Editing Alcibiades (section)

===Sicilian Expedition===
{{Further|Sicilian Expedition}}
[[File:Herma IstArchMu747.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Roman copy of a late fifth-century BC Athenian [[herma]]. Vandalizing hermai was one of the crimes of which Alcibiades was accused.<ref name="Plut19"/>]]

In 415 BC, delegates from the Sicilian city of [[Segesta]] ({{langx|el|Egesta}}) arrived at Athens to plead for the support of the Athenians in their war against [[Selinus]]. During the debates on the undertaking, Nicias was vehemently opposed to Athenian intervention, explaining that the campaign would be very costly and attacking the character and motives of Alcibiades, who had emerged as a major supporter of the expedition.<ref>Thucydides 6.8–23</ref> On the other hand, Alcibiades argued that a campaign in this new theatre would bring riches to the city and expand the empire, just as the [[Persian Wars]] had. In his speech Alcibiades predicted (over-optimistically, in the opinion of most historians) that the Athenians would be able to recruit allies in the region and impose their rule on [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]], the most powerful city of [[Sicily]].<ref name="Platias237">Platias-Koliopoulos, ''Thucydides on Strategy'', 237–46.</ref> In spite of Alcibiades's enthusiastic advocacy for the plan, it was Nicias, not he, who turned a modest undertaking into a massive campaign and made the conquest of Sicily seem possible and safe.<ref>Kagan, ''The Peloponnesian War'', 322</ref> It was at his suggestion that the size of the fleet was significantly increased from 60 ships<ref>Thucydides ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0106%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D8 VII 8]</ref> to "140 galleys, 5,100 men at arms, and about 1300 archers, slingers, and light armed men".<ref name="Plut20">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|20}}</ref> Philosopher [[Leo Strauss]] underscores that the Sicilian expedition surpassed everything undertaken by Pericles. Almost certainly Nicias's intention was to shock the assembly with his high estimate of the forces required, but, instead of dissuading his fellow citizens, his analysis made them all the more eager.<ref name="Strauss104">L. Strauss, ''The City and Man'', 104.</ref>  Against his wishes Nicias was appointed general along with Alcibiades and [[Lamachus]], all three of whom were given full powers to do whatever was in the best interests of Athens while in Sicily.<ref name="Th6.26">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 6#6:26|6.26]].</ref>

One night during preparations for the expedition, the [[herma]]i, heads of the god [[Hermes]] on a [[plinth]] with a [[phallus]], were mutilated throughout Athens. This was a religious scandal, resulted in a charge of ''[[asebeia]]'' (impiety) against Alcibiades, and was seen as a bad omen for the mission. Plutarch explains that Androcles, a political leader, used false witnesses who accused Alcibiades and his friends of mutilating the statues, and of profaning the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]]. Later his opponents, chief among them being Androcles and Thessalus, [[Cimon]]'s son, enlisted orators to argue that Alcibiades should set sail as planned and stand trial on his return from the campaign. Alcibiades was suspicious of their intentions, and asked to be allowed to stand trial immediately, under penalty of death, in order to clear his name.<ref name="Plut19">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|19}}</ref> This request was denied, and the fleet set sail soon after, with the charges unresolved.<ref name="Th6.29">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 6#6:29|6.29]].</ref>

{| class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
| style="text-align: left;" | "Men do not rest content with parrying the attacks of a superior, but often strike the first blow to prevent the attack being made. And we cannot fix the exact point at which our empire shall stop; we have reached a position in which we must not be content with retaining but must scheme to extend it, for, if we cease to rule others, we are in danger of being ruled ourselves. Nor can you look at inaction from the same point of view as others, unless you are prepared to change your habits and make them like theirs."
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| style="text-align: left;" | ''Alcibiades' Oration before the Sicilian expedition'', as recorded by Thucydides (VI, 18); Thucydides [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Thuc.+1.22&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0105 disclaims verbal accuracy]{{efn|Thucydides records several speeches which he attributes to Pericles; but Thucydides acknowledges that: "it was in all cases difficult to carry them word for word in one's memory, so my habit has been to make the speakers say what was in my opinion demanded of them by the various occasions, of course adhering as closely as possible to the general sense of what they really said."<ref name="ThI22">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 1#1:22|1.22]].</ref>}}
|}

As Alcibiades had suspected, his absence emboldened his enemies, and they began to accuse him of other sacrilegious actions and comments and even alleged that these actions were connected with a plot against the democracy.<ref name="Th6.61">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 6#6:61|6.61]].</ref> According to [[Thucydides]], the Athenians were always in fear and took everything suspiciously.<ref name="Th6.53">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 6#6:53|6.53]].</ref> When the fleet arrived in [[Catania]], it found the state [[trireme]] ''Salaminia'' waiting to bring Alcibiades and the others indicted for mutilating the hermai or profaning the Eleusinian Mysteries back to Athens to stand trial.<ref name="Th6.53" /> Alcibiades told the heralds that he would follow them back to Athens in his ship, but in [[Thurii]] he escaped with his crew; in Athens he was [[trial in absentia|convicted ''in absentia'']] and condemned to death. His property was confiscated and a reward of one [[talent (weight)|talent]] was promised to whoever succeeded in killing any who had fled.<ref>D. Kagan, ''The Peloponnesian War'', 273</ref> Meanwhile, the Athenian force in Sicily, after a few early victories, moved against [[Messina]], where the generals expected their secret allies within the city to betray it to them. Alcibiades, however, foreseeing that he would be outlawed, gave information to the friends of the Syracusans in Messina, who succeeded in preventing the admission of the Athenians.<ref name="Th6.74">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 6#6:74|6.74]]</ref> With the death of Lamachus in battle some time later, command of the Sicilian Expedition fell into the hands of Nicias, admired by Thucydides (however a modern scholar has judged him to be an inadequate military leader<ref name="Vlachos59" />).