Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ χαλεπῶς μὲν ἔφερον καὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας ἀποστερηθέντες· ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀφελόμενος αὐτῶν ὁ Λύσανδρος ἀνδράσι τριάκοντα παρέδωκε τὴν πόλιν, οἷς οὐκ ἐχρήσαντο σώζεσθαι δυνάμενοι λογισμοῖς, ἀπολωλότων ἤδη τῶν πραγμάτων, συνίεσαν, ὀλοφυρόμενοι καὶ διεξιόντες τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὑτῶν καὶ ἀγνοίας, ὧν μεγίστην ἐποιοῦντο τὴν δευτέραν πρὸς Ἀλκιβιάδην ὀργήν.
The Athenians were greatly depressed at the loss of their supremacy. But when Lysander robbed them of their freedom too, and handed the city over to thirty men, then, their cause being lost, their eyes were opened to the course they would not take when salvation was yet in their power. They sorrowfully rehearsed all their mistakes and follies, the greatest of which they considered to be their second outburst of wrath against Alcibiades.
ἀπερρίφη γὰρ οὐδὲν ἀδικῶν αὐτός, ἀλλʼ ὑπηρέτῃ χαλεπήναντες ὀλίγας ἀποβαλόντι ναῦς αἰσχρῶς, αἴσχιον αὐτοὶ τὸν κράτιστον καὶ πολεμικώτατον ἀφείλοντο τῆς πόλεως στρατηγόν. ἔτι δʼ οὖν ὅμως ἐκ τῶν παρόντων ἀνέφερέ τις ἐλπὶς ἀμυδρὰ μὴ παντάπασιν ἔρρειν τὰ πράγματα τῶν Ἀθηναίων Ἀλκιβιάδου περιόντος· οὔτε γὰρ πρότερον ἠγάπησε φεύγων ἀπραγμόνως ζῆν καὶ μεθʼ ἡσυχίας, οὔτε νῦν, εἰ τὰ καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ἱκανῶς ἔχει, περιόψεται Λακεδαιμονίους ὑβρίζοντας καὶ τοὺς τριάκοντα παροινοῦντας.
He had been cast aside for no fault of his own; but they got angry because a subordinate of his lost a few ships disgracefully, and then they themselves, more disgracefully still, robbed the city of its ablest and most experienced general. And yet, in spite of their present plight, a vague hope still prevailed that the cause of Athens was not wholly lost so long as Alcibiades was alive. He had not, in times past, been satisfied to live his exile’s life in idleness and quiet; nor now, if his means allowed, would he tolerate the insolence of the Lacedaemonians and the madness of the Thirty.
ταῦτα δʼ οὐκ ἦν ἄλογον οὕτως ὀνειροπολεῖν τοὺς πολλούς, ὁπότε καὶ τοῖς τριάκοντα φροντίζειν ἐπῄει καὶ διαπυνθάνεσθαι καὶ λόγον ἔχειν πλεῖστον ὧν ἐκεῖνος ἔπραττε καὶ διενοεῖτο. τέλος δὲ Κριτίας ἐδίδασκε Λύσανδρον ὡς Ἀθηναίων οὐκ ἔστι δημοκρατουμένων ἀσφαλῶς ἄρχειν Λακεδαιμονίοις τῆς Ἑλλάδος·
It was not strange that the multitude indulged in such dreams, when even the Thirty were moved to anxious thought and inquiry, and made the greatest account of what Alcibiades was planning and doing. Finally, Critias tried to make it clear to Lysander that as long as Athens was a democracy the Lacedaemonians could not have safe rule over Hellas;
Ἀθηναίους δέ, κἂν πρᾴως πάνυ καὶ καλῶς πρὸς ὀλιγαρχίαν ἔχωσιν, οὐκ ἐάσει ζῶν Ἀλκιβιάδης ἀτρεμεῖν ἐπὶ τῶν καθεστώτων. οὐ μὴν ἐπείσθη γε πρότερον τούτοις ὁ Λύσανδρος ἢ παρὰ τῶν οἴκοι τελῶν σκυτάλην ἐλθεῖν κελεύουσαν ἐκ ποδῶν ποιήσασθαι τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην, εἴτε κἀκείνων φοβηθέντων τὴν ὀξύτητα καὶ μεγαλοπραγμοσύνην τοῦ ἀνδρός, εἴτε τῷ Ἄγιδι χαριζομένων.
and that Athens, even though she were very peacefully and well disposed towards oligarchy, would not be suffered, while Alcibiades was alive, to remain undisturbed in her present condition. However, Lysander was not persuaded by these arguments until a dispatch-roll came from the authorities at home bidding him put Alcibiades out of the way; either because they too were alarmed at the vigor and enterprise of the man, or because they were trying to gratify Agis.
ὡς οὖν ὁ Λύσανδρος ἔπεμψε πρὸς τὸν Φαρνάβαζον ταῦτα πράττειν κελεύων, ὁ δὲ Μαγαίῳ τε τῷ ἀδελφῷ καὶ Σουσαμίθρῃ τῷ θείῳ προσέταξε τὸ ἔργον, ἔτυχε μὲν ἐν κώμῃ τινὶ τῆς Φρυγίας ὁ Ἀλκιβιάδης τότε διαιτώμενος, ἔχων Τιμάνδραν μεθʼ αὑτοῦ τὴν ἑταίραν, ὄψιν δὲ κατὰ τοὺς ὕπνους εἶδε τοιαύτην·
Accordingly, Lysander sent to Pharnabazus and bade him do this thing, and Pharnabazus commissioned Magaeus, his brother, and Sousamithras, his uncle, to perform the deed. At that time Alcibiades was living in a certain village of Phrygia, where he had Timandra the courtesan with him, and in his sleep he had the following vision.
