Editing Andocides (section)

=== [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Andoc.+4+1 Against Alcibiades] ({{lang|grc|Κατὰ Ἀλκιβιάδου}} "''Contra [[Alcibiades|Alcibiadem]]''")''.'' ===

This oration criticises Alcibiades for an ostracism which he and the speaker were in danger of falling victim to.<ref>Gribble, David. “Rhetoric and History in [Andocides] 4, Against Alcibiades.” Classical Quarterly 47, no. 2 (1997): p. 367.</ref> An ostracism was a method of banishing a citizen for a decade.<ref name=":6">Gagarin & MacDowell., p.159</ref> The oration claims that Alcibiades bought a female slave from one of the captives after the fall of Melos.<ref>Andocides, Against Alcibiades, section 22</ref>

The speaker bashes Alcibiades for his questionable morals and acts, as shown in he recounting Alcibiades’ actions during the Olympic games in 416 BCE,<ref>Gribble, p.367</ref> “ Alcibiades will not endure it (defeat in Olympia) even at the hands of his fellow-citizens<ref>Andocides, Against Alcibiades, section 28</ref>” and that “he does not treat his own fellow Athenians as his equals, but robs them, strikes them, throws them into prison, and extorts money from them<ref>Andocides, Against Alcibiades, section 27</ref>”.

However, this speech fails to meet its goal of ostracizing Alcibiades, as followers of him and Nicas rallied support for the two and instead urged people to vote against Hyperbolus, a less politically significant figure.<ref name=":6" /> This strategy is successful as [[Hyperbolus]] was banished instead of the two. This would mark the fall of the ostracism system, as it was controversial among the public that it could be manipulated in such a way, the system would be abandoned soon after this case.<ref name=":6" />

Although attributed to Andocides, it has been widely agreed upon that Andocides was not the one who made this speech. For the reason that the author of the speech lacks the correct understanding of the procedures of an ostracism and Athenian politics in general,<ref>Gagarin & MacDowell., p.159-160</ref> the style of the speech was also significantly different than that of Andocides.<ref>Gagarin & MacDowell., p.160</ref> One popular theory of the authorship of the speech was that it was written by Phaeax, another orator in Athens at the time.<ref>Gribble, p.371</ref>