The Athenians threw themselves into preparations for a major expedition. But as the day of departure neared, the Athenians awoke to an outrage. During the night most of the numerous stone statues of Hermes, which stood as phallic fertility symbols and good luck charms, were defaced. The action was seen as a shocking sacrilege and evil omen for the future. Who could have done such a thing? The city was in commotion. There was finger-pointing, accusations, revelations, recriminations. There was talk of unholy rituals, conducted at houses in mockery of the Eleusinian Mysteries.[26] Many well-connected men belonged to gentlemen’s clubs or fraternities of twenty or thirty members, which typically had their own initiations and secret rituals; the clubs now became suspect. Furthermore, there were whispers of oligarchic plots to overthrow the democracy. The mutilation of the herms was a harbinger of worse things to come. The mood of the city turned dark and suspicious.
Inevitably, someone fingered Alcibiades as one who mocked the mysteries.[27] He was a bon vivant, hard-drinking, convention-flouting, free-thinking hell-raiser; just the sort of person to lead his wicked followers in black rituals and turn them loose to vandalize the city’s most sacred symbols. Alcibiades’ enemies jumped at the chance to cast suspicion on him. While his club may have practiced sacrilegious rites, no solid evidence implicated him in a conspiracy against the government; but the witch-hunt was on, and fear rather than reason led the way.[28]
Realizing that his great opportunity was in jeopardy, Alcibiades offered to stand trial immediately to clear his name. His enemies balked: he was riding high with his recent successes in rallying support at home and abroad for his expedition. Athenian trials, with their large juries were popularity (or unpopularity) contests, and Alcibiades was wildly popular for the moment. Furthermore, he had a large, adoring army and navy at this beck and call. His enemies backed down. They would let him sail and recall him, if necessary, for a trial at a later date—after they had time to vilify him in his absence. But a dark cloud now hung over the expedition to Sicily.
* * *
Among those who opposed the expedition were Socrates and Meton the astronomer. Socrates, reportedly with premonitions from his divine voice, told his friends of his misgivings about the project.[29] Meton, who became famous for introducing a calendaric cycle of 235 months, perhaps borrowed from the Babylonians, and helping to reform the Athenian calendar,[30] is said to have burned his own house down in order to give himself (or his son) an excuse to avoid military service with the expedition.[31]
[26].Thucydides 6.27-28.
[27].A woman named Agariste accused Alcibiades of celebrating mysteries in the house of Charmides; Andocides On the Mysteries 16.
[28].See Ellis 1989: 58-62; Kagan 1981, ch. 8. For a first-hand account of the accusations, see Andocides On the Mysteries 11-70.
[29].Plutarch Nicias 13.6, Alcibiades 17.4, On the Sign of Socrates 11 = Moralia 581d; ps.Plato Theages 129d; Cicero On Divination 1.54*.
[30].See Dicks 1970: 87-89; Lloyd 1979: 171-173; Bowen and Goldstein 1988.
[31].Plutarch Alcibiades 17.4-5, Nicias 13.5.