line of kings to the Lacedemonians, than from sensual motives. This was discovered, and rendered Agis his implacable enemy. Many others of the principal men in Sparta, too, were envious of the ascendency he had gained in their city. In consequence, orders were sent to their general in Ionia to procure the death of Alcibiatles; but, having gained some intelligence of his danger, he took refuge with Tissaphernes. In this situation, by practising the arts of delicate flattery, and conforming to all the effeminate and luxurious manners of the Persians, he so ingratiated himself with the satrap, that nothing was done without his advice. By his counsel, Tissaphernes held an even balance between the Athenians and Lacedemonians; and at length he was artful enough to make the friendship of the Persians an instrument of his own return to Athens.

After a variety of intrigues at Athens, in which the constitution was changed from a democracy to an oligarchy, the Athenian army at Samos, attached to democracy, sent for Alcibiades, and constituted him their commander-inchief, with full power. This he exercised with so much prudence, and so dexterously applied his influence with Tissaphernes to his own purposes, that he overthrew the new government at Athens, and procured his public recal. He would not return, however, till he had made himself more welcome by his services. In conjunction with the other Athenian commanders, Theramenes and Thrasybulus, he took several places, and gained victories over the Spartans and their allies; of which the most remarkable was a double victory by land and sea, in one day, near Cyzicum, which gave a mortal blow to the Spartan power in those parts. The capture of Selybria, Byzantium, and various other towns on the Hellespont, followed. The year after these events, Alcibiades set sail for Athens with a fleet of two hundred ships laden with rich spoils, and bringing in triumph the ships and flags captured from the enemy. As he landed at the Piræum, all Athens ran to meet him. He alone was the object of all eyes and tongues. The old pointed him out to the young; shouts of joy accompanied him; garlands of flowers were heaped upon him; and tears of sensibility were mingled with the general rapture. A full assembly being convoked, Alcibiades, in an eloquent and pathetic speech, bewailed his past misfortunes, and imputed them rather to his evil genius than the ill-will of his countrymen; and he so pleased the people, that they presented him with crowns of gold, declared him absolute commander of the forces by sea and land, and ordered him to be

solemnly liberated from all the execrations that had been denounced against him. Their confidence in him exceeded all bounds, and raised expectations which it was impossible to realise.

Soon after, he sailed on an expedition with a fleet of a hundred ships, much to the satisfaction of the principal citizens, who were continually apprehensive lest the people, in the madness of their zeal, should confer upon him the sovereignty of the state. He proceeded to the isle of Andros, and gained a victory over the Andrians, which, however, was followed by no important consequences; and thinking it necessary afterwards to go in person into Caria to raise money, he left the fleet in the charge of Antiochus, a commander appointed by himself, with orders by no means to hazard an engagement. But Lysander, the Spartan commander, by superior skill, brought on a battle, in which the Athenian fleet was entirely defeated, and Antiochus slain. And though Alcibiades on his return regained the superiority by sea, such discontents arose at Athens, fomented by his enemies, and aggravated by his own imprudence, that the people stripped him of his command.

Alcibiades did not choose to return to Athens; for it was his maxim rather to escape an accusation than defend himself against it. On a former occasion he once said, "I would not trust my own mother with voting for my life, lest she should mistake a black bean for a white one;" alluding to the Athenian manner of giving votes by beans of different colours. He therefore collected a band of soldiers of fortune, with whom he made war upon some of the Thracian tribes, and enriched himself by the booty he took. He also defended some of the Greek colonies in Thrace against the natives. He thus avoided the fate of the ten new commanders the Athenians had appointed, most of whom they put to death on account of ill success. While in Thrace, he gave a laudable instance of remaining attachment to his country, by warning the Athenian commanders of the danger to which their fleet was exposed while lying at EgosPotamos; but his advice was received with contempt, though the fatal event which followed justified its prudence.

