isanthrope met him, and did not get out of his way, as he did
to every one else, but came up to him and took him by the hand, saying,
"Go on, my boy, increase in glory; for your increase will bring ruin to
all this crowd." Some laughed, some cursed him, but others took his
words to heart. So various were the opinions formed about Alkibiades,
because of the inconsistency of his character.

XVII. Even during the lifetime of Perikles, the Athenians had a
hankering after Sicily, and after his death they endeavoured to obtain
possession of it, by sending troops to the assistance of those cities
which were oppressed by the Syracusans, and thus paving the way for a
greater armament. It was, however, Alkibiades who fanned their desires
into a flame, and who persuaded them to abandon these half-hearted
attempts, to proceed with a great force to the island, and to endeavour
to subdue it. He raised great expectations among the people, but his own
aspirations were far more entensive; for he regarded the conquest of
Sicily not merely as an end, but as a stepping-stone to greater things.
While Nikias was dissuading the people from the attempt, on the ground
that it would be a difficult matter to capture the city of Syracuse,
Alkibiades was dreaming of Carthage and Libya; and after these were
gained, he meditated the conquest of Italy and of Peloponnesus,
regarding Sicily as little more than a convenient magazine and place of
arms. He greatly excited the younger Athenians by his vast designs, and
they listened eagerly to the marvellous stories of the old who had
served in that country; so that many of them would spend their time
sitting in the gymnasia and public seats, drawing sketches of the shape
of the island of Sicily, and of the position of Libya and Carthage. It
is said that Sokrates the philosopher, and Meton the astronomer, did not
expect that the state would gain any advantage from this expedition; the
former probably receiving a presentiment of disaster, as was his wont,
from his familiar spirit. Meton either made calculations which led him
to fear what was about to happen, or else gathered it from the art of
prophecy. He feigned madness, and seizing a torch, attempted to set his
house on fire. Some say that Meton made no pretence of madness, but that
he burned down his house one night, and next morning came and besought
the Athenians, after such a misfortune, to exempt his son from serving
with the expedition. Thus he decei