Chapter XXII: Part 22

[Footnote 588: The reformation of the Kalendar was effected in B.C. 46. Dion Cassius (43. c. 26) says that Cæsar was instructed on this subject during his residence at Alexandria in Egypt. The Egyptians had a year of 365 days from a very early date (Herodotus, ii. 4). In this year (B.C. 46) Cæsar intercalated two months of 67 days between November and December, and as this was the year in which, according to the old fashion, the intercalary month of 23 days had been inserted in February, the whole intercalation in this year was 90 days. Cæsar made the reformed year consist of 365 days, and he directed one day to be intercalated in every fourth year (quarto quoque anno) in order that the civil year, which began on the 1st of January, might agree with the solar year. The old practice of intercalating a month was of course dropped. The year B.C. 46 was a year of 445 days. By this reformation, says Dion Cassius, all error was avoided except a very small one, and he adds, that to correct the accumulations of this error, it would only be necessary to intercalate one day in 1461 years. But this is a mistake; for in 1460 years there would be an error of nearly eleven days too much. Ten days were actually dropped between the 4th and 15th of October, 1582, by Gregory XIII., with the sanction of the Council of Trent.

A curious mistake was soon made at Rome by the Pontifices who had the regulation of the Kalendar. The rule was to intercalate a day in every fourth year (quarto quoque anno). Now such expressions are ambiguous in Latin, as is shown by numerous examples. (Savigny, _System des heut. Röm. Rechts_, iv. 329.) The expression might mean that both the year one and the year four were to be included in the interpretation of this rule; and the Pontifices interpreted it accordingly. Thus, after intercalating in year one, they intercalated again in year four, instead of in year five. In the time of Augustus, B.C. 8. the error was corrected, and the civil year was set right by dropping the three intercalary days which came next after that year, three being the number of days in excess that had been intercalated. For the future the rule of Cæsar was correctly interpreted. Dion Cassius in expressing the rule as to intercalation uses the phrase, [Greek: dia pente etôn] διὰ πέντε ἐτῶν.

The subject of Cæsar's reformation is explained in the notes to Dion Cassius (43. c. 26), ed. Reimarus, and in the article Calendar (Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities) by Professor Key.]

[Footnote 589: The Romans had a large collection of these writings (libri Sibyllini) which were kept in the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus under the care of particular functionaries (duumviri sacrorum). On this curious subject the reader will find sufficient information in the Penny Cyclopædia,--art. _Sibyl_.]

[Footnote 590: Dion Cassius (44. c. 8), who tells the story, says that he was seated in the vestibule of the Temple of Venus; and he mentions another excuse that Cæsar had for not rising.]

[Footnote 591: L. Cornelius Balbus was a native of Gades. Pompeius Magnus gave him the Roman citizenship for his services in Spain against Sertorius, which was confirmed by a lex passed B.C. 72, in the consulship of Cn. Cornelius Lentulus. Probably to show his gratitude to the consul, Balbus assumed the Roman name Cornelius. Balbus is often mentioned in Cicero's correspondence. After Cæsar's death he attached himself to Cæsar Octavianus, and he was consul B.C. 40. He left a journal of the events of his own and Cæsar's life. He also urged Hirtius (Pansa) to write the Eighth Book of the Gallic War (Preface addressed to Balbus), Suetonius, Cæsar, 81.]

[Footnote 592: The Lupercalia are described in the Life of Romulus, c. 21. The festival was celebrated on the 15th of February. It was apparently an old shepherd celebration; and the name of the deity Lupercus appears to be connected with the name Lupus (wolf), the nurturer of the twins Romulus and Remus. Shakspere, who has literally transferred into his play of Julius Cæsar many passages from North's Plutarch, makes Cæsar say to the consul Antonius--

Forget not, in your speed, Antonius,
To touch Calphurnia; for our elders say,
The barren, touched in this holy chase,
Shake off their sterile curse.

Act i. Sc. 2.]

[Footnote 593: Dion Cassius (44. c. 9) speaks of the honours conferred on Cæsar and his supposed ambitious designs.]

[Footnote 594: The Latin word "brutus" means "senseless," "stupid." The Cumæi, the inhabitants of Cume in Æolis, were reckoned very stupid. Strabo (p. 622) gives two reasons why this opinion obtained; one of which was, that it was not till three hundred years after the foundation of the city that they thought of making some profit by the customs duties, though they had a port.]

[Footnote 595: Compare the Life of Brutus, c. 1, Dion Cassius (44. c. 12), and Drumann, _Geschichte Roms_, Junii, p. 2. This Brutus was not a descendant of him who expelled the last king.]

[Footnote 596: Plutarch means the office of Prætor Urbanus, the highest of the offices called prætorships. There was originally only one prætor, the Prætor Urbanus. There were now sixteen. The Prætor Urbanus was the chief person engaged in the administration of justice in Rome; and hence the allusion to the "tribunal" ([Greek: bêma] βῆμα) where the Prætor sat when he did business.]

