Exiled, condemned, and hunted by his own city, Alcibiades did the unthinkable: he walked into the assembly of Sparta, Athens' deadliest enemy, and told them exactly how to win the war. It should have been the plea of a desperate fugitive. Instead, it became one of the most chillingly brilliant speeches in ancient history.

In this episode, we take that speech apart piece by piece. How did a man with no army, no city, and every reason to be distrusted talk the most powerful military state in Greece into doing precisely what he wanted? We follow his moves in real time, how he disarmed a hostile room, turned himself from defendant into authority, frightened Sparta with a vision of total conquest, and handed them the two blows that would break Athens: a commander for Syracuse, and the fortress at Decelea. And then, the most audacious stroke of a ...