Phocion

The story about the money, indeed, is generally admitted, namely, that Alexander sent him a present of a hundred talents.[*](The talent was equivalent to about £235, or $1,200, with four or five times the purchasing power of modern money.) When this was brought to Athens, Phocion asked the bearers why in the world, when there were so many Athenians, Alexander offered such a sum to him alone. They replied: Because Alexander judges that thou alone art a man of honour and worth. In that case, said Phocion, let him suffer me to be and be thought such always.

But when the messengers accompanied him to his home and saw there a great simplicity,—his wife kneading bread, while Phocion with his own hands drew water from the well and washed his feet,—they were indignant, and pressed the money upon him still more urgently, declaring it an intolerable thing that he, though a friend of the king, should live in such poverty. Phocion, accordingly, seeing a poor old man walking the street in a dirty cloak, asked them if they considered him inferior to this man.