The Fall of the Athenian Empire-(A New History of the Peloponnesian War) Donald Kagan - (1987)

182 -THE FALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE
Whatever truth there may have been in these arguments, they failed
in their purpose. The Athenian forces continued to be angry, and a
suggestion that they sail immediately to the Piraeus and attack the
Athenian oligarchs soon gained strong support. So strong was the
sentiment for such an action that Thucydides says "no one else could
have restrained the mob at that moment," but Alcibiades did so. 88 If
Thucydides is right in this judgment it would indicate that the fear
and anger of the Athenian soldiers and sailors on Samos had grown
since the last meeting and that the envoys' attempts to calm them may
only have inflamed their emotions. It would also show how swiftly
Alcibiades' influence had grown, overshadowing that of his colleagues,
even Thrasybulus. 89 But Thucydides goes even further: "It seems that
for the first time at that moment, and more than anyone, Alcibiades
rendered a service to his city, for when the Athenians at Samos were
determined to sail against their fellow citizens-and if they had done
so the enemy would most certainly have gained control of Ionia and
the Hellespont-he was the one who prevented it.'""
811
8.86.5. The passage implies that his intervention at a previous assembly to prevent
a similar expedition (8.82) was less crucial and that the other leaders would also have
been successful. The suggestion made by Holzapfel in the nineteenth century that the
two reports represent a doublet of the same event has been generally rejected. See
Mcler, Forsch., 11, 410; Busolt, GG III:2, 1497, n. 2; HCT V, 287.
0
We must read Thucydides' judgment here with some caution, however. Plutarch
provides the detail omitted by Thucydides: that collaborating with Alcibiades was
Thrasybulus, "who was said to have the loudest voice of all the Athenians" (Ale. 26.6),
and there is no reason to doubt him. P. A. Brunt (REG LXV [1952], 59-96) believes
that "Aicibiades was probably an informant of Thucydides for certain incidents recorded
in Books V, VI and VIII" and that "Thucydides was inclined to magnify
Alcibiades' influence on the course of events" (95). His argument is most persuasive.
For a discussion of his importance in shaping Spartan policy and Thucydides' account
of it, see Kagan, Peace of N;cias, 252-259.
90
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