[Footnote 597: I have translated this according to the reading of Sintenis. Compare the Life of Brutus, c. 8. Cæsar was very lean. As to the writings compare Dion Cassius (44, c. 12).]

[Footnote 598: See the Life of Brutus, c. 89.]

[Footnote 599:

_Cæsar_. Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights:
Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
Shakspere, _Julius Cæsar_, Act i. Sc. 2.]

[Footnote 600: The passage was in the Historical Memoirs. See the Life of Sulla, c. 26; and the Life of Lucullus, c. 28. Notes.]

[Footnote 601: The Ides of March were the 15th, on which day Cæsar was murdered.]

[Footnote 602: Compare Dion Cassius (44. c. 17). Cæsar also had a dream.]

[Footnote 603: I have kept Plutarch's word, which is Greek. Suetonius (Cæsar, c. 81) expresses it by the Latin word "fastigium," and also Florus (iv. 2), Cicero (_Philipp._ ii. 43), and Julius Obsequens (c. 127), who enumerates the omens mentioned by Plutarch. The passage of Livius must have been in the 116th Book, which is lost. See the Epitome. The word here probably means a pediment. But it also signifies an ornament, such as a statue placed on the summit of a pediment.]

[Footnote 604: Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus was the son of Decimus Junius Brutus, Consul B.C. 77, and grandson of Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus, Consul B.C. 138. He was adopted by Aulus Postumius Albinus, Consul, B.C. 99, whence he took the name Albinus. He served under Cæsar in Gaul, during which campaign he destroyed the fleet of the Veneti. (_Gallic War_, iii. 12, &c.) Decimus Brutus was a great favourite with Cæsar, who by his will placed him in the second degree of succession; he also gave him the province of Cisalpine Gaul, which Brutus held after Cæsar's death, and appointed him to be consul for B.C. 42. In the year B.C. 43, after M. Antonius had united himself with M. Lepidus, the governor of Gallia Narbonensis, and L. Munatius Plancus and Asinius Pollio had also joined M. Antonius, Decimus Brutus attempted to make his escape into Macedonia to Marcus Brutus; but he was overtaken in the Alps by the cavalry of Antonius, and put to death after abjectly praying for mercy. This was the just punishment of a treacherous friend who helped Cæsar to the supreme power and then betrayed him (Vell. Paterculus, ii. 61). Like many other men, he did well enough when he was directed by others, but when he was put in command, he lost his head and threw away the opportunities that he had. There are extant several of his letters to Ciecro and letters of Cicero to him. (Dion Cassius, 43. c. 53, and the references in the notes; Drumann, _Geschichte Roms_, Junii.)]

[Footnote 605: It was usual for the Romans in their wills to substitute an heres, one or more (in the Roman sense), to take the property in case the person who was first named in the will for any reason did not take it. Cæsar's first heres was his great nephew, C. Octavius, afterwards Augustus.]

[Footnote 606: It was the general opinion that some roll or writing was put into Cæsar's hands, which informed him of the conspiracy; but, as is usual in such cases, there were different statements current about the particulars of this circumstance. Compare Dion Cassius, 44. c. 18.]

[Footnote 607: According to Dion Cassius (41. c. 52) the Senate was assembled in the curia ([Greek: synedrion] συνέδριον), which Pompeius had built.]

[Footnote 608: The two sects of Greek philosophy that had most adherents among the Romans were those of the Epicureans and the Stoics. Cassius, as an Epicurean, would have no faith in any superhuman powers; but in the moments of danger a man's speculative principles give way to the common feelings of all mankind. I have kept Plutarch's word "enthusiasm," which is here to be understood not in our sense, but in the Greek sense of a person under some superhuman influence.]

[Footnote 609: This is a mistake of Plutarch, who has stated the fact correctly in his Life of Brutus (c. 17). It was Caius Trebonius who kept Antonius engaged in talk, as we learn from Dion Cassius (44. c. 10), Appianus (_Civil War_, ii. 117), and Cicero, who in a Letter to Trebonius (_Ad Diversos_, x. 28) complains that Trebonius had taken Antonius aside, and so saved his life.]

[Footnote 610: Some would write Tullius Cimber. See the note of Sintenis. Atilius may be the true name.]

[Footnote 611: P. Servilius Casca was at this time a tribune of the Plebs (Dion Cassius, 44. c. 52).]

[Footnote 612: Dion Cassius adds (44. c. 19) that Cæsar said to M. Brutus, "And you too, my son." Probably the story of Cæsar's death received many embellishments. Of his three and twenty wounds, only one was mortal according to the physician Antistius (Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 82): but though the wounds severally might not have been mortal, the loss of blood from all might have caused death. Suetonius (c. 82) adds, that Cæsar pierced the arm of Cassius (he mentions two Cassii among the conspirators) with his graphium (stylus). See the notes in Burmann's edition of Suetonius.

The circumstances of the death of Cæsar are minutely stated by Drumann, _Geschichte Roms_, Julii, p. 728, &c. The reflections of Dion Cassius (44. c. 1, 2) on the death of Cæsar are worth reading. He could not see that any public good was accomplished by this murder; nor can anybody else.]

