Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

At a meeting of the Assembly someone said to him, You seem to be thinking, Phocion. You guessed right, said he, for I am thinking whether I can leave out any part of what I am going to say to the Athenians. [*](Ibid. chap. v. (744 A).)

An oracle was given to the Athenians declaring that there was one man in the city opposed to the opinions of all, whereupon they ordered that search be made to find him, and were very vociferous. But Phocion said that the man was himself, for he was the only one who did not like a single thing of all that the multitude did and said. [*](Ibid. chap. viii. (745 C).)

Once, when he expressed an opinion before the people, he won acclaim, and saw that all alike accepted the view he had expressed, whereupon he turned to his friends and said- Does it not look as if I had unwittingly said something bad ? [*](Ibid. Cf similar remarks of Antisthenes, in Diogenes Laertius, vi. 5 and 8; and of Hippomachus, in Aelian, Varia Historia, ii. 6.)