Athens being soon after taken by Lysander, and the Lacedemonian interest triumphant by sea and land, Alcibiades thought proper to retire to Bithynia with as much of his property as he could carry with him. Being here plundered of great part of it, he resolved to seek the protection of Pharnabazus, the Persian governor of Phrygia; and, going to him, he was respectfully received. Meantime the sufferings of the

Athenians under the thirty tyrants imposed upon them by Lysander, caused them to cast a longing look towards their former favourite Alcibiades; which being known to the tyrants themselves, Critias, one of the number, formerly the most intimate friend of Alcibiades, represented to Lysander that his death was necessary to the perfect security of the new government. Lysander was unwilling to engage in an act of treachery: but orders arriving from Sparta for the execution of the project, he wrote to Pharnabazus to obtain his concurrence, who committed the management of the business to his own brother and uncle. Alcibiades at that time resided at a village in Phrygia, with his mistress Timandra. The assassins sent to dispatch him surrounded his house by night, and set it on fire. He threw out a quantity of clothes to damp the flame, and then, wrapping his robe about his left hand, and taking in his right the dagger of an Arcadian friend who was his guest (his own sword having been removed), he rushed forth, and safely passed the fire. The murderers did not dare to stand in his road, but killed him by pouring in darts from a distance. Timandra, when they were gone, wrapt the body in her own garments, and buried it in a town named Melissa, where the emperor Adrian long afterwards caused a marble statue to be erected to his memory, and a bull to be annually sacrificed on his tomb. His death happened about the fortieth year of his age, B. C. 403.

The life of this extraordinary man has been written by Plutarch and Corn. Nepos, from whose narrations, and those of Thucydides, Diodorus, Xenophon, and the other writers on the affairs of Greece at that time, the preceding account is compiled.-A.

ALCIDAMAS, a Greek rhetorician, a disciple of Gorgias Leontinus, and contemporary with Isocrates, a native of Elæa in Eolia, lived about four hundred years before Christ. Two orations are still extant which bear his name; the first, "Ulyssis contra Palamedem," published by Aldus in his edition of the Orations of Æschines, Lysias, &c. printed in folio at Venice, in 1513, and afterwards by H. Stephens, with the same orators, in 1577; the second, "Contra Sophistas," annexed to Aldus's edition of Isocrates, printed in folio at Venice in 1518. Cicero mentions Alcidamas as the author of a treatise in praise of death. Fabric. Bibl. Græc. lib. ii. c. 26. § 5. not.-E.

ALCIMUS, surnamed JACHIM, a Jewish high-priest, entered on his office about the 163d year before Christ. He owed his dignity to the arms of Antiochus Eupator, king of Syria. To

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secure the favour of Eupator's successor, Demetrius Soter, he accused the whole nation of revolt, and especially Judas Maccabæus, and his brothers. Demetrius, upon this, took Alcimus under his protection, and sent Bacchides with forces to establish him in his office. Alcimus rendered himself an object of terror to his countrymen by his rapine and cruelty. He was still, however, supported by Demetrius, and, with a numerous army under Bacchides, he arrived at Jerusalem, where he committed depredations upon the temple. He died of a palsy after having possessed his dignity two years. Maccab. vii. &c. Josephi Antiq. lib. xii. c. 9, 10.-E.

ALCINOUS, a personage recorded by Homer only, but probably from real tradition, is represented as king of the Phæacians, in the island now called Corfu. His father's name was Nausithous, and his wife was Arete, the daughter of his brother Rhexenor. He had five sons, and a daughter named Nausicaa, whose character and adventure with Ulysses forms one of the most pleasing pictures of nature and simplicity in the works of Homer. Alcinous received the shipwrecked Ulysses with great hospitality, and fitted out a vessel to convey him to Ithaca. His subjects were excellent mariners, and much addicted to the dance and song, and social pleasures of all kinds. There is nothing which has made this petty prince more celebrated than his taste for horticulture. His garden, or rather orchard, is very pleasingly described by Homer, who dwells chiefly on its plenty and quick succession of fruit, and its copious streams and pleasant shade. Homer, Odyss.-A.

ALCINOUS, a Platonic philosopher, who probably lived about the beginning of the second century, wrote an "Introduction to the Philosophy of Plato," containing a good summary of his doctrine: it was translated by Ficinus into Latin. It was published by Aldus in Greek, 8vo. at Venice, in 1521, and in 1532; with Ficinus's translation at Basil, 1532; at Paris, in 4to. 1562; and by Charpentier, with a commentary, in 1573. Heinsius published an edition of this work, annexed to his Maximus Tyrius, at Leyden, 8vo. 1607, which was reprinted separately at Oxford, in 1667. It has been translated into English by Stanley. Fabric. Bibl. Græc. lib. iv. c. 23. § 13.-E.

ALCIONIO, PETER, (in Latin, ALCYONIUs) a learned Italian, contributed to the revival of letters in the sixteenth century. He studied the Greek and Roman languages with great diligence, and was for many years corrector of the press of Aldus Manutius at Venice, whence issued so many valuable editions of ancient authors.

