§10.1Hoc cum moliretur peteretque a Pharnabazo, ut ad regem mitteretur, eodem tempore Critias ceterique tyranni Atheniensium certos homines ad Lysandrum in Asiam miserant, qui eum certiorem facerent, nisi Alcibiadem sustulisset, nihil earum rerum fore ratum, quas ipse Athenis constituisset: quare, si suas res gestas manere vellet, illum persequeretur. §10.2his Laco rebus commotas statuit accuratius sibi agendum cum Pharnabazo, huic ergo renuntiat quae regi cum Lacedaemoniis convenissent, nisi Alcibiadem vivum aut mortuum sibi tradidisset. §10.3non tulit hoc satrapes et violare clementiam quam regis opes minui maluit.
While he was planning this and requesting of Pharnabazus that he be sent to the king, at the very same time Critias and the other tyrants of the Athenians had sent certain men to Lysander in Asia, to inform him that unless he did away with Alcibiades, none of those things which he himself had established at Athens would remain valid; therefore, if he wished his own achievements to stand, he should pursue him. Moved by these matters, the Laconian decided that he must deal more strictly with Pharnabazus; he therefore declared to him that the agreements which had been made between the king and the Lacedaemonians would be void, unless he delivered Alcibiades to him alive or dead. The satrap could not bear this, and preferred to violate his pledge of hospitality rather than have the king's power diminished.
itaque misit Susamithren et Bagaeum ad Alcibiadem interficiendum, cum ille esset in Phrygia iterque ad regem compararet. §10.4missi clam vicinitati, in qua tum Alcibiades erat, dant negotium ut eum interficiant.
Therefore, he sent Susamithres and Bagaeus to kill Alcibiades, while the latter was in Phrygia and preparing for his journey to the king. Those who were sent secretly gave instructions to the neighborhood in which Alcibiades then was to kill him.
illi cum ferro aggredi non auderent, noctu ligna contulerunt circa casam eam, in qua quiescebat, eaque succenderunt, ut incendio conficerent, quem manu superari posse diffidebant. §10.5ille autem ut sonitu flammae est excitatus, etsi gladius ei erat subductus, familiaris sui subalare telum eripuit.
Since they did not dare to attack him with steel, they piled up wood by night around the cottage in which he was sleeping, and set fire to it, so that they might destroy by fire a man whom they despaired of overcoming by force. But he, having been awakened by the sound of the flame, although his sword had been stolen from him, snatched the dagger of his close friend.
namque erat cum eo quidam ex Arcadia hospes, qui numquam discedere voluerat.
For there was with him a certain guest from Arcadia, who had never wished to leave him.
hunc sequi se iubet et id quod in praesentia vestimentorum fuit arripit.
Alcibiades ordered him to follow, and snatched up what garments were at hand.
his in ignem coniectis flammae vim transiit. §10.6quem ut barbari incendium effugisse viderunt, telis eminus missis interfecerunt caputque eius ad Pharnabazum rettulerunt.
Having thrown these into the fire, he passed through the force of the flame. When the barbarians saw that he had escaped the fire, they killed him by throwing weapons from a distance, and carried his head back to Pharnabazus.
at mulier, quae cum eo vivere consuerat, muliebri sua veste contectum aedificii incendio mortuum cremavit, quod ad vivum interimendum erat comparatum.
But the woman who had been accustomed to live with him covered his dead body with her own female garment and cremated him in the fire of the building, which had been prepared to destroy him alive.
sic Alcibiades annos circiter quadraginta natus diem obiit supremum.
Thus Alcibiades met his end at about forty years of age.