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

THE RETURN OF ALCIBIADES 289
ping anchor he did not disembark immediately, "in fear of his enemies."
Xenophon describes the landing and arrival: "Climbing onto the deck
of his ship, he looked to see if his friends were there. When he saw
his cousin Euryptolemus, son of Peisianax, and his other relatives and
his friends with them, then he landed and went up to the city, accompanied
by a party of bodyguards ready to defend him against any
attack that might come. " 50 It soon became evident, however, that the
crowds who came rushing down to the shore to see his arrival meant
him no harm. Instead, he was welcomed with shouts of congratulation
and with wreaths in honor of his achievements." Although his election
to the generalship and the warmth of the people's reception indicated
that his flight from judgment and condemnation were erased from the
public consciousness, he wasted no time in going before meetings of
the council and assembly to defend himself formally against the charges
of which he had been accused eight years earlier: those brought by
Thessalus before the council and those brought by Pythonicus before
the assembly." He denied that he had committed the sacrilege of which
he had been accused and asserted that he had been treated unjustly.
Then he repeated the tactic he had used so successfully on his return
to Samos in 411, complaining of his own bad fortune but blaming
neither individuals nor the people at large. Instead, he blamed his own
bad luck and a kind of personal evil demon that haunted him." Then,
as he had done on the former occasion, he turned away from the past
to focus on the great prospects for the future: the enemy's hopes were
vain; the Athenians had reason to take courage.
The performance was masterful and the results everything Alcibiades
could wish. He entirely captured the hearts of his listeners. No
one raised the awkward questions of treasonous cooperation with the
Spartans and Persians; in fact, no one spoke against anything he or
his supporters said. He was cleared of all charges; the property that
had been confiscated from him as a result of his condemnation was
ordered restored; the priests who had placed a curse on him, the
Eumolpidai and Kerykes, were commanded to revoke those curses; the
stelae bearing his sentence and other actions taken against him were
likely that Xenophon was an eyewitness to the arrival of Alcibiades, and we should
prefer his account.
501.4.18-19.
51 Diod. q.6.].1; Plut. Ale. 32+
52
See Kagan, Peace of Nicias, 195, 203; and Hatzfeld, Alcibiade, 296.
H8.81.2.