Cornelius Nepos (c. 110 BC–c. 25 BC) was – like Catullus – born in the region of Verona, and worked in Rome. He was the dedicatee of Catullus’ poetry book and wrote a history of the world in three volumes, which no longer survives, as well as a series of biographies, Of Celebrated Men. His biography of Alcibiades is not as famous as that of Plutarch, who paralleled his life with that of Coriolanus, a Roman general of the fifth century BC, but it is succinct and captures the dangerous allure of its subject. Alcibiades was one of the most fascinating statesmen of ancient Athens. Born in around 450 BC, he was a ward of Pericles and became a close friend (some suggested more than a friend) of Socrates, whose life he was said to have saved in the Peloponnesian War. Cornelius Nepos reveals a typically Roman disapproval of Alcibiades’ indulgent relationships with men.

Alcibiades, the son of Clinias, seems to have been endowed by nature with all the gifts which it could lavish on his person. All writers agree that no one ever excelled him either in virtues or vices. Descended from one of the most illustrious families, born at a stately city, and one of the most comely youths of his age, he possessed an uncommon judgment, and displayed the greatest aptitude for any post. He was a skilful commander both by sea and land, and exhibited such a flow of easy eloquence, aided by the charms of his person, that his speech had an irresistible effect on all who heard him. He was patient and laborious as occasion required; liberal and splendid at home and abroad; affable and condescending in his actions, showing a wonderful address in his conformity to time and circumstance. In his moments of relaxation, and when disengaged from the pursuits of the mind, he was found prodigal and irregular, indulging all sort of luxury and debauchery to such a degree as astonished all on observing in the same person so great an unlikeness in his manners, and so great a difference in his nature.