if we think of it as mankind being infested with many blood sucking parasites of the political nature then he was spot on! Consider as a representation of Greek politicians of the time Alcibiades. He was a contemporary of Socrates who was mentor to Plato who was in turn mentor to Aristotle so the era is more or less right. Alcibiades is a perfect example of the consummate political opportunist. He rose in Athens to high office but when he fell out of vogue there he ran off to their worst enemy Sparta and rose to high position there. But he couldnt keep his hands off the king's wife so he had to flee to their worst enemy Persia where again, he rose in politics. Then eventually he worked his way back to Athens until they exiled him yet again.
So here is the ultimate Greek politician and what a parasite! Q.E.D.
Aristotle said that “History is what Alcibiades did and what happened to him.”
I’ve read bits of Greek history that say Alcibiades was a hell of a soldier, along with that business about the Spartan king’s wife-some say he fathered a kid on her-he also had a wife, and may have kept an official mistress, too-but that wasn’t exactly unusual for powerful and well-off men in Greece at that time...