its
truth by a computation of the time before the birth of the child.
Terrified at an earthquake, he had once quitted his wife's chamber, and
for ten months afterwards had never conversed with her. As it was at the
end of this period that Leotychides was born, he declared that the child
was not his; and for this reason he never succeeded to the throne.

XXIV. After the Athenian disaster in Sicily, ambassadors came to Sparta
from Chios, Lesbos, and Kyzikus. The claims of the Lesbians were
favoured by the Boeotians, and those of the people of Kyzikus by
Pharnabazus; but, at the recommendation of Alkibiades, the
Lacedaemonians decided to give the preference to the Chians. He himself
sailed to that island, caused nearly the whole of the cities of Ionia to
revolt from Athens, and injured the Athenian cause much by constantly
assisting the Lacedaemonian generals. King Agis, however, was already
his personal enemy, because of Alkibiades's intrigue with his wife, and
now was enraged at his successes; for it was said that scarcely anything
was done without Alkibiades. The other leading men in Sparta also hated
Alkibiades, because he had thrown them into the shade; and they had
sufficient influence with the home government to obtain an order for his
execution, to be sent to the generals in Ionia.

Alkibiades received warning of this in good time. Alarmed at the news,
he still continued to co-operate with the Lacedaemonians, but utterly
refused to trust his person among them. To ensure his safety, he betook
himself to Tissaphernes, the satrap or viceroy for the king of Persia in
that province, and at once became the most important personage amongst
his followers. The barbarian being himself a lover of deceit and of
crooked ways, admired his cleverness and versatility; while no man's
nature could resist the fascinations and charms of the society of
Alkibiades, which Tissaphernes now enjoyed daily. Although he hated the
Greeks as much as any Persian, yet he was so overpowered by the
flatteries of Alkibiades, that he in his turn repaid him with
compliments even more excessive. He decreed that the pleasantest of his
parks, a place charmingly wooded and watered, with delightful walks and
summer-houses, should be called "the Alkibiades;" and all men from that
time forth spoke of it by that name.

XXV. Now that Alkibiades had determined that the Spartans were not to be
trusted, and that he was in fear of Agis, their king, he began to