e of one mind, one man would be opposed to
the state, Phokion rose and said that he was the man in question, for
he disapproved of the whole of their policy. And once when he made
some remark in a speech which was vociferously applauded, and he saw
the whole assembly unanimous in its approval of his words, he turned
to some of his friends and said, "Have I inadvertently said something
bad?"

IX. Once when the Athenians were asking for subscriptions for some
festival, and all the others had paid their subscriptions, Phokion,
after he had been frequently asked to subscribe, answered, "Ask these
rich men: for my part I should be ashamed of myself if I were to give
money to you, and not pay what I owe to this man here," pointing to
Kallikles the money-lender. As the people did not cease shouting and
abusing him, he told them a fable: "A cowardly man went to the wars,
and when he heard the cawing of the crows, he laid down his arms and
sat still. Then he took up his arms and marched on, and they again
began to caw, so he halted again. At last he said, 'You may caw as
loud as you please, but you shall never make a meal of me.'" On
another occasion when the Athenians wished to send him to meet the
enemy, and when he refused, called him a coward, he said, "You are not
able to make me brave, nor am I able to make you cowards. However, we
understand one another." At some dangerous crisis the people were
greatly enraged with him, and demanded an account of his conduct as
general. "I hope," said he, "my good friends, that you will save
yourselves first." As the Athenians, when at war, were
humble-spirited, and full of fears, but after peace was made became
bold, and reproached Phokion for having lost them their chance of
victory, he said, "You are fortunate in having a general who
understands you; for if you had not, you would long ago have been
ruined." When the Athenians wished to decide some dispute about
territory by arms instead of by arbitration, Phokion advised them to
fight the Boeotians with words, in which they were superior, not with
arms, in which they were inferior to them. Once when they would not
attend to his words, or listen to him, he said, "You are able to force
me to do what I do not wish, but you shall never force me to counsel
what I do not approve." When Demosthenes, one of the orators of the
opposite party, said to him, "Phokion, the Athenians will kill you, if
they lose their senses." He answered, "Yes, bu