Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.4, 1865).djvu/354

 346 PIIOCION. Upon the news of Philip's death, he opposed himself to any public demonstrations of joy and jubilee, saying it would be ignoble to show malice upon such an occasion, and that the army that had fought them at Choeronea, was only diminished by a single man. When Demosthenes made his invectives against Alex- ander, now on his way to attack Thebes, he repeated those verses of Homer, — " Unwise one, wherefore to a second stroke His anger be foolhardy to provoke ? " and asked, " Why stimulate his already eager passion for glory ? Why take pains to expose the city to the terrible conflagration now so near ? We, who accepted office to save our fellow-citizens, will not, however they desire it. be consenting to their destruction." After Thebes was lost, and Alexander had demanded Demosthenes, Lycurgus, Hyperides, and Charidemus to be delivered up, the whole assembly turning their eyes to him, and calling on him by name to deliver his opinion, at last he rose up, and showing them one of his most in- timate friends, whom he loved and confided in above all others, told them, "You have brought things amongst you to that pass, that for my part, should he demand this my friend Nicocles, I would not refuse to give him up. For as for myself, to have it in my power to sacrifice my own life and fortune for the common safety, I should think the greatest of good fortune. Truly," he added, " it pierces my heart to see those who are fled hither for suc- cor from the desolation of Thebes. Yet it is enough for Greece to have Thebes to deplore. It will be more for the interest of all that we should deprecate the conqueror's anger, and intercede for both, than run the hazard of onother battle."