ABSTRACT
I. The most eminent of the Athenians for command in war after the death of Pericles was unquestionably Phormio; but this great admiral was now far
advanced in years,1 and, in common with many other of the strategi or commanders, he seems to have taken no active part in the civil government or the popular assemblies. As
yet the splendid Alcibiades was alternating between the disputes of philosophy and the pleasures of debauch, notorious for his beauty and his steeds, his loose flowing robes and his sauntering gait,2 for his magnificence and his profligacy, and distinguished in spite of all by the discerning few for the promise of qualities that save or ruin states, when riper years should admit him into the practical affairs of men.
