西西里远征前的雅典渎神案

The “Athenian Sacrilege” before the Athenian Expedition to Sicily

公元前 41 5年 ,雅典的一个贵族会社为了阻止远征西西里 ,破坏了赫耳墨斯神像。民主派领袖则充分利用了这一案件 ,把神像破坏与推翻民主政治的阴谋联系起来 ,进而把各种形式的渎神都归于这一阴谋 ,借机打击政治对手———积极推动西西里远征的阿尔西比德 ,增强自己的政治势力。他们利用告密和制造恐怖形势等手段 ,最终与贵族寡头派联手放逐了阿尔西比德。整个事件就是以宗教面目出现的。

An Athenian aristocratic clique mutilated nearly all statues of Herms to foil the expedition to Sicily in 415 B. C. Some democratic leaders made full use of this case to ruin their political enemy-Alcibiades who had actively impelled the expedition to Sicily by attributing the mutilation of Herms' statues and other sacrileges to the conspiracy of overthrowing the Athenian democracy. At last, they allied with some oligarchs to exile Alcibiades by means of information and political horror. The whole affair is a furious political struggle done in the name of religion against a background of sharp social conflict, and is the most important cause which led to the disastrous failure of the Athenian expedition to Sicily.