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His learning at length raised him to the higher station of a professorship at Florence, which he obtained under the pontificate of Adrian VI. Besides his pension, he received from cardinal de' Medici ten ducats a month for translating a work of Galen. He translated many Greek works into Latin; but concerning the merit of his translations very different opinions have been entertained. Sepulveda, a learned Spaniard, criticised his translations of Aristotle with so much severity, and at the same time with so much applause, that Alcyonius thought it necessary to buy up as many copies as possible of his adversary's work and destroy them. Other writers bestow high commendation on his translations. Nolanus, an able physician, in a letter to Erasmus, (Erasm. Epist. lib. x. ep. 28.) written in 1518, relates, that when various candidates of fered themselves to succeed Musurus as professor of the Greek language, Alcyonius distinguished himself among the more elegant translators. "He rendered many things from the Greek into the Roman tongue with the utmost elegance; he expressed several of the orations of Isocrates and Demosthenes with so much arpinity, that you would have even imagined you was reading Cicero himself. So fairly did he translate many of Aristotle's pieces, that Latium might say, we have an Aristotle of our own.' If this panegyric be carried too far, some literary merit must, at least, be allowed to a writer, who published a piece on exile, which contained so many fine passages, that a rumour was circulated of his having inserted in it several parts of a treatise of Cicero, " De Gloria," which he had had the good fortune to recover in the library of a monastery, and which he had afterwards the dishonesty to destroy; and who was afterwards able, in a great measure, to remove the suspicions which had been raised against him, by publishing two fine orations on the taking of Rome by Charles V. Other original productions showed him to be a man of talents. Little, however, can be said in praise of his disposition and manners; the former was strongly marked with ill-humour and ingratitude, as the latter is said to have been with gross intemperance. He had too much vanity to consult his friends concerning his own works, and was perpetually detracting from the merit of other writers; he slighted his best friends and forgot their kindnesses. If we may credit Paul Jovius, to whom, it must be confessed, Alcyonius was a successful rival, he was so mean, and so much devoted to gluttony, that he would dine more than once the same day at the expense of others. When cardinal de' Medici was elected pope, he

went to Rome in hopes of preferment, but was disappointed. In the troubles which the Colonnas excited in Rome, he lost his estate. When the emperor's forces, in the year 1527, took the city, he received a wound as he was forcing his way into the castle of St. Angelo, where he joined the pope; yet afterwards, upon the raising of the siege, he had the base ingratitude to leave his patron, and pass over to cardinal Pompey Colonna, at whose house he fell sick, and a few months afterwards died. If his learning entitled him to praise, the account is balanced by the censure which is due to his faults. His piece on exile, and his orations on the taking of Rome, and on the knights who died at the siege of Rhodes, are all the original works which he has left. The former was printed at Venice in 1522, in 4to. and reprinted at Leipsic, in 1702, under the title of "Analecta de Calamitate Literatorum." [Collections respecting the Misfortunes of the Learned] Paul. Jovius in Elog. Varillas Anecd. Letters of Princes. Pierius, Valerian. de Literat. Infelicit. Bayle. E.

ALCIPHRON, a philosopher of Magnesia, flourished in the time of Alexander the Great. He is mentioned by M. Antoninus, (Anton. Med. lib. x. c. 31.) and by Suidas. He is not to be confounded with the author of the epistles. Fabric. Bibl. Græc. lib. ii. c. 10. § 25.-E.

ALCIPHRON, the sophist, whose age is unknown, wrote epistles on various topics, of which an edition was published in 8vo. at Leipsic in 1715. Fabric. Bib. Gr. lib. ii. c. 10. § 25-E.

ALCMEON, a native of Crotona, a physician and philosopher, who probably flourished about 500 years before Christ, was a disciple of Pythagoras, and attended his lectures. He wrote a treatise on the causes of natural phenomena, which, as Diogenes Laërtius informs us, was introduced with this remark,-" With respect to things invisible and immortal, the gods alone are perfectly acquainted with them; men are only permitted to form conjectures concerning them." As far as his opinions can be learned from a few scattered fragments, he seems to have admitted two classes of natural objects, intelligible natures, which are immutable; and material forms, which are infinitely variable; and to have taught, that the heavenly bodies are eternal, and animated by portions of that divine fire which is the first principle in nature; and that the soul of man is seated in the brain, is immortal, and is in perpetual motion or action. In medicine, he placed health in a due medium between heat and cold, dryness and moisture.