[Footnote 613: Cicero was among them. He saw, as he says himself (_Ad Attic._ xiv. 10), the tyrant fall, and he rejoiced. In his letters he speaks with exultation of the murder, and commends the murderers. But he was not let into the secret. They were afraid to trust him. If he had been in the conspiracy, he says (_Philipp._ ii. 14) he would have made clean work; he would have assassinated all the enemies of liberty; in other words, all the chief men of Cæsar's party. He had abjectly humbled himself before Cæsar, who treated him with kind respect. Like all genuine cowards he was cruel when he had power.]

[Footnote 614: M. Æmilius Lepidus, son of M. Lepidus, consul B.C. 78. He afterwards formed one of the Triumviri with M. Antonius and Octavianus Cæsar. This was the Lepidus with whom Cæsar supped the day before he was murdered. He was a feeble man, though something of a soldier. Shakspere has painted him in a few words:

_Antony_. This is a slight unmeritable man,
Meet to be sent on errands.

_Julius Cæsar_, Act iv. Sc. 1.

There is more of him in the Lives of Brutus and Antonius.]

[Footnote 615: I do not know who this Caius Octavius is. There is probably some mistake in the name. Lentulus was the son of P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, consul B.C. 57. He had, like many others, experienced Cæsar's clemency. Plutarch is mistaken in saying that this Spinther was put to death, though he was probably included in the proscription. (See Drumann, _Geschichte Roms_, Lentuli, p. 545.) The Lentulus who is mentioned as having been put to death in Egypt (Life of Pompeius, c. 80) was L. Cornelius Lentulus Crus, consul B.C. 49.

The disturbances which followed Cæsar's death are more particularly described in the Lives of Brutus and Antonius.]

[Footnote 616: Cæsar made Caius Octavius, his sister's grandson, his first heres. He left a legacy to every Roman citizen, the amount of which is variously stated. He also left to the public his gardens on the Tiber. (Suetonius, _Cæsar_, c. 83); Dion Cassius (44. c. 35).

Shakspere has made a noble scene of the speech of Antonius over Cæsar's body on the opening of the will:

_Ant_. Here is the will, and under Cæsar's seal;
To every Roman citizen he gives,
To every several man, seventy-five drachmas:
Moreover he hath left you all his walks,
His private arbours and new planted orchards,
On this side Tiber; he hath left them you
And to your heirs for ever; common pleasures,
To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves.
Here was a Cæsar. When comes such another?

_Julius Cæsar_, Act iii. Sc. 2.

Antonius, according to Roman fashion, made a funeral speech over the body of Cæsar (Life of Antonius, c. 14; of Brutus, c. 20). Dion Cassius (44. c. 36-49) has put a long speech in the mouth of Antonius, mere empty declamation. Appianus (_Civil Wars_, ii. 144-6) gives one which is well enough suited to the character of Antonius. (_Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta_, ed. Mayer, p. 455.) It is probable that the speech of Antonius was preserved, and was used as materials by the historians.]

[Footnote 617: This man, who unluckily bore the name of Cinna, was C. Helvius Cinna, a tribune of the plebs, a poet, and a friend of Cæsar. (Dion Cassius, 44. c. 50, and the notes of Reimarus.) The conspirator Cinna was the son of L. Cornelius Cinna, who was a partisan of Marius, and was murdered in his fourth consulship (Life of Pompeius, c. 5). Cæsar's wife Cornelia, the mother of his only child Julia, was the sister of the conspirator Cinna, as Plutarch names him. But probably he was not one of the conspirators, though he approved of the deed after it was done. (Drumann, _Geschichte Roms_, Cinnæ, p. 591, notes, and also as to Helvius Cinna.)]

[Footnote 618: And also in the Life of Antonius.]

[Footnote 619: Suetonius (_Cæsar_, c. 89) observes that scarce any of his assasins survived him three years; and they all came to a violent end.]

[Footnote 620: This town was on the Asiatic side of the Hellespont. Compare the Life of Brutus, c. 36. 48, and Appianus (_Civil Wars_, iv. 134). Dion Cassius does not mention the ghost story.]

[Footnote 621: It has been already remarked that Niebuhr is of opinion that the introduction to the Life of Cæsar is lost. This opinion will not appear well founded to those who have got a right conception of the dramatic form in which Plutarch has cast most of his Lives, and more particularly this of Cæsar. He begins by representing him as resisting the tyrant Sulla when others yielded, and then making his way through a long series of events to the supreme power, which he had no sooner attained than he lost it. But his fortune survived him, and the faithless men, his murderers, most of whom owed to him their lives or their fortunes, were pursued by the avenging dæmon till they were all hunted down.

