Page:History of Greece Vol VIII.djvu/178

156 HISTORY W GREECE. was in guilty collusion to betray the fleet to Pharnabazus and the Lacedaemonians, and that he had already provided three strong forts in the Chersonese to retire to, as soon as this scheme should be ripe for execution. Such grave and wide-spread accusations, coupled with the dis- aster at Notium, and the complete disappointment of all the promises of success, were more than sufficient to alter the senti- ments of the people of Athens towards Alkibiades. He had no character to fall back upon ; or rather, he had a character worse than none, such as to render the most criminal imputations of treason not intrinsically improbable. The comments of his ene- mies, which had been forcibly excluded from public discussion during his summer visit to Athens, were now again set free ; and all the adverse recollections of his past life doubtless revived. The people had refused to listen to these, in order that he might have a fair trial, and might verify the title, claimed for him by his friends, to be judged only by his subsequent exploits, achieved since the year 411 B.C. He had now had his trial ; he had been found wanting ; and the popular confidence, which had been pro- visionally granted to him, was accordingly withdrawn. It is not just to represent the Athenian people, however Plu- tarch and Cornelius Nepos may set before us this picture, as having indulged an extravagant and unmeasured confidence in Alkibiades in the month of July, demanding of him more than man could perform, and as afterwards in the month of December passing, with childish abruptness, from confidence into wrathful displeasure, because their own impossible expectations were not already realized. That the people entertained large expecta- tions, from so very considerable an armament, cannot be doubted : the largest of all, probably, as in the instance of the Sicilian ex- pedition, were those entertained by Alkibiades himself, and pro- mulgated by his friends. But we are not called upon to determine what the people would have done, had Alkibiades, after per- having been a most uncomfortable and troublesome companion (sect. 7) His testimony on the point is valuable ; for there seems no disposition here to make out any case against Alkibiades. The trierarch notices the fact, that Alkibiades preferred his trireme, simply as a proof that it was the best equipped, or among the best equipped, of the whole fleet. Archestrattu and Erasinides prefer} ?d it af f .ei wards, for the same reason.