44 ALCIBIADES.

him, were fitted out and ready to sail, an honorable zeal detained him till the celebration of the mysteries was ovei". For ever since Decelea had been occupied, as the enemy commanded the roads leading from Athens to Eleusis, the procession, being conducted by sea, had not been performed with any proper solemnity ; they were forced to omit the sacrifices and dances and other holy ceremonies, which had usually been performed in the way, when the^' led forth lacchus. Alcibiades, therefoi'e, judged it would be a glorious action, which would do honor to the gods and gain him esteem with men, if he restored the ancient splendor to these rites, escorting the procession again by land, and protecting it with his army in the face of the enem3 For either, if Agis stood still and did not oppose, it would very much diminish and ob- scure his reputation, or, in the other alternative, Alcibiades would engage in a holy war, in the cause of the gods, and in defence of tlie most sacred and solemn ceremonies ; and this in the sight of his country, where he should have all his fellow-citizens witnesses of his valor. As soon as he had resolved upon this design, and had conununicated it to the Eumolpidie and heralds, he placed sentinels on the tops of the hills, and at the break of day sent forth his scouts. And then taking with him the priests and Ini- tiates * and the Initiators, and encompassing them with his soldiers, he conducted them with great order and pro- found silence ; an august and venerable procession, where- in all who did not envy him said, he performed at once the office of a high-priest and of a general. The enemy did not dare to attempt any thing against them, and thus, he brought them back in safety to the city. Upon which, as he was exalted in his own thought, so the opinion which the people had of his conduct was raised to that

• Mystai and Jlystagogi.