A just estimate of the first of all the Romans is not a difficult task. We know him from the evidence of his contemporaries, both friends and enemies. The devoted attachment of his true friends is beyond doubt; and his enemies could not deny his exalted talents. Cicero, who has in various places heaped on him every term of abuse that his copious storehouse contained, does not refuse his testimony to the great abilities and generous character of Cæsar. Drumann (_Geschichte Roms_, Julii) has given an elaborate examination of Cæsar's character. His faults and his vices belonged to his age, and he had them in common with nearly all his contemporaries. His most striking virtues, his magnanimity, his generosity, his mercy to the vanquished, distinguished him among all the Romans of his period. Cæsar was a combination of bodily activity, intellectual power, of literary acquirements, and administrative talent that has seldom appeared. As a soldier he was not inferior in courage and endurance to the hardiest veteran of his legions; and his military ability places him in the first rank of commanders who have contended with and overcome almost insurmountable obstacles. Cicero ranks him in the first class of orators; and his own immortal work, his History of the Gallic Campaign and the Civil War, is a literary monument which distinguishes him among all other commanders. As a speaker and a writer he had no superior among his contemporaries. His varied talents are further shown by his numerous literary labours, of which some small notices remain. His views were large and enlightened, his schemes were vast and boundless. His genius deserved a better sphere than the degenerate republic in which he lived. But the power which he acquired did not die with him. A youth of tender age succeeded to the name and the inheritance of Cæsar, and by his great talents and a long career of wonderful success consolidated that Monarchy which we call the Roman Empire.

Shakspere has founded his play of Julius Cæsar on Plutarch's Life of Cæsar and the Lives of Brutus and Antonius. The passages in North's version which he has more particularly turned to his purpose are collected in Mr. Knight's edition of Shakspere (8vo. edition). Shakspere has three Roman plays, Coriolanus, Julius Cæsar, and Antony and Cleopatra. As a drama the first is the best. The play of Julius Cæsar has been estimated very differently by different critics. Mr. Knight has many valuable remarks on these Roman plays (vol. xi.), and he has shown the way, as he conceives, in which they should be viewed. The Julius Cæsar is so constructed as to show the usurpation and death of Cæsar, and the fall of Brutus, the chief of the assassins, at the battle of Philippi. With Brutus the hopes of his party fell. The play should therefore rather be entitled Marcus Brutus than Julius Cæsar; and it is deficient in that unity without which no great dramatic effect can be produced. The name and the fame of Cæsar,

the noblest man,
That ever lived in the tide of time,

obscure the meaner talents of Brutus; and that death which in Plutarch forms a truly tragical catastrophe, here occurs in the middle of the action, which would appropriately terminate with it. But we have to follow the historical course of events; we follow Brutus to his fate at the battle of Philippi, and witness the vengeance of which Cæsar's ghost forewarns the false friends. Shakspere may have meant to represent Brutus as the last of the Romans, and the Republic as dying with him; but he also represents him as haunted by the ghost of his murdered benefactor, and losing heart before the final contest. The "great dæmon" of Cæsar avenged him on his enemies; and in this point of view the play has a unity. Brutus dies like a Roman, and that murder to which he was led by the instigation of others, only renders the Monarchy inevitable and necessary. But if the play is faulty in construction, as I venture to think it is, it has other merits of the highest order, which place it in some respects among the best works of the great master of dramatic art.]

LIFE OF PHOKION.

I. The orator Demades, who became one of the chief men in Athens by his subservience to the Macedonians and Antipater, and who was forced to say and to write much that was derogatory to the glory and contrary to the traditional policy of Athens, used to excuse himself by pleading that he did not come to the helm before the vessel of the State was an utter wreck. This expression, which seems a bold one when used by Demades, might with great truth have been applied to the policy of Phokion. Indeed Demades himself wrecked Athens by his licentious life and policy, and when he was an old man Antipater said of him that he was like a victim which has been cut up for sacrifice, for there was nothing left of him but his tongue and his paunch; while the true virtue of Phokion was obscured by the evil days for Greece during which he lived, which prevented his obtaining the distinction which he deserved. We must not believe Sophokles, when he says that virtue is feeble and dies out in men:

"Why, not the very mind that's born with man,
When he's unfortunate, remains the same."

Yet we must admit that fortune has so much power even over good men, that it has sometimes withheld from them their due meed of esteem and praise, has sullied their reputations with unworthy calumnies, and made it difficult for the world to believe in their virtue.

II. It would seem that democracies, when elated by success, are especially prone to break out into wanton maltreatment of their greatest men; and this is also true in the opposite case: for misfortunes render popular assemblies harsh, irritable, and uncertain in temper, so that it becomes a dangerous matter to address them, because they take offence at any speaker who gives them wholesome counsel. When he blames them for their mistakes, they think that he is reproaching them with their misfortunes, and when he speaks his mind freely about their condition, they imagine that he is insulting them. Just as honey irritates wounds and sores, so does true and sensible advice exasperate the unfortunate, if it be not of a gentle and soothing nature: exactly as the poet calls sweet things agreeable, because they agree with the taste, and do not oppose or fight against it. An inflamed eye prefers the shade, and shuns strong lights: and a city, when involved in misfortunes, becomes timid and weak through its inability to endure plain speaking at a time when it especially needs it, as otherwise its mistakes cannot be repaired. For this reason the position of a statesman in a democracy must always be full of peril; for if he tries merely to please the people he will share their ruin, while if he thwarts them he will be destroyed by them.

