The people of Argos, driven to despair, rose and drove out the tyrants, slaying a few of them by way of warning to the others. On the news of this rising reaching Athens, Alkibiades was sent there again to help the people. He persuaded them, as he had persuaded the citizens at Patrai, to build walls from the city to the sea. So great was his energy and his determination that this should be done without delay that he sent for a small army of masons, carpenters, and workmen of all kinds from Athens to assist, while he himself took part, encouraging by his words and presence the whole population, freemen and slaves, women and children, in the work. The walls had hardly been completed, and he had only just returned to Athens, when the wisdom of his advice was proved. In the summer of 416 the oligarchs were found to be at their intrigues again, inside and out of Argos, and so dangerous did they become that he had to be sent for in haste from Athens, not merely as ambassador this time, but in full power as strategos, in command of twenty ships of war. It was a proud moment for him as he sailed with his fine warships into the port, where the walls, which he had caused to be built, stretched right up to Argos. He was obliged to take strong measures against the intestine enemies of the State. Three hundred of them he carried off and placed, disabled from doing further mischief, in various islands dependent upon Athens. And thus, as far as he was able, did he nullify, or at least minimize, the advantage Sparta gained at Mantineia. And all this time that he was thus vigorously aiding his country and her allies by his wise counsel and his strong actions he was leading at home a life of splendour and pleasure quite unparalleled. No one was so courted as he—the model of all excellence for young men to imitate. His dress, his manners, his extravagance, his eccentricities, were the talk of everyone, and many were the deeds set down to him that he was never guilty of. The witty sayings, which only the choicer spirits could appreciate, were passed about amongst them; while his great orations at the Ekklesia, in spite of a slight lisp, which seemed to sit not ungracefully on him, moved the people to such a pitch of admiration that they would often escort him home in triumph afterwards. Nor was he great in words alone. No general of troops was so active as he; no one more patient or practical in the supervision of the forces of the states; no one wiser or clearer-sighted in the council of the leaders. Nikias and the chief men on the other side ever sought his advice in serious difficulty. Nor could anyone be found to represent their country in an embassy where courage and prudence were required so well as Alkibiades.