In the Greek custom to which the title The Last of the Wine refers, a lover tosses out the dregs of his wine to form the initial of his beloved's name. This is a constant symbol, according to Landon Burns, of "the depth and brevity of love." Alexias and Lysis humanize the power of love, as Socrates taught, each drinking life to its lees in honor of the other. The Greeks knew, and Renault shows, that not all men can do so. The greater or lesser capacity to love, as well as the outright failure or rejection of love, motivates all of the principal characters of The Last of the Wine, perhaps most tragically with Alkibiades, the magnetic but flawed leader-turned-traitor who cost Athens dearly for its infatuation with him.

Like Dion in The Mask of Apollo (1966), who led Athens into its disastrous Syracusan adventure, Alkibiades is afflicted...