Astronomers teach us that the sun does not move in exactly the same course as the stars, and yet not in one which is opposed to them, but by revolving in an inclined and oblique orbit performs an easy and excellent circuit through them all, by which means everything is kept in its place, and its elements combined in the most admirable manner. So too in political matters, the man who takes too high a tone, and opposes the popular will in all cases, must be thought harsh and morose, while on the other hand he who always follows the people and shares in all their mistakes pursues a dangerous and ruinous policy. The art of government by which states are made great consists in sometimes making concessions to the people, and gratifying them when they are obedient to authority, and at the same time insisting upon salutary measures. Men willingly obey and support such a ruler if he does not act in a harsh and tyrannical fashion: but he has a very difficult and laborious part to play, and it is hard for him to combine the sternness of a sovereign with the gentleness of a popular leader, If, however, he succeed in combining these qualities, they produce the truest and noblest harmony, like that by which God is said to regulate the universe, as everything is brought about by gentle persuasion, and not by violence.

III. All this was exemplified in the case of the younger Cato: for he had not the art of persuasion and was unacceptable to the people, nor did he rise to eminence by the popular favour, but Cicero[622] says that he lost his consulship because he acted as if he were living in the Republic of Plato, and not in the dregs of Romulus. Such men seem to me to resemble fruits which grow out of season: for men gaze upon them with wonder, but do not eat them: and the stern antique virtue of Cato, displayed as it was in a corrupt and dissolute age, long after the season for it had gone by, gained him great glory and renown, but proved totally useless, as it was of too exalted a type to suit the political exigencies of the day. When Cato began his career, his country was not already ruined, as was that of Phokion. The ship of the state was indeed labouring heavily in the storm, but Cato, although he was not permitted to take the helm and guide the vessel, exerted himself so manfully, and gave so much assistance to those who were more powerful than himself, that he all but triumphed over fortune. The constitution was, no doubt, finally overthrown; but its ruin was due to others, and only took place after a long and severe struggle, during which Cato very nearly succeeded in saving it. I have chosen Phokion to compare with him, not because of the general resemblance of their characters as good and statesmanlike men, for a man may possess the same quality in various forms, as, for example, the courage of Alkibiades was of a different kind to that of Epameinondas; the ability of Themistokles was different to that of Aristeides; and the justice of Numa Pompilius was different to that of Agesilaus. But in the case of Phokion and Cato, their virtues bore the same stamp, form, and ethical complexion down to the most minute particulars. Both alike possessed the same mixture of kindness and severity, of caution and daring: both alike cared for the safety of others and neglected their own: both alike shrank from baseness, and were zealous for the right; so that one would have to use a very nice discrimination to discover the points of difference between their respective dispositions.

IV. Cato is admitted by all writers to have been a man of noble descent, as will be explained in his life: and I imagine that the family of Phokion was not altogether mean and contemptible. If his father had really been a pestle maker, as we are told by Idomeneus, who may be sure that Glaukippus, the son of Hypereides, who collected and flung at him such a mass of abuse, would not have omitted to mention his low birth, nor would he have been so well brought up as to have been a scholar of Plato while a lad, and afterwards to have studied under Xenokrates in the Academy; while from his youth up he always took an interest in liberal branches of learning. We are told by the historian Douris that scarcely any Athenian ever saw Phokion laughing or weeping, or bathing in the public baths, or with his hand outside of his cloak, when he wore one. Indeed when he was in the country or on a campaign he always went barefooted and wore only his tunic, unless the cold was excessively severe; so that the soldiers used to say in jest that it was a sign of wintry weather to see Phokion wearing his cloak.

V. Though one of the kindest and most affable of men, he was of a forbidding and severe countenance, so that men who did not know him well feared to address him when alone. Once when Chares in a speech mentioned Phokion's gloomy brow, the Athenians began to laugh. "Yet," said he, "his brow has never harmed you: but the laughter of these men has brought great sorrow upon the state." In like manner also the oratory of Phokion was most valuable, as it incited his countrymen to win brilliant successes, and to form lofty aspirations. He spoke in a brief, harsh, commanding style, without any attempt to flatter or please his audience. Just as Zeno says that a philosopher ought to steep his words in meaning, so Phokion's speeches conveyed the greatest possible amount of meaning in the smallest compass. It is probably in allusion to this that Polyeuktus[623] of Sphettus said that Demosthenes was the best orator, but that Phokion was the most powerful speaker. As the smallest coins are those which have the greatest intrinsic value, so Phokion in his speeches seemed to say much with few words. We are told that once while the people were flocking into the theatre Phokion was walking up and down near the stage, plunged in thought. "You seem meditative, Phokion," said one of his friends. "Yes, by Zeus," answered he, "I am considering whether I can shorten the speech which I am going to make to the Athenians." Demosthenes himself, who despised the other orators, when Phokion rose used to whisper to his friends, "Here comes the cleaver of my harangues." Much of his influence, however, must be ascribed to his personal character; since a word or a gesture of a truly good man carries more weight than ten thousand eloquently argued speeches.

