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>>--'> 49, .''>>'
of a fortified post that crippled the
! power of Athens throughout the rest
Of the war. Being compelled to leave
Sparta on account of an intrigue with
the queen, he took the Athenian side
again. was again made general, and
won series of brilliant victories. At
length he suffered defeat. and was at
once deposed from his generalship.
Fearing that further attacks would fol-
low. he deserted again. but settled in Il
neutral country, instead of going over
to tie enemy He continued to give
the Athenlan generals good advice
which they would not take. This OBJ
stinacy led them to crushing defeat,
which ended the war. Soon after this
Alcibiades was assassinated.
have reviewed his story here for
the sake Of bringing in the following
anpc,lote of his boyhood. recorded in
the second chapter Of Nenophon' S
'.Memorabilia:'
at is said that Alcibiades, before he
was twenty years old, had with Peri
cles, who was then his guardian and
the chief of the State, the following
| conversation about laws: Tell me Peri
cles.' said he, could you inform me
what law isy' Certainly said Peri
cles. DO then said Alcibiades, for
hear some men praised for being law
abiding, and suppose that this praise
could not rightly be given to one who
does not know what law is well,
| Alcibades,' said Pericles, lit is no hard
thing that you desire in wishing to
know what law is, for whatever the
body of the people, having met and
come to decision, enacts, declaring
what must be done and what not,-all
these are laws Meaning that we
should do the good or the bad? which:
'The good, boy, said he, and not to do
the bad And if it is not the body of
the people, but. as where there is an
oligarchy, few who meet and enact
what must be done, what is that
Everything,' said he, that the ruling
power of the State enacts, after consid-
ering what should be done, is called
law Then, even if a despot. ruling a
| State, enacts for the citizens what
| should be done, is that too law
Whatever a despot enacts when he is
in power, said he, this, too, is called
law
"'And,' said he. what is violence
and lawlessness, Pericles? is it not when
the stronger, not by persuasion, but
by force, compels the weaker to do
whatever he chooses Il should think
So said Periclcs And then whatever
a despot, without persuading the citi-
zens, compels them to do by enactment,
| is lawlessnessT i should think so,
said Pericles, for take back my state
ment that what a despot enacts with
| out persuasion is law And what the
few enact for the many, not by persua-
sion. but by the possession of power,
| h,l L.
seems to me- said Pericles, that every
thing that anybody compels anybody
to do without persuading him, whether
| by enactment or not, is violence rather
than law And then whatever the
whole body of the people, because it
has power over the wealthy, enacts
without persuading them would be
violence rather than law decidedly,
Alcibiades!' said Pericles, 'and we at
your age were good at such things; for
we practlsed and argued such matters
as you seem to me to he practising
now And Alcibiades said: Il wish,
Pericles, | had met you then, when you
were at your best in these things"
To me this passage is really startling
for the light it throws on Greek his
tory. We see here the familiar figure
of the young man trying to apply alb
stra:t principles of right to the world
of law and politics, and reaching the
most startling conclusions. We see
the equally familiar figure ofthe grown
man, knowing these things by expert
ence, and not by theory, unable to take
his Young friends point Of view even
far enough to perceive that his ideas
were serious Y meant. In Alcibiades' 5
last words we see the deep-rooted feel
ing Of youth, that, airy as they seem
| to Pericles, these principles are the
olly thing in the world worth paving
serious attention to; and we see this
feeling met by the despairing percep-
tion that such ideas cannot get any re-
cognition from the men who are run
ming the worlds business. The same
drama is played out before our own
eyes every day, with various cndings.
The commonest ending, perhaps, is that
which we see in the case of Alcibiades.
| The Young mans enthusiasm for logic
gives way under the steady pressure
of the old mans experience, and he is
trained up to walk in the old ways.
But this process is dangerous in GER
tain cases. BY nature, by all his cir
cumstances, and by the powerful infiu-
ence Of Socrates's training (for | have
forgotten to say that he was one of
Socrates's most intimate disciples,) Al
cibiades was bound to be despiser of