on a time cam in to a bayne,[293] he
behelde an olde man, that hadde done good seruice in the warres,
frotte[294] him selfe a gaynste a marble pyller for lacke of one to
helpe to wasshe him. Th' emperour, moued with pite, gaue an annuite to
fynde hym and a seruaunt to wayte vpon him. Whan this was knowen, a
great sorte of olde men drewe them to gether, and stode where as the
emperour shulde passe forth by, euerye one of them rubbynge his owne
backe with a marble stone. The emperour demaunded why they dyd so?
Bycause, noble emperour, sayd they, we be not able to kepe seruantes to
do it. Why, quod the emperour, one of you maye clawe and frote an others
backe well inough.

+ _Phocions oration to the Athen[ian]s._[295] cvi.

+ Phocion on a daye, treatynge a longe oration to the people of Athenes,
plesed them very wel; and whan he sawe that they all to gether allowed
his wordes, he tourned to his frendes and sayd: haue I vnwarely spoken
any hurte? So moche he perswaded hym selfe, that nothyng coude plese
them that was well and truely spoken.

FOOTNOTES:

[293] Bath.

[294] Rub, from the French, _frotter_.

[295] Phocion, the celebrated Athenian patriot, b. 402 B.C. d. 317 B.C.
Full particulars about him may be found in Mr. Grote's _History of
Greece_, and in Dr. Smith's _Dictionary of Classical Biography_.

+ _Of Demosthenes and Phocion._ cvii.

+ Demosthenes sayde to Phocion: if the Atheniens falle ones in a madnes,
they woll slee the. To whom he answered: ye, surely, if they waxe madde
they woll slee me; but an' they waxe ones wyse, they wyll slee thee. For
Demosthenes spake moche to the peoples pleasure, and spake thynges
rather delytable than holsome.

+ _Of Phocion that refused Alexanders gyfte._ cviii.

+ What tyme Alexander, kynge of Macedone, sent an hundred besauntes of
golde for a gyfte to Phocion, he asked them that brought the money, how
it came that Alexander sent it to hym alone, seyng there were many other
men in Athenes beside him. They answered: bycause he iugeth you alone to
be an honest and a good man. Therfore, quod he, let hym suffre me to be
taken to be suche one styll.[296]

Who wolde not wonder at the cleane and vncorrupt courage of this
Phocion? He was but a poore man, and yet the greatnes of the gyft coude
nothinge moue hym. Besyde also he shewed, that they the whiche, while
they mynistre the common welthe, absteyne not from takyng of gyftes,
neyther be nor oug