VI. While yet a youth Phokion especially attached himself to the general Chabrias, and followed him in his campaigns, in which he gained considerable military experience, and in some instances was able to correct the strange inequalities of his commander's temperament. Chabrias, usually sluggish and hard to rouse, when in action became vehemently excited, and tried to outdo the boldest of his followers in acts of daring: indeed he lost his life at Chios by being the first to run his ship on shore and to try to effect a landing in the face of the enemy. Phokion, who was a man of action, and cautious nevertheless, proved most useful in stirring up Chabrias when sluggish, and again in moderating his eagerness when roused. In consequence of this, Chabrias, who was of a kindly and noble disposition, loved Phokion and promoted him to many responsible posts, so that his name became well known throughout Greece, as Chabrias entrusted him with the management of the most important military operations. At the battle of Naxos he enabled Phokion to win great glory, by placing him in command of the left wing, where the most important struggle took place, and where the victory was finally decided. As this was the first sea fight, since the capture and ruin of Athens, which the Athenians won by themselves, without allies, over other Greeks, they were greatly pleased with Chabrias, and Phokion was henceforth spoken of as a man of military genius. The battle was won during the performance of the Great Mysteries at Eleusis; and every year afterwards, on the sixteenth day of the month Böedromion, Chabrias used to entertain the Athenians, and offer libations of wine to the gods.

VII. After this Chabrias sent Phokion to visit the islands and exact tribute from them, giving him an escort of twenty ships of war: upon which Phokion is said to have remarked, that if he was sent to fight the islanders, he should require a larger force, but that if he was going to the allies of Athens, one ship would suffice for him. He sailed in his own trireme, visited all the states, simply and unassumingly explained the objects of his mission to their leading men, and returned home with a large fleet, which the allies despatched to convey their tribute safe to Athens.

He not only esteemed and looked up to Chabrias while he lived, but after his death he took care of his family, and endeavoured to make a good man of his son Ktesippus; and though he found this youth stupid and unmanageable, he never ceased his efforts to amend his character and to conceal his faults. Once only we are told that when on some campaign the young man was tormenting him with unreasonable questions, and offering him advice as though he were appointed assistant-general, Phokion exclaimed, "O Chabrias, Chabrias, I do indeed prove myself grateful for your friendship for me, by enduring this from your son!" Observing that the public men of the day had, as if by lot, divided the duties of the war-office and of the public assembly amongst themselves, so that Eubulus, Aristophon, Demosthenes, Lykurgus, and Hypereides did nothing except make speeches to the people and bring forward bills, while Diopeithes, Menestheus, Leosthenes, and Chares rose entirely by acting as generals and by making war, Phokion wished to restore the era of Perikles, Aristeides, and Solon, statesmen who were able to manage both of these branches of the administration with equal success. Each one of those great men seemed to him, in the words of Archilochus, to have been

"A man, who served the grisly god of arms,
Yet well could comprehend the Muses's charms."

The tutelary goddess of Athens herself, he remarked, presided equally over war and over domestic administration, and was worshipped under both attributes.

VIII. With this object in view Phokion invariably used his political influence in favour of peace, but nevertheless was elected general[624] more times not only than any of his contemporaries, but also than any of his predecessors: yet he never canvassed his countrymen or made any effort to obtain the office, though he did not refuse to fill it at his country's bidding. All historians admit that he was elected general five-and-forty times, and never once missed being elected, since even when he was absent the Athenians used to send for him to come home and be elected; so that his enemies used to wonder that Phokion, who always thwarted the Athenians and never flattered them either by word or deed, should be favoured by them, and were wont to say that the Athenians in their hours of relaxation used to amuse themselves by listening to the speeches of their more lively and brilliant orators, just as royal personages are said to amuse themselves with their favourites after dinner, but that they made their appointments to public offices in a sober and earnest spirit, choosing for that purpose the most severe and sensible man in Athens, and the one too, who alone, or at any rate more than any one else, was in the habit of opposing their impulses and wishes. When an oracle was brought from Delphi and read before the assembly, which said that when all the Athenians were 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 Bœotians 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, but they will kill you, if they regain them." When he saw Polyeuktus of Sphettus in a great heat urging the Athenians to go to war with Philip, panting and sweating profusely, as he was a very fat man, and drinking great draughts of water, he said, "Ought you to believe what this man says, and vote for war? What sort of a figure will he make in a suit of armour and with a shield to carry, when the enemy are at hand, if he cannot explain his thoughts to you without nearly choking himself?" When Lykurgus abused him freely in the public assembly and above all, reproached him with having advised the people to deliver up ten citizens to Alexander when he demanded them, he said, "I have often given the people good advice, but they will not obey me."

