This ceremony takes place on
the 25th of the month Thargelion, which day is considered by the
Athenians to be the unluckiest of all. Moreover, the goddess did not
appear to receive Alkibiades with a kindly welcome, but to turn away her
face from him and drive him from her presence. Be this as it may, all
went well and just as Alkibiades wished. A fleet of a hundred triremes
was manned, and placed at his disposal, but he with creditable pride
refused to set sail until after the celebration of the Eleusinian
mysteries. Since the permanent occupation of Dekeleia and of the passes
commanding the road to Eleusis by the enemy, the procession had been
necessarily shorn of many of its distinctive features, as it had to be
sent by sea. All the customary sacrifices, dances, and other rites which
used to be practised on the road, when Iacchus is carried along in
solemn procession, were of necessity omitted. It seemed therefore to
Alkibiades that it would both honour the gods and increase his own
reputation among men, if he restored the ancient form of this ceremony,
escorting the procession with his troops and protecting it from the
enemy; for he argued that Agis would lose prestige if he did not attack,
but allowed the procession to pass unmolested, whereas if he did attack,
Alkibiades would be able to fight in a holy cause, in defence of the
most sacred institutions of his country, with all his countrymen present
as witnesses of his own valour.
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