n which the city
stood, and torn by internal strife; from which miserable and forlorn
condition he had restored her so completely, that she was again not only
omnipotent at sea, but also victorious everywhere on land.

XXXIII. Before his return a decree had been passed authorising him to do
so, at the instance of Kritias, the son of Kallaeschrus, who himself
alludes to it in his poems, mentioning the service which he performed
for Alkibiades in the following verse:

"I moved your restoration by decree,
And that you're home again you owe to me."

Immediately on the return of Alkibiades, the people assembled in the
Pnyx, where he addressed them. He spoke with tears of his misfortunes,
for which he partly reproached his countrymen, though he attributed them
chiefly to his own unlucky fortune, and he greatly raised their hopes by
speaking encouragingly about their probable successes in the future. He
was honoured with golden crowns, and elected sole general with absolute
power both by sea and land. A decree was also passed by which his
property was restored to him, and the Eumolpidae and Kerykes were
ordered to retract the curses which they had invoked upon him at the
instance of the people. When all the rest obeyed, Theodorus the
hierophant excused himself, saying, If he has done the State no wrong, I
never cursed him.

XXXIV. While Alkibiades was in this glorious career of prosperity, some
persons in spite of his success foreboded evil from the day which he had
chosen for his return home; for on the day on which he sailed into the
harbour the statue of Athene on the Acropolis is stripped of its
garments and ornaments, which are cleaned, while it in the meanwhile is
covered up to conceal it from human eyes. This ceremony takes place on
the 25th of the month Thargelion, which day is considered by the
Athenians to be the unluckiest of all. Moreover, the goddess did not
appear to receive Alkibiades with a kindly welcome, but to turn away her
face from him and drive him from her presence. Be this as it may, all
went well and just as Alkibiades wished. A fleet of a hundred triremes
was manned, and placed at his disposal, but he with creditable pride
refused to set sail until after the celebration of the Eleusinian
mysteries. Since the permanent occupation of Dekeleia and of the passes
commanding the road to Eleusis by the enemy, the procession had been
necessarily shorn of many of its distinctive features, as it had