One against all

Alcibiades is my favourite Greek of all times. He was an extraordinarily arrogant and ambitious man. He was born in Athens, adopted by Pericles and adored by Socrates. He was young, handsome and drank too much. Athens was in the middle of the Peloponnesian war against Sparta and the two sides were about to take their conflict to another level, in Greek colonies in Italy, supposedly protecting an Athenian colony against a Spartan one. People in Athens were not very convinced this was the right thing to do, but Alcibiades was sure of it. He was put in charge of the campaign and they all went off. Half way through their journey, the Athenians started having serious doubts, and they sent a fast boat to catch up with them and bring Alcibiades back, accusing him of some disrespectful conduct against the gods. It was at that particular moment that Alcibiades knew that he was too good for these people. He had no loyalty to a place that could disgrace him so and believe so little in him. He pretended to be going back with them, but instead he fled to Sparta. There, he fought against the Athenians until Spartans became too skeptical towards his as well. Then he went to Samos, then back to Athens (where he was welcomed back like a God only to be forced to leave shortly after). Then it was Persia's turn, he went from one satrap to the other, selling his 'loyalty' along with secrets against the Greeks. In the end, he ended up alone, hiding in a shed with his companion, an aging hooker from Athens. People were sent to kill him, I think historians can't agree by whom, perhaps the Spartan king, perhaps the Athenians, perhaps a satrap he crossed. They were many but the myth of this man was so much bigger than them. Although they knew he was there by himself, they didn't dare get in. Instead they fired arrows on fire at the shed, in order to force him to come out. The shed is on fire and the cowards are awaiting outside. Alcibiades at some point exits, with a sword in his hands. And at this sight, the sight of a lone man with sword, all the cowards in the world trembled. The myth says that they were too scared to approach him, despite outnumbering him. Instead they stayed afar and fired the arrows at him. Alcibiades died at the centre of a circle, alone against so many. This image has always haunted my thoughts, as I've always wondered how it must feel to die alone, being feared so much.

Last night, I saw the movie 'a bittersweet life'. Always trust the Koreans on a rainy day... The story is simplistic (as it always should be in tragedies) and evolved around a hitman who disobeys his boss and is forced to go after him, alone against all of his old gang. I didn't like the movie so much but it struck me because it was again this story of a man, alone against many, and it made me think of the story of Alcibiades again. Is it the fate of extraordinary people to be alone against the world? Is this the most natural feeling in the world? Brett Anderson once said in an interview that his definition of love is to find someone to team up against the world with. In a book that I love, it said on the breaking of a relationship: they looked at each other and realized that the world had beaten them.

Perhaps all the clichés are indeed true: we're born alone and we die alone and our biggest hope should be to find someone to share this loneliness with.