[Xenophon] Conversation with Paul Cartledge regarding Alcibiades

[Phil Terry]

Hey folks,

I thought you would find this recent conversation I had with Professor  
Paul Cartledge interesting. Paul is the A.G. Leventis Chair of Ancient  
Greek Culture at Cambridge and one of the most well-respected  
classcists in the world. He's also a board member of the Reading  
Odyssey.

I decided to ask Paul about Alcibiades and the difference between the  
way Thucydides portrays him and the way David Thomas, the writer of  
the Introduction to our edition of Xenophon's Hellenika, describes him.

Some of Paul's answers require knowledge of the Athenian Wars (or the  
Peloponnesian Wars as the Athenians called them). But, the basic gist  
is understandable whether you have read Thucydides or not. Please keep  
this exchange confidential.

-- -- --

Phil: What's your opinion of Alcibiades? David Thomas seems to take a  
much friendlier attitude towards Alcibiades in his introduction to  
Xenophon's Hellenika. His perspective seems quite a contrast to  
Thucydides' point-of-view on him.

Prof Cartledge: I'm with Thucydides - who at one point virtually  
blames him altogether for leading Athens to defeat against Sparta, but  
at another point does say that - for once - he did do at least  
something good for Athens (in 411 when he persuaded the Athenian fleet  
NOT to sail back from Samos to Athens to resist the anti-democratic  
coup[1])!

Phil: Why do you think David suggests Alcibiades' expulsion from  
Syracuse is the main reason for the defeat of that ill-planned  
expedition?

Prof Cartledge: Alcibiades was the most gifted general of his day -  
BUT his posturing on Syracuse was ill-informed and excessive and self- 
promoting, and though Nicias was unduly cautious, he was right to be  
cautious, whereas Alcibiades in 416/5 had talked gaily of - after  
conquering Sicily (all of it) - going on to conquer  
Carthage...Hyberbole! It was party politics that got him recalled from  
Sicily but i. victory there was by no means certain even so and ii.  
even a false accustaion does not justify outright treason (going over  
to Sparta)! P

-- -- --

Hope you are enjoying your reading of Xenophon's Hellenika. Send  
questions or thoughts out over e-mail!

Best,

Phil
>


[1] When Paul refers positively to Alcibiades' role in preventing the  
fleet from sailing back to Athens to support the coup against the anti- 
democrats, he's saying so *not* because he (paul) supports the  
oligarchs but because that rash move would have left the Hellespont  
completely open to the Spartans and been quite a mistake in the war -  
it would have really hurt Athens to have done that no matter who was  
in charge back at home.