It’s a much longer story but here’s what happened, in a nutshell, to Alcibiades when his enemies attempted to ostracize him. Hyperbolus (leader of the radical democrats) was scheming to arrange for Alcibiades’ ostracism. Alcibiades somehow got wind of these plans and conspired with Nicias, who was his arch political rival, to turn the tables on Hyperbolus and to arrange for his ostracism. It was a brilliant move that involved audacity, back room negotiations, blatant bribery, dishonesty – exactly the sort of behavior we might expect from a protean and wily character like Alcibiades.