Plutarch's Lives Volume III Part 35

he said, "How can you be sure of this, if you will not hear us?" As however the people paid no more attention to him, he came nearer to them and said, "For my own part, I admit that I have done wrong, and I consider that my political acts deserve to be punished with death; but, men of Athens, why will you kill these others, who have done no wrong?" When many voices answered, "Because they are your friends,"

Phokion retired and held his peace. Hagnonides now read the motion which he was about to put to the meeting which called upon the people to decide by a show of hands whether the men were guilty or not; and in case they were found guilty, to put them to death.

x.x.xV. When this decree was read some wished to add to it that they should be put to death with torture, and bade Hagnonides send for the rack and the executioners; but Hagnonides, seeing that even the Macedonian Kleitus was disgusted at this proposal, and thought it a savage and wicked action, said, "Men of Athens, when we catch the villain Kallimedon, we will put him to the torture; but I will make no such proposal in the case of Phokion." Upon this one of the better cla.s.s cried out, "And quite right too; for if we torture Phokion, what shall we do to you?" When the decree was pa.s.sed by show of hands, no one sat still, but the whole people, many of them wearing garlands of flowers, rose and voted for the death of the accused. These, besides Phokion, consisted of Nikokles, Thodippus, Hegemon, and Pythokles: while sentence of death in their absence was pa.s.sed against Demetrius Phalereus, Kallimedon, Charikles, and some others.

x.x.xVI. When after the a.s.sembly broke up the condemned men were being taken to prison, the others threw themselves into the arms of their friends and relations, and walked along with tears and lamentations; but when they saw that the countenance of Phokion was as calm as when he used as general to be conducted in state out of the a.s.sembly, they wondered at his composure and greatness of soul. His enemies accompanied him and abused him, and one even came up to him and spat in his face. At this outrage it is said that Phokion looked towards the archons, and said, "Will no one make this fellow behave himself?"

As Thodippus in prison, when he saw the hemlock being prepared, bewailed his fate, and said that he did not deserve to perish with Phokion, Phokion said, "Are you not satisfied then to die in Phokion's company?" When one of his friends asked him if he had any message for his son Phokus, he answered, "Yes, tell him not to bear any malice against the Athenians." When Nikokles, the most trusty of his friends, begged to be allowed to drink the poison before him, he answered, "Your request is one which it grieves me to grant; but, as I have never refused you anything in your life, I agree even to this." When all his friends had drunk, the poison ran short, and the executioner refused to prepare any more unless he were paid twelve drachmas, the price of that weight of hemlock. After a long delay, Phokion called one of his friends to him, and, saying that it was hard if a man could not even die gratis at Athens, bade him give the man the money he wanted.

x.x.xVII. The day of Phokion's death was the nineteenth of the month Munychion,[651] and the knights rode past the prison in solemn procession to the temple of Zeus. Some of them took off their garlands from their heads, while others came in tears to the gates of the prison and looked in. All whose better feelings were not utterly overpowered by pa.s.sion and hatred agreed in thinking it a very indecent proceeding not to have waited one day for the execution, and so to have avoided the pollution of the festival by the death of the prisoners. Moreover, the enemies of Phokion, as if they had not even yet satisfied their spite, pa.s.sed a decree excluding his body from burial, and forbidding any Athenian to furnish fire to burn it. In consequence of this, no one of his friends dared to touch the body, but one Konopion, a man who was accustomed to deal with such cases for hire, conveyed the body beyond Eleusis, obtained fire from Megara over the Attic frontier, and burned it. Phokion's wife, who was present with her maids, raised an empty tomb[652] on the spot, placed the bones in her bosom, and carried them by night into her own house, where she buried them beside the hearth, saying, "To thee, dear hearth, I entrust these remains of a good man; do you restore them to his fathers' tomb when the Athenians recover their senses."

x.x.xVIII. After a short time, however, when circ.u.mstances had taught them what a protector and guardian of virtue they had lost, the Athenians set up a brazen statue of Phokion, and gave his remains a public burial. They themselves condemned and executed Hagnonides, while Phokion's son followed Epikurus and Demophilus, who fled the country, discovered their place of refuge, and avenged himself upon them. He is said to have been far from respectable in character; and once, when attached to a common prost.i.tute, who was the slave of a brothel-keeper, he happened to attend one of the lectures of Theodorus, who was surnamed "the atheist," in the Lyceum. As he heard him say that "if it be n.o.ble to ransom one's male friends from captivity, it must be equally so to ransom one's female friends; and that, if it be right for a man to set free the man whom he loves, it must be his duty to do likewise to the woman whom he loves," he determined to use this argument for the gratification of his own pa.s.sion, and to conclude that the philosopher bade him purchase the freedom of his mistress.

