quality:corruption, stylistic:style_transfer
Skill in oratory

Plutarch asserts that "Alcibiades was a most able speaker in addition to his other gifts", while Theophrastus argues that Alcibiades was the most capable of discovering and understanding what was required in a given case. Nevertheless, he would often stumble in the midst of his speech, but then he would resume and proceed with all the caution in the world. Even the lisp he had, which was noticed by Aristophanes, made his talk persuasive and full of charm. Eupolis says that he was "prince of talkers, but in speaking most incapable"; which is to say, more eloquent in his private discourses than when orating before the ecclesia. For his part, Demosthenes underscores the fact that Alcibiades was regarded as "the ablest speaker of the day". Paparrigopoulos does not accept Demosthenes's opinion, but acknowledges that the Athenian statesman could sufficiently support his case. Kagan acknowledges his rhetorical power, whilst Thomas Habinek, professor of classics at the University of Southern California, believes that the orator Alcibiades seemed to be whatever his audience needed on any given occasion. According to Habinek, in the field of oratory, the people responded to Alcibiades's affection with affection of their own. Therefore, the orator was "the institution of the city talking to—and loving—itself". According to Aristophanes, Athens "yearns for him, and hates him too, but wants him back".