Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/302

 276 HISTORY OF GREECE. he had still less of the flatterer. He affected and sustained the character of a blunt soldier, who speaks out his full mind without suppression or ornament, careless whether it be acceptable to hearers or not. 1 His estimate of his countrymen was thoroughly and undisguisedly contemptuous. This is manifest in his whole proceedings ; and appears especially in the memorable remark ascribed to him, on an occasion when something that he had said in the public assembly met with peculiar applause. Turning round to a friend, he asked, " Have I not, unconsciously, said something bad?" His manners, moreover, were surly and repulsive, though his disposition is said to have been kind. He had learnt, in the Academy, a sort of Spartan self-suppression and rigor of lite. 2 No one ever saw him either laughing, or weeping, or bathing in the public baths. If, then, Phokion attained the unparalleled honor of being chosen forty-five times general, we may be sure that there were other means of reaching it besides the arts of oratory and dema- gogy. We may indeed ask with surprise, how it was possible for him to attain it, in the face of so many repulsive circumstances, by the mere force of bravery and honesty ; especially as he never performed any supereminent service, 3 though on various occasions he conducted himself with credit and ability. The answer to this question may be found in the fact that Phokion, though not a flat- terer of the people, went decidedly along with the capital weakness of the people. While despising their judgment, he manifested no greater foresight, as to the public interests and security of Athene, than they did. The Athenian people had doubtless many infirmi- ties and committed many errors ; but the worst error of all, dur- ing the interval between 360336 B. c., was their unconquerable repugnance to the efforts, personal and pecuniary, required foi prosecuting a hearty war against Philip. Of this averaion to A ' So Tacitns, after reporting the exact reply of the tribune Subius Jfla- vius, when examined as an accomplice in the conspiracy against Nt ro " Ipsa retuli verba : quia non, ut Senecae, vulgata erant; nee minus nosd dccebat sensus militaris viri incomptos sed validos." 8 Cornelius Nepos ( Phocion, c. 1 ) found in his authors no account of the military exploits cf Phokicm but much about his personal intcgrt
 * Plutarch, Phokion. c. 4, 5.