Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.4, 1865).djvu/342

 334 PHOCION. frowning looks, and the Athenians laughed at the jest, " My sullenness," said Phocion, " never yet made any of you sad, but these men's jollities have given you sorrow enough." In like manner Phocion's language, also, was full of instruction, abounding in happy maxims and wise thoughts, but admitted no embellishment to its austere and commanding brevity. Zeno said a philosopher should never speak till his Words had been steeped in meaning ; and such, it may be said, were Phocion's, crowding the greatest amount of significance into the smallest allow- ance of space. And to this, probably, Polyeuctus, the Sphettian, referred, when he said that Demosthenes was, indeed, the best orator of his time, but Phocion the most powerful speaker. His oratory, like small coin of great value, was to be estimated, not by its bulk, but its intrin- sic worth. He was once observed, it is said, when the the- atre was filling with the audience, to walk musing alone behind the scenes, which one of his friends taking notice of, said, " Phocion, you seem to be thoughtful ;" " Yes," re- plied he, " I am considering how I may shorten what I am going to say to the Athenians." Even Demosthenes him- self, who used to- despise the rest of the haranguers, when Phocion stood up, was wont to say quietly to those about him, " Here is the pruning-knife of my periods." This, however, might refer, perhaps, not so much to his elo- quence, as to the influence of his character, since not only a word, but even a nod from a person who is esteemed, is of more force than a thousand arguments or studied sentences from others. In his youth he followed Chabrias, the general, from whom he gained many lessons in military knowledge, and in return did something to correct his unequal and capri- cious humor. For whereas at other times Chabrias was heavy and phlegmatic, in the heat of battle he used to be so fired and transported, that he threw himself headlong