Phocion

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.