David Stuttard > Quotes

“what sets him apart and causes him still to fascinate today are not only his responses to the setbacks that he experienced at almost every step of the way, but how many of the Athenian voting public continued to believe in him despite suffering the consequence of his betrayals, how, knowing that he was the architect of their defeat, they still yearned to have him lead them, and, in the end, how his life both shaped and mirrored the fortunes of his city.”
― David Stuttard, Nemesis: Alcibiades and the Fall of Athens

“Alcibiades’ pride in his properties knew no bounds. But, as usual, Socrates tried to bring him down to earth. Carved on a marble slab was displayed a map of the world as it was then known. Socrates took Alcibiades to see it and asked if he could point out Attica. He could. “And your estates and houses?” Alcibiades replied that they were not marked, to which Socrates exclaimed: “Exactly. They don’t add up to even a small portion of the earth—and yet you hold them in such high regard?”
― David Stuttard, Nemesis: Alcibiades and the Fall of Athens