Phocion

So now many were moved to speak, as they called to mind how the greatness and generosity of those illustrious kings made their wrath easy to appease; whereas Antipater, although he tried to conceal his power under the mask of a common man of mean attire and simple mode of life, was really a more burdensome tyrant and master to those who were in trouble.

But nevertheless Phocion successfully pleaded with Antipater for the exemption of many from exile, and for those who went into exile he obtained the privilege of residing in Peloponnesus, instead of being driven out of Hellas beyond the Ceraunian mountains and the promontory of Taenarum like other men in banishment. Of this number was Hagnonides the public informer.

Furthermore, by managing the affairs of the city with mildness and according to the laws, he kept the men of education and culture always in office, while the busybodies and innovators, who withered into insignificance from the very fact that they held no office and raised no uproars, were taught by him to be fond of home and to delight in tilling the soil. When he saw that Xenocrates paid the resident alien tax, he offered to enroll him as a citizen; but the philosopher refused, saying that he could not take part in an administration for the prevention of which he had served on an embassy.[*](Cf. chapter xxvii.)

When Menyllus offered Phocion a gift of money, he replied that neither was Menyllus better than Alexander,[*](Cf. chapter xviii.) nor was there any stronger reason why the man who would not accept it then should take it now. Menyllus, however, begged him to take the money for his son Phocus at least, whereupon Phocion said: For Phocus, should he be converted to sobriety of life, his patrimony will be enough; but as he is now, nothing is sufficient. Again, when Antipater desired him to do something that was not seemly, he gave him a sharper answer, saying: Antipater cannot have from me the services of friend and flatterer at once.

And Antipater himself once said, as we are told, that be had two friends at Athens, Phocion and Demades; one he could never persuade to take anything, the other he could never satisfy with his gifts. And verily Phocion displayed as a virtue the poverty in which; though he had been so many times a general of Athens and had enjoyed the friendship of kings, he had come to old age; whereas Demades made a great parade of his wealth, even though he was violating the laws to do so.