X. There was one Archibiades, who was surnamed the Laconizer, who grew a great beard, wore a Spartan cloak, and affected a stern demeanour like a Spartan. Once when Phokion was being violently attacked in the assembly he called upon this man to bear witness to the truth of what he said, and to assist him. Archibiades now rose and said what he thought would please the Athenians, upon which Phokion, seizing him by the beard, exclaimed, "Why then, Archibiades, do you not shave?"[625] When Aristogeiton, the informer, who made warlike speeches in the public assembly, and urged the people to action, came to be enrolled on the list for active service leaning on a stick, with his legs bandaged, Phokion, catching sight of him from the tribune where he stood, called out "Write down Aristogeiton, a cripple and a villain." From this it appears strange that so harsh and ungenial a man should have been named "The Good."

It is difficult, I imagine, but not impossible, for the same man to be like wine, both sweet and harsh: just as other men and other wines seem at first to be pleasant, but prove in the end both disagreeable and injurious to those who use them. We are told that Hypereides once said to the Athenians, "Men of Athens, do not think whether I am harsh or not, but whether I am harsh for nothing;" as if it was only covetousness that made men hated, and as if those persons were not much more generally disliked who used their power to gratify their insolence, their private grudges, their anger, or their ambition. Phokion never harmed any Athenian because he disliked him, and never accounted any man his enemy, but merely showed himself stern and inexorable to those who opposed his efforts to save his country, while in the rest of his life he was so kind and amiable to all men, that he often helped his opponents, and came to the aid of his political antagonists when they were in difficulties. Once when his friends reproached him for having interceded in court for some worthless man who was being tried, he answered that good men do not need any intercessor. When Aristogeiton, after he had been condemned, sent for Phokion, and begged him to visit him, he at once started to go to the prison; and when his friends tried to prevent him, he said, "My good sirs, let me go; for where would one wish to meet Aristogeiton rather than in prison?"

XI. Indeed, if any other generals were sent out to the allies and people of the islands, they always treated them as enemies, fortified their walls, blocked up their harbours, and sent their slaves and cattle, their women and children, into their cities for shelter; but when Phokion was in command they came out a long way to meet him with their own ships, crowned with flowers, and led him rejoicing into their cities.

XII. When Philip stealthily seized Eubœa,[626] landed a Macedonian army there, and began to win over the cities by means of their despots, Plutarchus of Eretria sent to Athens and begged the Athenians to rescue the island from the Macedonians. Phokion was now sent thither in command of a small force, as it was expected that the people of the country would rally round him. He found, however, nothing but treachery and corruption, as all patriotism had been undermined by the bribes of Philip, and soon was brought into great danger. He established himself upon a hill which was cut off by a ravine from the plain near the city of Tamynæ, and there collected the most trustworthy part of his forces, bidding his officers take no heed of the undisciplined mass of talkers and cowards who deserted from his camp and made their way home, observing that they were useless in action because they would not obey orders, and only hindered the fighting men, while at Athens the consciousness of their baseness would prevent their bringing false accusations against him.

XIII. When the enemy[627] drew near, he ordered his troops to remain quiet under arms until he had finished offering sacrifice. Either the sacrifices were unfavourable, or else he designedly wasted time, wishing to bring the enemy as close as possible. The result was that Plutarchus,[628] imagining that the Athenians were terror-stricken and hanging back, rushed to attack the enemy at the head of the Eubœans. Seeing this, the Athenian cavalry could no longer endure to remain idle, but charged at once, pouring out of their camp in scattered bodies and with much confusion. These first troops were defeated, and Plutarchus himself took to flight. Some of the enemy now came close up to the rampart of the Athenian camp, and began to tear down the stakes of which it was formed as though they were already completely victorious.

At this crisis the sacrifices proved favourable, and the Athenian infantry, sallying out of their camp, routed and overthrew all whom they found near their ramparts. Phokion now ordered his main body to remain in reserve, in order to give those who had been scattered in the former skirmish a point to rally on, while he himself, with some picked men, charged the enemy. A severe battle now took place, in which all exerted themselves with the most reckless bravery. Thallus, the son of Kineas, and Glaukus, the son of Polymedes, who fought by the side of the general himself, were especially distinguished. Kleophanes also did most excellent service on this occasion, for he rallied the scattered horsemen, called upon them to help their general in his utmost need, and prevailed upon them to return and complete the victory which the infantry had gained. After this, Phokion banished Plutarchus from Eretria, and captured a fort named Zaretra, which commanded the narrowest part of the island. He set free all the Greek captives, because he feared that the Athenian orators might urge the people in their anger to treat them with undue severity.

XIV. After Phokion had accomplished this, he sailed away to Athens; and the allies soon found cause to wish for his goodness and justice, while the Athenians soon learned to value his courage and military skill. Molossus, his successor, managed the war so unsuccessfully that he himself was made a prisoner by the enemy. Shortly afterwards Philip, full of great designs, proceeded with all his army to the Hellespont, in order to take Perinthus, Byzantium, and the Chersonese at one blow. The Athenians were eager to help these cities, and the orators succeeded in getting Chares sent thither in command of an army. However, when he arrived he effected nothing of importance, for the cities would not admit his troops within their walls, and viewed him with suspicion, so that he was reduced to roaming about the country, exacting contributions of money from the allies of Athens, and regarded with contempt by the enemy. Upon this the people, exasperated by the speeches of the orators, became much enraged, and regretted that they had sent any assistance to the people of Byzantium: but Phokion rose, and said that they ought not be angry with their allies for not trusting them, but with their generals for not being trustworthy. "These men," he remarked, "make you feared even by those who cannot be saved without your assistance."

