XXXVIII.  The Athenians were terribly cast down at the loss of their empire; but when Lysander robbed them of their liberty as well, by establishing the government of the Thirty Tyrants, they began to entertain thoughts which never had occurred to them before, while it was yet possible that the State might be saved from ruin.  They bewailed their past blunders and mistakes, and of these they considered their second fit of passion with Alkibiades to have been the greatest.  They had cast him off for no fault of his own, but merely because they were angry with his follower for having lost a few ships disgracefully; they had much more disgraced themselves by losing the services of the ablest and bravest general whom they possessed.  Even in their present abasement a vague hope prevailed among them that Athens could not be utterly lost while Alkibiades was alive; for he had not during his former exile been satisfied with a quiet life, and surely now, however prosperous his private circumstances might be, he would not endure to see the triumph of the Lacedaemonians, and the arrogant tyranny of the Thirty.  Indeed this was proved to be no vain dream by the care which the Thirty took to watch all the motions of Alkibiades.  At last, Kritias informed Lysander, that while Athens was governed by a democracy, the Lacedaemonian empire in Greece could never be safe; and if the Athenians were ever so much inclined to an oligarchical form of government, Alkibiades, if he lived, would not long suffer them to submit to it.  However, Lysander was not prevailed upon by these arguments until a despatch came from Sparta bidding him make away with Alkibiades, either because the home government feared his ability and enterprise, or because they wished to please his enemy, King Agis.

XXXIX.  Lysander now sent orders for his death to Pharnabazus, who entrusted their execution to his brother Magaeus and his uncle Susamithres.  Alkibiades was at this time dwelling in a village in Phrygia, with Timandra the courtezan, and one night he dreamed that he was dressed in his mistress’s clothes, and that she, holding his head in her arms, was painting his face and adorning him like a woman.  Others say that he saw Magaeus in his dream cutting off his head, and his body all in flames.  All, however, agree that the dream took place shortly before his death.  His murderers did not dare to enter the house, but stood round it in a circle and set it on fire.  Alkibiades, on discovering them, flung most of the bedding and clothes on to the fire, wrapped his cloak round his left arm, and with his dagger in his right dashed through the flames unhurt, not giving his clothes time to catch fire.  None of the barbarians dared to await his onset, but as soon as they saw him they scattered, and from a distance shot at him with darts and arrows.  After he had fallen and the barbarians were gone, Timandra took up his corpse, covered it with her own clothes, and, as far as was in her power, showed it every mark of honour and respect.