Stalkers, beaters, houndsmen, and servants having been dismissed, save those personal attendants whose confidentiality could be relied upon, there remained some thirty gentlemen. Euryptolemus, Adeimantus, Mantitheus, Aristocrates, and the younger Pericles constituting the cabinet of our host, with Theramenes, Thrasyllus, Procles, Ariston, and his party making up the moderates, and those cited above forming the opposition. The distinction of inclusion had done much to disarm hostility. All seemed softened up when their host, clad in huntsman's cloak, arose beside the hearth and began.
He launched without preamble, proposing at once an end to the war and alliance with Sparta. While his guests still goggled at this, he proposed the joint undertaking of war against Persia, its object not limited to liberation of the Greek cities of Asia Minor but, that accomplished, to press inland against Sardis, Susa, and Persepolis.
In other words, to conquer the empire entire, clear to India.
The temerity of such an undertaking was so breathtaking that several of the listeners, recovering speech, laughed outright, while others inquired if their host had taken leave of his reason.
Alcibiades addressed first the practical benefits, the most immediate of which was getting the Spartans out of Attica and all back to our estates. That alone would accomplish prodigies: propitiating the hostility of the rich and abating their intriguings against the democracy. Restore them to their vines and horses and they'll give back on overthrowing the state. Nor would the dividends of such an undertaking be confined to the aristocracy.
The demos would prosper as well, not only our own unpropertied citizens but the unfranchised orders of resident aliens, foreigners, and even slaves, the main of whom are more eager for action than our own citizens. Give them an enterprise of profit and glory, no longer against each other, but barbarians dripping with gold, and they will shut up too.
“This, gentlemen, I call 'feeding the Monster.' It means providing for our nation's restless factions an object worthy of their aspirations-one that does not set them at odds with each other but reconciles their disparate objects. These days the monster has become all Greece, for this war has scraped the moss from every Hellene's backside. They have become Athenians all, even the Spartans.”
He offered a compelling disquisition on the parties at Lacedaemon. That expansionist faction led by Endius would embrace this course with vigor, once satisfied of its authenticity, as would Callicratidas and the old guard who abhor the barbarian and bridle bitterly at groveling for his gold. The party of Agis and Lysander would oppose us, not because they disbelieved in the enterprise (they would compete for its leadership if they thought it would advance their own self-interest), but because their ambition was bound too tightly to Prince Cyrus of Persia's purse.
Private embassies, Alcibiades confided, had long since sounded both parties, and more were on the way; what could not be effected by persuasion might be accomplished by gold.
Persian invincibility was a myth, Alcibiades continued. Their army, composed of conscripts and subject states, would melt away before even second-tier Spartan forces as it had before ours throughout the Hellespontine War, and their navy will prove as paper against the fleet of Athens. He portrayed the Persian system of independent satrapies and the division fostered among them by the king. Darius' health failed; succession struggles would sunder all Asia. Thrusts by our armies into her belly would tear the empire apart. He made it sound so plausible as to be inevitable, particularly allying ourselves with the Macedonians and Thracians, whose princes were favorably disposed to him, and the Greek cities of Ionia whose end had always been independence and would rise as one beneath the banner of their united homeland.
His listeners were professional politicians and knew to distinguish purpose from enactment. To this Alcibiades now addressed himself. “Consider the predicament, gentlemen, in which this proposal places the Spartans. They have rallied the allied states by their slogan of 'freedom,' which means no more than getting rid of us. Now we ourselves would commandeer this high ground, constraining them to make a choice which will shake their state to its foundation.
“Consider next the reaction of the independent Greek states.
Each shrinks to follow a power as Sparta or Athens lest she be gobbled up and made subject, or fears that that Greek alliance of foes will defeat her outright. But to join an alliance of these two against non-Greeks presents a far less daunting prospect. If affairs fall out, she can always back one power against the other; if the enterprise fails, she has set only men and ships at hazard, not her own sovereignty, and if it succeeds, she may reap wealth and glory unimagined.
“Lastly, gentlemen, ponder the effect upon the Persian. The Spartans are his allies. Even if they reject our offer, the Mede cannot but wonder, as each new admiral comes out from Sparta, where this fellow stands and how far he is to be trusted. So that even if we must continue this war, we have sown disunity among our enemies, and at the cost of nothing to ourselves.”
Now came the main stroke: “I want you to make this proposal, Cleophon, and you, Anytus and Charicles. Not me.
“Such a measure must be put forward by my enemies. Hear me, please, and weigh these considerations. If I or any of my party place this plan before the people, it will be perceived as recklessness born of pride. I will be accused of partisanship in favor of the Spartans owing to my past associations with them, or, worse, being bribed by them, and this will be followed by the predictable indictments of treason, ambition, self-interest, and so forth. You yourselves will no doubt put these forward. On the other hand, if your parties, gentlemen, whose enmity for the Spartans is known to be implacable, advance this proposition, it will at once achieve credibility and, more, be greeted as one of vision and daring. You will gain the credit. And I will back you with all I possess.
“ He was speaking to no fools. All perceived at once the genius of this plan and its corollary, that is, of having his enemies propose it. Should Anytus and Charicles of the oligarchs or Cleophon of the radical democrats do as Alcibiades proposed and advance the measure in their own names, he would have either achieved his object, if this in fact was his intent, or, more likely, have set his foes up for a double cross, should he instead denounce the project as treason and themselves as traitors, claiming never to have heard of such a plan and demanding that its progenitors receive hard justice. Should his enemies on the other hand attempt to preempt this by betraying him first to the people, representing the plan as his own, themselves rejecting it, they ran the risk of discovering the demos in support and themselves cut out by their own cravenness and perfidy. Either way they were ruined. And he, Alcibiades, would appear as the generous and all-embracing statesman who had offered even to his enemies this chance for glory they had so shortsightedly spurned, or as the blameless patriot stabbed in the back by the same villains who had deprived the city of his genius once before. Only if the people rejected Alcibiades' plan would his opponents come off unscathed. But who could risk that now, in the supreme hour of his ascendancy?
Charicles rose, the would-be torture master. “Why go to such extravagant lengths to ruin us, Alcibiades? Why not simply employ murder? We would.”