The treatment of Phokion reminded the Greeks of that of Sokrates, as both the crime and the misfortune of the city in both cases was almost exactly the same.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 622: Cic. ad Att. ii. 1. Dicit enim tanquam in Platonis [Greek: politeia] p???t??? non tanquam in faece Romuli sententiam. I have translated Plutarch literally, though I have no doubt that the occasion to which he alludes (which is not mentioned by Cicero, l.c.) is that of the election to the praetors.h.i.+p, B.C. 55, when the worthless adventurer Vatinius was preferred to Cato. M. Cato in pet.i.tione praeturae, praelato Vatinio, repulsam tulit. Liv. Epit. cv. See also Val.

Max. vii. 5, and Merivale's 'History of the Romans,' vol. i. ch. ix.

The word [Greek: hupateia] ?pate?a is always used by Plutarch as the Greek equivalent for the Roman t.i.tle of consul.]

[Footnote 623: This saying of his is mentioned in the 'Life of Demosthenes," c. 10.]

[Footnote 624: He was elected no less than forty-five times to the annual office of Strategus or General of the city--that is, one of the Board of Ten so denominated, the greatest executive function at Athens.--Grote, 'Hist. of Greece,' Part ii. ch. lx.x.xvii.]

[Footnote 625: Meaning, why do you affect to be a Spartan, and yet speak like an Athenian? See vol. iii. 'Life of Kleomenes,' ch. ix.]

[Footnote 626: Grote observes, in commenting on this pa.s.sage, that "Plutarch has no clear idea of the different contests carried on in Euba. He pa.s.ses on, without a note of transition, from this war in the island (in 349-348 B.C.) to the subsequent war in 341 B.C. Nothing indeed can be more obscure and difficult to disentangle than the sequence of Euban transactions."--'Hist. of Greece,' Part ii., ch.

lx.x.xviii.]

[Footnote 627: From Plutarch's narrative one would imagine that the "enemy" must mean the Macedonians: but we find that they really were the native Eubans, led by Kallias of Chalkis, with only a detachment of Macedonians and some Phokian mercenary troops.]

[Footnote 628: Disregarding Phokion's order, and acting with a deliberate treason which was accounted at Athens unparalleled, Plutarchus advanced out of the camp to meet them; but presently fled, drawing along in his flight the Athenian horse, who had also advanced in some disorder. --Grote, l.c.]

[Footnote 629: The battle of Chaeronea, which took place in August, B.C. 338.]

[Footnote 630: The Greek is "to offer sacrifice," with the implied idea of feasting on the animal offered. In the first chapter of this Life we learn that it was only the less eatable parts of the victim which were burned. Thus the idea of offering sacrifice always suggested merry-making and feasting to the Greek mind. Grote says, "We cannot doubt that the public of Athens, as well as Demosthenes, felt great joy at an event which seemed to open to them fresh chances of freedom, and that the motion for a sacrifice of thanksgiving, in spite of Phokion's opposition, was readily adopted."]

[Footnote 631: This speech of Phokion is given at greater length by Diodorus, xvii. 15.]

[Footnote 632: A quarter of Athens, probably south of the Acropolis.

See Lieut.-Col. Leake's 'Topography of Athens,' sect. iv.]

[Footnote 633: The original is [Greek: apobates] ?p??t??, which corresponds to the Latin desultor, meaning one who rode several horses, leaping from one to the other.]

[Footnote 634: Plutarch's narrative here is misleading, as it seems to imply that Harpalus gave this money to Charikles _after_ his arrival in Athens. We know from Theopompus (Fr. 277) that the monument had been finished some time before Harpalus quitted Asia. Plutarch treats it as a mean structure, unworthy of the sum expended on it; but both Dikaearchus and Pausanias describe it as stately and magnificent.

Grote's 'History of Greece,' Part II. ch. xcv., note.]

[Footnote 635: See Life of Demosthenes, ch. xxv.; and Grote, Hist. of Greece, Part II., ch. xcv.]

[Footnote 636: The Lamian war, so called from the siege of Lamia, in which Leosthenes perished.]

[Footnote 637: [Greek: Hebe] ??, the word here used, means the time just before manhood, from about fourteen to twenty years of age; at Sparta it was fixed at eighteen, so that of [Greek: hoi deka aph'

hebes] ?? d??a ?f' ??? were men of twenty-eight, [Greek: hoi tettarakonta aph' hebes] ?? tetta?????ta ?f' ??? men of fifty-eight, &c. Xen. h.e.l.l. 3. 4, 23. Liddell and Scott. Here, therefore, [Greek: hoi achri heksekonta aph' hebes] ?? ???? ??s????ta ?f' ??? must mean all citizens under about seventy-five years of age.]

[Footnote 638: Rhamnus was a demus of Attica, situated on a small rocky peninsula on the east coast of Attica, sixty stadia from Marathon.]

[Footnote 639: In Thessaly. The action was fought B.C. 322. Menon with his Thessalian horse defeated the Macedonian cavalry, but the Greek infantry were beaten back by the phalanx, with a loss of 120 men.]