ἐδόκει περικεῖσθαι μὲν αὐτὸς τὴν ἐσθῆτα τῆς ἑταίρας, ἐκείνην δὲ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἐν ταῖς ἀγκάλαις ἔχουσαν αὐτοῦ κοσμεῖν τὸ πρόσωπον ὥσπερ γυναικὸς ὑπογράφουσαν καὶ ψιμυθιοῦσαν. ἕτεροι δέ φασιν ἰδεῖν τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποτέμνοντας αὐτοῦ τοὺς περὶ τὸν Μαγαῖον ἐν τοῖς ὕπνοις καὶ τὸ σῶμα καιόμενον. ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν ὄψιν οὐ πολὺ γενέσθαι λέγουσι πρὸ τῆς τελευτῆς.
οἱ δὲ πεμφθέντες πρὸς αὐτὸν οὐκ ἐτόλμησαν εἰσελθεῖν, ἀλλὰ κύκλῳ τὴν οἰκίαν περιστάντες ἐνεπίμπρασαν.
He thought he had the courtesan’s garments upon him, and that she was holding his head in her arms while she adorned his face like a woman’s with paints and pigments. Others say that in his sleep he saw Magaeus’ followers cutting off his head and his body burning. All agree in saying that he had the vision not long before his death. The party sent to kill him did not dare to enter his house, but surrounded it and set it on fire.
αἰσθόμενος δʼ ὁ Ἀλκιβιάδης τῶν μὲν ἱματίων τὰ πλεῖστα καὶ τῶν στρωμάτων συναγαγὼν ἐπέρριψε τῷ πυρί, τῇ δʼ ἀριστερᾷ χειρὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ χλαμύδα περιελίξας, τῇ δεξιᾷ σπασάμενος τὸ ἐγχειρίδιον ἐξέπεσεν ἀπαθὴς ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς πρὶν ἢ διαφλέγεσθαι τὰ ἱμάτια, καὶ τοὺς βαρβάρους ὀφθεὶς διεσκέδασεν. οὐδεὶς γὰρ ὑπέμεινεν αὐτὸν οὐδʼ εἰς χεῖρας συνῆλθεν, ἀλλʼ ἀποστάντες ἔβαλλον ἀκοντίοις καὶ τοξεύμασιν.
When Alcibiades was aware of this, he gathered together most of the garments and bedding in the house and cast them on the fire. Then, wrapping his cloak about his left arm, and drawing his sword with his right, he dashed out, unscathed by the fire, before the garments were in flames, and scattered the Barbarians, who ran at the mere sight of him. Not a man stood ground against him, or came to close quarters with him, but all held aloof and shot him with javelins and arrows.
οὕτω δʼ αὐτοῦ πεσόντος καὶ τῶν βαρβάρων ἀπελθόντων, ἡ Τιμάνδρα τὸν νεκρὸν ἀνείλετο, καὶ τοῖς αὑτῆς περιβαλοῦσα καὶ περικαλύψασα χιτωνίσκοις, ἐκ τῶν παρόντων ἐκήδευσε λαμπρῶς καὶ φιλοτίμως.
ταύτης λέγουσι θυγατέρα γενέσθαι Λαΐδα τὴν Κορινθίαν μὲν προσαγορευθεῖσαν, ἐκ δὲ Ὑκκάρων, Σικελικοῦ πολίσματος, αἰχμάλωτον γενομένην.
Thus he fell, and when the Barbarians were gone, Timandra took up his dead body, covered and wrapped it in her own garments, and gave it such brilliant and honorable burial as she could provide. This Timandra, they say, was the mother of that Lais who was called the Corinthian, although she was a prisoner of war from Hyccara, a small city of Sicily.
ἔνιοι δὲ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα περὶ τῆς Ἀλκιβιάδου τελευτῆς ὁμολογοῦσι τούτοις, αἰτίαν δέ φασιν οὐ Φαρνάβαζον οὐδὲ Λύσανδρον οὐδὲ Λακεδαιμονίους παρασχεῖν, αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην γνωρίμων τινῶν διεφθαρκότα γύναιον ἔχειν σὺν αὑτῷ, τοὺς δʼ ἀδελφοὺς τοῦ γυναίου τὴν ὕβριν οὐ μετρίως φέροντας ἐμπρῆσαί τε τὴν οἰκίαν νύκτωρ, ἐν ᾗ διαιτώμενος ἐτύγχανεν ὁ Ἀλκιβιάδης, καὶ καταβαλεῖν αὐτόν, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, διὰ τοῦ πυρὸς ἐξαλλόμενον.
But some, while agreeing in all other details of the death of Alcibiades with what I have written, say that it was not Pharnabazus who was the cause of it, nor Lysander, nor the Lacedaemonians, but Alcibiades himself. He had corrupted a girl belonging to a certain well known family, and had her with him; and it was the brothers of this girl who, taking his wanton insolence much to heart, set fire by night to the house where he was living, and shot him down, as has been described, when he dashed out through the fire.
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