It appears that a trial took place
about this matter, and Isokrates wrote a speech about this chariot in
defence of the son of Alkibiades, in which Tisias, not Diomedes, is
mentioned as the prosecutor.
XIII. When, as a mere boy, Alkibiades plunged into political life, he at
once surpassed most of the statesmen of the age. His chief rivals were
Phaeax, the son of Erasistratus, and Nikias, the son of Nikeratus, the
latter a man advanced in life, and bearing the reputation of being an
excellent general, while the former, like Alkibiades himself, was a
young man of good family, just rising into notice, but inferior to him
in many respects, particularly in oratory. Though affable and persuasive
in private circles, he could not speak equally well in public, for he
was, as Eupolis says,
"At conversation best of men, at public speaking worst."
In a certain attack on Alkibiades and Phaeax, we find, among other
charges, Alkibiades accused of using the gold and silver plate of the
city of Athens as his own for his daily use.
There was at Athens one Hyperbolus, of the township of Peirithois, whom
Thucydides mentions as a worthless man, and one who was constantly
ridiculed by the comic dramatists. From his utter disregard of what was
said of him, and his carelessness for his honour, which, though it was
mere shameless impudence and apathy, was thought by some to show
firmness and true courage, he was pleasing to no party, but frequently
made use of by the people when they wished to have a scurrilous attack
made upon those in power.
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