of Alcibiades

Before turning to the dialogue itself, I feel a little preliminary exposition is needed, if only because the Alcibiades, like all of Plato's work, has its philosophy inextricably bound up with the particular political and culture mores of Classical Athens.  The past, as they say, is a foreign country, and I fear that without good directions at the outset we shall become hopelessly lost in a Grecian wilderness.

The best means of getting oriented is through the biography of the dialogue's title character, Alcibiades, Readers wanting the full story should turn to Plutarch's account of Alcibiades' life, but as a brief summary, Alcibiades was quite possibly the man in Athens in the last part of the 5th century BC.  Born into wealth and privilege c. 450 BC, Alcibiades' stature was further raised when he was adopted by Pericles, the leading Athenian politician and informal leader of the city's golden age, upon the death of Alcibiades' father.  Reaching adulthood, Alcibiades embarked upon a political career, wining over the crowds at the Assembly with his charismatic oratory and good looks.  Yet at the same time, Alcibiades gained a reputation for scandal and riotous living, seducing men and their wives alike and generally living as lasciviously as his considerable means would allow.

With the outbreak of war with the rival polis of Sparta, Alcibiades was in his element, fighting in several battles against the Spartans and their allies. After several Athenian successes, Alcibiades conceived a plan to conquer the island of Sicily, whose considerable resources added to those already possessed by the Athenians would make that city supreme among the Greeks, and Alcibiades supreme in Athens. Despite oppositions from conservative elements in the Assembly, the expedition was approved with Alcibiades in command in 415 BC.  Just before it was to depart, in a plot twist worthy of Sophocles, Athens' herms, small statues sacred to the gods, were mutilated, and suspicion immediately fell on Alcibiades, whose past conduct was taken as indicating a character quite capable of committing such a sacrilege.  

Vase Detail, Hoplite Battle

Sentenced to death, Alcibiades fled Athens and took up with the Spartans, providing them with strategic advice to defeat his homeland.  To get an idea of just how shocking this is, imagine if during the height of the Invasion of Normandy, Eisenhower had suddenly defected and began advising the Wehrmacht.  After seducing the Spartan King's wife, however, Alcibiades was on the move again , allying himself this time with the Persians, who some 70 years prior had been the common enemy of the whole of Greece.  In the meantime, the Spartans (thanks in part to the help Alcibiades provided and also the disastrous failure of the Sicilian Expedition he had proposed) had gained the upper hand on the Athenians.  As the situation worsened, many in Athens saw Alcibiades as the only hope to retrieve the situation.  The general feeling of the population is summed up in a line from Aristophanes' Frogs: "The city longs for him, and detests him, and wants to have him."  

Eventually, the situation became desperate enough that Alcibiades was recalled from Persia, and assumed command of the Athenian forces.  Something of the sheer skill and brilliance of the man can be seen in the fact that even though Athens had lost the greater part of her strength and was now facing the combined might of nearly all the cities of Greece, led by a Sparta which had the full backing of the vast resources of the Persian Empire, Alcibiades still managed to fend off these enemies and lead Athens' navy to several victories.  Such a run couldn't continue forever, and after the Battle of Notium, Athens' navy was nearly destroyed and Alcibiades was once again forced to flee his defeated city. While attempting to set himself up in Asia Minor, one member of Alcibiades' long list of enemies finally caught up with him, ambushing and murdering the disgraced exile in 404 BC.

Somehow, as is often the case, a short preliminary seems in danger of becoming a lengthy text indeed.  Therefore, I will take Alcibiades' death as a convenient chance to break off and leave the reader in peace.  Expect more soon, where (hopefully) we will finally turn to the dialogue itself!