Alc. 5.1Neque vērō hīs rēbus tam amīcī Alcibiadī sunt factī quam timōre ab eō aliēnātī.Yet by these services they were not made friends to Alcibiades so much as alienated from him by fear. Alc. 5.1Nam cum ācerrimī virī praestantem prūdentiam in omnibus rēbus cognōscerent, pertimuērunt nē cāritāte patriae ductus aliquandō ab ipsīs dēscīsceret et cum suīs in grātiam redīret.For when they recognised the outstanding shrewdness of this most energetic man in every matter, they became afraid that, led by love of his country, he might one day desert them and be reconciled with his own people. Alc. 5.1Itaque tempus eius interficiundī quaerere īnstituērunt.So they began to look for an opportunity to kill him. Alc. 5.2Id Alcibiadēs diūtius cēlārī nōn potuit: erat enim eā sagācitāte, ut dēcipī nōn posset, praesertim cum animum attendisset ad cavendum.Alcibiades could not be kept in the dark about this for long: for he was of such keenness that he could not be deceived, especially when he had turned his mind to being on his guard. Alc. 5.2Itaque ad Tissaphernem, praefectum rēgis Dārīī, sē contulit.So he went over to Tissaphernes, the governor of King Darius.
Alc. 5.3Cuius cum in intimam amīcitiam pervēnisset et Athēniēnsium male gestīs in Siciliā rēbus opēs senēscere, contrā Lacedaemoniōrum crēscere vidēret, initiō cum Pīsandrō praetōre, quī apud Samum exercitum habēbat, per internūntiōs colloquitur et dē reditū suō facit mentiōnem.When he had become his intimate friend, and saw that, after the Athenians' failure in Sicily, their strength was declining while that of the Spartans, on the other hand, was growing, he at first confers through go-betweens with Pisander the general, who had an army at Samos, and raises the question of his return. Alc. 5.3Is erat enim eōdem quō Alcibiadēs sēnsū, populī potentiae nōn amīcus et optimātium fautor.For Pisander was of the same mind as Alcibiades, no friend to the power of the people and a supporter of the aristocrats. Alc. 5.4Ab hōc dēstitūtus prīmum per Thrasybūlum, Lycī fīlium, ab exercitū recipitur praetorque fit apud Samum, post suffrāgante Thēramene populī scītō restituitur parīque absēns imperiō praeficitur simul cum Thrasybūlō et Thēramene.Let down by him, he is first received by the army through Thrasybulus, son of Lycus, and made general at Samos; later, on the motion of Theramenes, he is restored by a decree of the people and, though absent, is put in command with equal authority together with Thrasybulus and Theramenes.
Alc. 5.5Hōrum in imperiō tanta commūtātiō rērum facta est, ut Lacedaemoniī, quī paulō ante victōrēs viguerant, perterritī pācem peterent.Under their command so great a change in affairs took place that the Spartans, who shortly before had flourished as victors, were thoroughly frightened and sought peace. Alc. 5.5Victī enim erant quīnque proeliīs terrestribus, tribus nāvālibus, in quibus ducentās nāvēs trirēmēs āmīserant, quae captae in hostium vēnerant potestātem.For they had been defeated in five battles on land and three at sea, in which they had lost two hundred triremes, which had been captured and fallen into the enemy's power. Alc. 5.6Alcibiadēs simul cum collēgīs recēperat Iōniam, Hellēspontum, multās praetereā urbēs Graecās, quae in ōrā sitae sunt Thraeciae, quārum expugnārant complūrēs, in eīs Byzantium, neque minus multās cōnsiliō ad amīcitiam adiūnxerant, quod in captōs clēmentiā fuerant ūsī.Alcibiades together with his colleagues had recovered Ionia, the Hellespont, and many Greek cities besides that lie on the coast of Thrace, of which they had stormed several, among them Byzantium, while they had won over no fewer to friendship by policy, because they had shown mercy to the captured. Alc. 5.7Ita praedā onustī, locuplētātō exercitū, maximīs rēbus gestīs Athēnās vēnērunt.So, laden with plunder, having enriched the army and achieved very great things, they came to Athens.