,
gay, and indolent; in Thrace, always drinking; in Thessaly, ever on
horseback; and when he lived with Tissaphernes, the Persian satrap, he
exceeded the Persians, themselves in magnificence and pomp. Not that his
natural disposition changed so easily, nor that his real character was
so very variable, but whenever he was sensible that by pursuing his own
inclinations he might give offence to those with whom he had occasion to
converse, he transformed himself into any shape and adopted any fashion,
that he observed to be most agreeable to them. So that to have seen
him at Lacedaemon, a man, judging by the outward appearance, would
have said, "'T is not Achilles' son, but he himself, the very man" that
Lycurgus designed to form.

After the defeat which the Athenians received in Sicily, ambassadors
were despatched to Sparta at once from Chios and Lesbos and Cyzicus,
to signify their purpose of revolting from the Athenians. But the
Lacedaemonians, at the persuasion of Alcibiades, chose to assist Chios
before all others. He himself, also, went instantly to sea, procured
the immediate revolt of almost all Ionia, and, co-operating with the
Lacedaemonian generals, did great mischief to the Athenians. But
King Agis was his enemy, and impatient of his glory, as almost every
enterprise and every success was ascribed to Alcibiades. Others, also,
of the most powerful and ambitious amongst the Spartans, were possessed
with jealousy of him, and, at last, prevailed with the magistrates in
the city to send orders into Ionia that he should be killed. Alcibiades,
however, had secret intelligence of this, and, in apprehension of the
result, while he communicated all affairs to the Lacedaemonians, yet
took care not to put himself into their power. At last he retired to
Tissaphernes, the satrap of the king of Persia, for his security, and
immediately became the first and most influential person about him.
For this barbarian, not being himself sincere, but a lover of guile and
wickedness, admired his address and wonderful subtlety. And, indeed, the
charm of daily intercourse with him was more than any character could
resist or any disposition escape. Even those who feared and envied him
could not but have a sort of kindness for him, when they saw him and
were in his company. So that Tissaphernes, otherwise a cruel character,
and, above all other Persians, a hater of the Greeks, was yet so won by
the flatteries of Alcibiades, that he set himse