[Xenophon] Conversation with Paul Cartledge regarding Alcibiades

[Alexander J. Wei]

Dear Phil:

Thank you so much for sharing your conversation about Alcibiades.  I believe we touched on him in our talk with Bob Strassler as well.  I even remember first hearing about him from a Social Studies teacher in middle school.  I doubt controversy over him will ever die.

Alex
-----Original Message-----
>From: Phil Terry <pterry at creativegood.com>
>Sent: Jan 19, 2010 6:15 PM
>To: xenophon2010 at readingodyssey.org
>Subject: [Xenophon] Conversation with Paul Cartledge regarding Alcibiades
>
>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.
>
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