The Athenians were much moved by these words. They repented of their anger, and ordered Phokion himself to take a second armament and proceed to the assistance of their allies on the Hellespont. The reputation of Phokion had been very great even before this, but now, since Leon, the leading man in Byzantium, who had been a fellow-student in the Academy with Phokion, made himself answerable for his good faith, the Byzantines would not permit him to carry out his intention of encamping outside their walls, but opened their gates and received the Athenians into their houses. Phokion's men proved not only irreproachable in their conduct, but repaid the confidence which had been shown them by fighting on all occasions with the utmost bravery. Thus was Philip this time driven from the Hellespont, and regarded with contempt as a coward and a runaway, while Phokion took several of his ships, recovered some towns which had received Macedonian garrisons, and landed at various points on the coast to ravage and overrun the country, until at last he was wounded by the enemy and forced to return home.

XV. Once when the people of Megara secretly invited Phokion to come to their aid, as he was afraid that the Bœotians might hear of his intentions and cut off the proposed reinforcements, he called a meeting of the Assembly at daybreak, laid the Megarian proposals before the Athenians, and as soon as a decree had been passed to aid them, ordered the trumpet to sound, bade his troops leave the Assembly and get under arms at once, and led them straightway to Megara. The people of Megara gladly welcomed him, and he not only fortified Nisæa, but built two long walls from the city to its seaport, thus joining Megara to the sea in such a fashion that the city no longer feared its enemies by land, and cheerfully threw in its lot with the Athenians.

XVI. When Philip was viewed with hostility by every state in Greece, and other generals had been elected in Phokion's absence to make war against him, Phokion, when he returned from his tour among the islands, advised them to make peace, and come to terms with Philip, who on his part was quite willing to do so, and feared to go to war. On this occasion a pettifogging Athenian, who spent all his time in the law courts, opposed Phokion, and said, "Do you dare, Phokion, to advise the Athenians to turn back when they have arms already in their hands?" "Yes, I do," answered he, "and that too although I know that in time of war I shall be your master, and in time of peace you will be mine." As Phokion did not succeed, but Demosthenes carried his point, and counselled the Athenians to fight as far as possible from Attica, he said to him: "My good sir, let us not consider where we are to fight, but how we can win the victory. If we are victorious, the war will be kept at a distance, but all the horrors of war always press closely upon the vanquished." After the defeat,[629] the noisy revolutionary party dragged Charidemus to the tribune, and bade him act as general. All the more respectable citizens were much alarmed at this. They appealed to the council of the Areopagus to aid them, addressed the people with tears and entreaties, and prevailed upon them to place the city under the charge of Phokion. Phokion now considered it necessary to submit with a good grace to the pleasure of Philip, and when Demades moved that Athens should share the general peace and take part in the congress of the Greek states, Phokion objected to the motion before it was known what Philip wished the Greeks to do. His opposition was fruitless, because of the critical state of affairs; but when afterwards he saw the Athenians bitterly repenting of what they had done, because they were obliged to furnish Philip with ships of war and cavalry, he said: "It was because I feared this that I opposed the motion of Demades: but now that you have passed that motion you must not be grieved and downcast, but remember that your ancestors were sometimes independent and sometimes subject to others, but that they acted honourably in either case, and saved both their city and the whole of Greece." On the death of Philip he opposed the wish of the Athenians to hold a festival[630] because of the good news: for he said that it was an unworthy thing for them to rejoice, because the army which had defeated them at Chæronea had been weakened by the loss of only one man.

XVII. When Demosthenes spoke abusively of Alexander, who was even then at the gates of Thebes, Phokion said to him, in the words of Homer,

"'Rash man, forbear to rouse the angry chief,'

who is also a man of unbounded ambition. When he has kindled such a terrible conflagration close by, why do you wish our city to fan the flame? I, however, will not permit these men to ruin us, even though they wish it, for that is why I have undertaken the office of general."

After Thebes was destroyed, Alexander demanded Demosthenes and his party, with Lykurgus, Hypereides, and Charidenus to be delivered up to him. The whole assembly, on hearing this proposal, cast its eyes upon Phokion, and, after calling upon him repeatedly by name, induced him to rise. Placing by his side his most beloved and trusted friend, he said:[631] "These men have brought the city to such a pass, that if any one were to demand that Nikokles here should be delivered up to him, I should advise you to give him up. For my own part, I should account it a happy thing to die on behalf of all of you. I feel pity also, men of Athens," said he, "for those Thebans who have fled hither for refuge; but it is enough that Greece should have to mourn for the loss of Thebes. It is better then, on behalf of both the Thebans and ourselves, to deprecate the wrath of our conqueror rather than to oppose him."