Phocion

In the meantime, too, Polysperchon, who had the king[*](The imbecile Philip Arrhidaeus, half-brother of Alexander. The other king, the little son of Alexander by Roxana, was in Epeirus with Olympias, the mother of Alexander. See the Eumenes, iii. 1 and 7, with the notes.) in his own personal charge and was seeking to thwart the schemes of Cassander, sent a letter to the citizens of Athens, announcing that the king restored to them their democracy and ordered that all Athenians should take part in the administration of the city according to their earlier polity.

This was a plot against Phocion. For Polysperchon was scheming (as he plainly showed a little later) to dispose the city in his own interests, and had no hope of succeeding unless Phocion was banished; he was sure, however, that Phocion would be banished if the disfranchised citizens overwhelmed the administration, and the tribunal was again at the mercy of demagogues and public informers.