History of the Peloponnesian War

This advice Alcibiades gave to Tissaphernes and the King while he was under their protection, not only because he believed it to be best, but also because he was at the same time working for his own restoration to his fatherland, knowing that, if he did not ruin that prospect, it would some day be possible for him to gain the consent of his countrymen and be restored. And the means by which he thought he could best persuade them was this—to make it appear that Tissaphernes was on intimate terms with him;

and that, in fact, is what happened. For the Athenian soldiers at Samos perceived that he had great influence with Tissaphernes, partly because Alcibiades sent word to the most influential men among them to make mention of him to the best people and say that he wished to come home on condition of there being an oligarchy and not the villainous mob-rule that had banished him, and after securing the friendship of Tissaphernes to be a fellow-citizen with them; but of still greater moment was the fact that even on their own initiative the Athenian trierarchs at Samos and the most influential men were bent upon overthrowing the democracy.