262 ALCIATI ALCIBIADES ALCIATI, Giovanni Paolo, a theologian, born in Piedmont, died in Dantzic about 1570. He embraced Protestantism, and figured in Geneva, but soon afterward promulgated doctrines about the Trinity which were as distasteful to the Protestants as to the Catholics. He and his fellow laborers, among whom was a physi- cian named Blandrata (see BLANDKATA), had to flee from Geneva, and chose Poland for a ref- uge, where they met a hearty reception. He wrote two letters (1564 and 1565) to Gregorio Pauli, maintaining that our Saviour did not ex- ist before his birth of the Virgin Mary. ALCIBIADES, an Athenian statesman and gen- eral, son of Clinias and Dinomache, born in Athens in 450 B. C., died in Bithynia in 404. He boasted his descent from the Telamonian Ajax, and through him from Jupiter himself. His grandfather had been among those who at- tempted the banishment of the Pisistratidro, and had received the prize of valor at the bat- tle of Artemisium ; and his father fell in the battle of Chasronea (497). Alcibiades was educated in the house of Pericles, his maternal relative, and from a child excelled in all studies and in all physical exercises. As he advanced to manhood, his birth, person, abilities, and wealth, joined to the consideration in which he was held by Pericles, procured for him a crowd of friends and flatterers ; and he became as distinguished for the audacity of his dissipa- tions as for the brilliancy of his station and abilities. Socrates, who appreciated his capaci- ties, gained great influence over him, and from this time his whole life seemed a wavering be- tween virtue and vice. He gave the first proofs of his valor in the battle of Potidm (432), where he was wounded while fighting side by side with Socrates, whose protection alone saved his life. He returned this service to his teacher in the battle of Delium (424), where his efforts saved Socrates from the sword of the conquering Boeotians. He always carried in war a shield inlaid with gold and ivory, and bearing the device of Jupiter hurling a thunderbolt. He distinguished himself in the public festivals of the Greeks, and at the Olympic games he was not content with fur- nishing one chariot, like the other wealthy young men, but equipped and sent seven, with which he bore off the first three prizes. He took little part in public affairs till the death of the demagogue Cleon, in 422, when he became the head of the new war party in op- position to Nicias. Nicias had just concluded a peace of 50 years between the Athenians and Lacedaemonians, and Alcibiades, jealous of the power of Nicias, set himself to break the peace and to form a union of the Greek states against Sparta. His counsels caused the great expedi- tion to Sicily (415), of which he was appointed commander together with Nicias and Lama- chus, and which he thought would be a step toward the conquest of Magna Grracia, Car- thage, and Peloponnesus. While the prepa- rations for this expedition were going on, all the busts of Hermes in Athens were during one night mysteriously mutilated, The cause and the authors of this sacrilege were unknown, but the popular fears connected it in some un- accountable way with an attempt to overthrow the Athenian constitution. That Alcibiades had anything to do with the offence there was no evidence, and if he was guilty of it, it was probably one of the unpremed- itated results of a nocturnal debauch. Nev- ertheless, suspicion was thrown upon him, and immediately produced great popular indig- nation. The Sicilian fleet being nearly ready to sail under his command, he demanded an investigation before his departure from Athens. This his enemies refused to give him, thinking to increase the popular odium against him in his absence. The expedition had hardly reached Sicily when the anger of the people became so excessive that his ruin was fully de- termined upon. But as he had already gained shining advantages in Sicily, and had become the favorite of the soldiers, it was deemed haz- ardous to pass public sentence upon him while he was at the head of an army. He was there- fore recalled. On his voyage homeward he escaped at Thurii and fled, first to Argos, and then to Sparta. Meantime sentence of death was passed upon him at Athens, and his prop- erty was confiscated. In Sparta he adapted himself skilfully to the severe manners of the country, became a favorite of the populace, and, being now the avowed enemy of his own country, he persuaded the Lacedaemonians to send help to Sicily against the Athenians. He then effected an alliance between the Spartans and the king of Persia, for the purpose of sup- C>rting the Chians in revolt against Athens. e passed over into Asia Minor, and roused all Ionia into rebellion. Soon, however, his suc- cesses and great influence excited the jealousy of the principal Spartans, and Alcibiades took refuge with Tissaphernes, a Persian satrap. He who had won the admiration of the Spar- tans by adopting all their simplicity, and prac- tising all their austerity, now merited the ap- plauses of the orientals by vying with them in Asiatic luxury. An exile both from Athens and Sparta, he began now to look with longing toward his native country. He persuaded Tis- saphernes to desert the cause of the Spartans, and to show willingness even to assist the Athenians, for which service he was recalled from banishment in 411. Though he did not return immediately to Athens, he yet used his influence to make the government aristocrati- cal, and received command of the Athenian fleet at Samos, with the determination not to see again his native land till he had rendered services commensurate with the evils which he had caused it. Defeating the Lacedemonians both by land and sea, he was suddenly arrested by Tissaphernes, who wished to avoid suspicion ' of having authorized the enterprise. But finding means to escape, Alcibiades again put himself at the head of the army, defeated the Laceda>
