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

J22
-THE FALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE
had conducted the campaign like a luxury cruise_ He had handed over
the command of the fleet to a man whose only talents were drinking
and telling tall sailor's tales, "so that he himself might be free to sail
around collecting money and engaging in debauchery by getting drunk
and visiting whores in Abydos and Ionia, even while the enemy fleet
was close by. " 116 The ambassadors from Cyme accused him of attacking
"an allied city that had done no wrong. " 117 At the same time, some
Athenians blamed him for not trying to capture that city, claiming
that he had been bribed by the Great King. 118 Other Athenian soldiers
came from Samos to accuse him of favoring the Spartans; after all it
was inevitable that his dalliance with the enemy between 4I 5 and 4I I
would not be forgotten and would come back to haunt him as soon as
misfortune destroyed his invulnerability. His friendship with Tissaphernes
and Persia were also not forgotten. It would not be plausible
to accuse him of plotting with Tissaphernes after that satrap had
thrown Alcibiades into prison, so instead, he was accused of friendship
with Pharnabazus, who, it was alleged, would make him tyrant at
Athens after the war. 119 The old prejudices came forth and worked
powerfully against him; by this time emotion was high enough that it
was safe to take action against him. A successful proposal to remove
him from office was made in the assembly, possibly by Cleophon and
probably not long before the regular elections in early March. 120
llliPlut. Ale. 36.t-z.
117
Diod. IJ·73·6·
118
Nepos 7·]-2.
ll?Ibid.
110
There is a dispute about whether Alcibiades was removed from office by a formal
vote of &11'0)(EI.poTovio. or was simply not reelected in 406. Xenophon (1.5.I6-I7);
Plutarch (Ale. 36. J), who seems here, as often elsewhere, merely to be echoing Xenophon;
and Diodorus (I]. 74· 1) tell the story as though he was merely not reelected.
In his account of the life of Lysander, however, Plutarch (5.2) says that Alcibiades
was "deposed from his command," using the technical term for removal from office,
&n£xtapoT6vTtcrEv. Lysias (21. 7) says the Athenians "put an end to his office" (Enafuan
Tf)c; &pxftc;), which is somewhat ambiguous, but Nepos