Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/836

 800 P H O C I O N news of Philip s assassination readied Athens (336) Phocion vainly dissuaded the people from publicly expressing what he termed a dastardly joy. After the revolt of Thebes and its destruction by Philip s son and successor Alexander the Great, Athens, having been implicated in the movement, was called on by Alex ander to surrender the orators of the anti-Macedonian party, including Demosthenes (335). Phocion advised the men to give themselves up, but nevertheless by his intercession he induced the conqueror to relent. 1 Alex ander conceived a high opinion of Phocion, and ever after wards treated him with marked respect. He would have loaded him with presents, but Phocion steadily declined them, the only favour he asked being the release of some prisoners. When Harpalus, a Macedonian officer who had betrayed the confidence reposed in him by Alexander, fled for refuge to Athens, Phocion, though he contemptuously refused the bribes which Harpalus offered him, neverthe less resisted the proposal to surrender the fugitive (324) ; and, after the death of Harpalus, Phocion and his son- in-law cared for his infant daughter. The wild joy which the death of Alexander (323) roused at Athens was not shared by Phocion, and he had nothing better than scorn for that heroic effort to shake off the Macedonian yoke known as the Lamian War (323-322). When the news of Leosthenes s victory over Antipater, the regent of Macedonia, was greeted at Athens with enthusiasm (323), Phocion sneeringly asked, &quot; When shall we have done con quering 1 &quot; Still, when a body of Macedonian and mer cenary troops under Micion landed in Attica and ravaged the country, Phocion led out a force and defeated them with loss. After the battle of Crannon (322) Phocion s personal influence induced the victorious Antipater to spare Attica the misery of invasion, but he could not pre vent the occupation of Munychia (one of the ports of Athens) by a Macedonian garrison. However, Menyllus, the commander of the garrison, was a friend of Phocion and respected the feelings of the Athenians. Further, the Athenians were required by Antipater to surrender the chief members of the anti- Macedonian party, amongst them Demosthenes and Hyperides, and to restrict their franchise by a property qualification. In consequence Hyperides was executed, Demosthenes died by his own hand, and over 12,000 citizens lost the franchise, many of them going into exile. These disfranchised citizens had afterwards an important influence on Phocion s fate. For some years Athens dwelt in peace, if not in honour, under the shadow of Macedonia. Phocion had the direction of affairs and filled the magistracies with respectable men. By his intercession with Antipater he procured for many of the exiles a repeal or mitigation of their sentence, but he declined to petition Antipater to withdraw the garrison from Munychia. The presents offered him by Antipater and Menyllus he refused. In 318 Antipater died, leaving as his successor in the regency of Macedonia the veteran general Polysperchon, instead of his own son Cassander. The new regent, finding himself isolated and wishing to strengthen himself against his enemies, tried to attach the Greeks to his cause by proclaiming in the name of the young king Philip Arrhidaeus that the oligarchies estab lished by Antipater in the Greek cities should be abolished and the democracies restored, and that all exiles, with a few exceptions, should be allowed to return. A special letter to Athens in the king s name announced the restora tion of the democracy. But Cassander was not to be set aside lightly ; he was naturally supported by all who 1 So Plutarch, Phoaion, c. 17. But Diodorus (xvii. 15) and Plutarch himself elsewhere (Deniosth., c. 23) ascribe to Demades the credit of having mollified Alexander. Phocion s name is not mentioned in this connexion by Arrian (Anal., i. 10) nor by Justin (xi. 4). had benefited by his father s measures, i.e., by the oligar chical and Macedonian party in the Greek states. Before the news of the death of Antipater got abroad Cassander sent Nicanor, an adherent of his own, to relieve Menyllus of the command in Munychia. Menyllus unsuspectingly resigned the command to him, and Nicanor held the place for Cassander. When, a few days later, the death of Anti pater became known, there were angry murmurs at Athens that Phocion had been a party to the deception. Phocion heeded them not, but, following his usual policy, pro pitiated Xicanor in favour of Athens. But the people were excited by the promises of Polysperchon - } Phocion could no longer hold them in. In a public assembly at which Nicanor was present an attempt was made to seize the obnoxious Macedonian, but he escaped. AVarnings now poured in on Phocion to beware of him, but he confided in Nicanor s good intentions and would take no precaution. So Nicanor was enabled to seize and intrench himself in Piraeus, the chief port of Athens. The irritation against Phocion was intense. An attempt to treat w r ith Nicanor failed ; he simply referred the envoys, of whom Phocion was one, to Cassander. The arrival in Attica of Alexander, son of Polysperchon, revived the hopes of the Athenians. He came at the head of an army and brought in his train a crowd of the exiles, and it was thought that, along with the constitution, he would restore Muny chia and Piraeus to Athens. Far from doing so, it soon appeared that his intention was to seize and hold these ports for Polysperchon, and rumour said that to this step he was instigated by Phocion. The people were furious. In a public assembly they deposed the existing magis trates, filled their places with the most pronounced demo crats, and sentenced all who had held office under the oligarchy to exile or death. Among these w T as Phocion. With some of his companions in misfortune he fled to Alexander, who received the fugitives courteously and sent them to Polysperchon and the king, who were with an army in Phocis. Thither, too, came an embassy from Athens to accuse Phocion and his fellows before the king and to demand the promised independence. Polysperchon resolved to propitiate the Athenians with blood ; so, after an audience disgraceful to all who took part in it except to Phocion, the refugees were packed in carts and sent to Athens to be tried by what Polysperchon called the now free people. A savage mob filled the theatre where the trial was to take place; the returned exiles mustered in force, and with them were women, aliens, and slaves. The prisoners were charged with having betrayed their country in the Lamian War and overturned the demo cracy. Every attempt Phocion made to defend himself was drowned in a storm of hooting. At last, renouncing the attempt, he was heard to say that for himself he pleaded guilty, but the rest were innocent. &quot; Why,&quot; he asked, &quot;will you kill them?&quot; He was answered with a great shout, &quot;Because they are your friends.&quot; Then Phocion w r as silent. All were condemned to die, the multi tude rising to their feet like one man to give the verdict. A howling rabble followed them with curses to the prison. Phocion was the last to die (317), for he allowed his best friend Nicocles, as a last token of regard, to die before him. His old disdainful wit did not desert him. When his turn came there was not poison enough left, and he had to pay for more, remarking that at Athens a man could not even die for nothing. His body was cast out of Attic territory, but his faithful wife 2 secretly brought back his bones and interred them by the hearth. Afterward^ the 2 The story that this service was rendered by a Megarian woman rests on a false reading in Plutarch, Phoc., c. 37, T&fyapiKri before ywrf being the interpolation of an ignorant copyist who mistook the preceding T??S ~Mfya.pi.Krjs.