[Footnote 640: Plutarch speaks as if Leonnatus had effected his junction with Antipater before the action was fought. But the real truth was that Leonnatus advanced to raise the siege of Lamia, and that Antiphilus, who was not strong enough to continue the blockade and fight the relieving force, raised the blockade and moved by rapid marches to attack Leonnatus apart from Antipater. Through the superior efficiency of the Thessalian cavalry under Menon, he gained an important advantage in a cavalry battle over Leonnatus, who was himself slain. On the very next day Antipater came up, bringing the troops from Lamia, and took command of the defeated army.]

[Footnote 641: See Smith's Dict. of Antiquities, s.v. Graphe Paranomon.]

[Footnote 642: Demades, although Plutarch does not mention it, accompanied Phokion on his first visit to Antipater.]

[Footnote 643: The successor of Plato and Speusippus as presiding teacher in the school of the Academy.]

[Footnote 644: The expression in the text is vague, but we learn from other sources that the surrender of at least two other anti-Macedonian orators was demanded.]

[Footnote 645: Grote.]

[Footnote 646: See vol. i., Life of Alkibiades, ch. 34.]

[Footnote 647: The three sub-divisions of Port Peiraeus were named Kantharus, Aphredisium and Zea. See Leake, 'Topography of Athens,' and Schol. in Ar. Pac. 144.]

[Footnote 648: The upright threads of the loom are meant, not a large rope.]

[Footnote 649: Philip Arrhidaeus.]

[Footnote 650: Another of the accused.]

[Footnote 651: May.]

[Footnote 652: These words, which I borrow from Clough, express the meaning to English ears, though the Greek merely is "piled up a mound."]

LIFE OF CATO.

I. Cato's family derived the origin of its splendour and reputation from his great-grandfather[653] Cato, a man who had reputation and power chief among the Romans by reason of his merit, as it has been written in his Life. Cato was left an orphan with his brother Caepio and a sister Porcia. Servilia also was a sister of Cato by the same mother. All of them were brought up and lived with Livius Drusus,[654]

their mother's uncle, who was then the chief political leader; for he was a most powerful speaker, and also a man of the best regulated habits, and in lofty bearing inferior to no Roman. It is said that Cato from his childhood both in his voice and the expression of his countenance and even in his amus.e.m.e.nts gave indication of a character immovable and impa.s.sive and firm in everything. His purposes displayed a strength in accomplis.h.i.+ng his ends which was above his age: and while he was rough and stubborn towards those who attempted to flatter him, still more did he show his mastery over all who would try to terrify him by threats. He was also difficult to move to laughter, and his countenance was seldom relaxed even into a smile; he was not quick nor p.r.o.ne to anger, but when he had been moved to anger, he was hard to pacify. Accordingly when he began to learn, he was dull and slow to conceive, but when he had conceived, he held fast and remembered well.

And it is generally the case that those who have a good natural capacity are more ready at recollection,[655] but those have a strong memory who learn with labour and trouble; for all learning is in a manner a branding on the mind. It appears too that Cato's difficulty of persuasion made learning a matter of more labour to him; for learning is in truth a kind of pa.s.sive condition, and to be easily persuaded is incident to those who have less power of resistance. It is for this reason that young men are more easily persuaded than old men, and sick persons than those who are whole; and generally, with those in whom the doubting faculty is weakest, that which is proposed meets the readiest acceptance. However, they say that Cato was obedient to his paedagogus and did everything that he was bid, but he would ask for the reason of everything, and inquire the Why. His paedagogus also was a good-tempered man, and was readier at a reason than a blow: his name was Sarpedon.

II. While Cato was still a boy, the Allies[656] of the Romans were agitating to obtain the Roman franchise; and a certain Pompaedius Sillo,[657] a man of military talent and of the highest repute, and a friend of Drusus, lodged with him several days, during which he became familiar with the youths, and he said, "Come now, pray your uncle on our behalf to exert himself to get the franchise for us." Now, Caepio with a smile nodded a.s.sent, but as Cato made no answer and looked on the strangers steadily and sternly, Pompaedius said, "But you, young man, what reply have you for us? Can you not help the strangers with your uncle, like your brother?" As Cato still would not speak, but by his silence and his expression showed that he rejected their entreaty, Pompaedius took him up and holding him through the window as if he intended to drop him down, told him either to a.s.sent or he would let him fall, and at the same time he a.s.sumed an angry tone and several times he swung the boy backwards and forwards as he held him in his hands. Now, when Cato had borne this for some time, unmoved and fearless, Pompaedius gently putting him down said to his friends, "What a blessing[658] to Italy that he is a child; for if he were a man, I do not think we should have a single vote among the people." On another occasion when a kinsman on his birthday invited to supper other boys and Cato with them, in order to pa.s.s the time they played in a part of the house by themselves, younger and older mixed together; and the game consisted of trials, and accusations, and carrying off those who were convicted. Now, one of the boys convicted, who was of a handsome presence, being dragged off by an older boy to a chamber and shut up, called on Cato for aid. Cato soon perceiving what was going on came to the door, and pus.h.i.+ng through those who were standing before it and endeavouring to stop him, took the boy out; and in a pa.s.sion he went off home with him and other boys accompanied him.

III. Cato was so much talked off that when Sulla was preparing for exhibition the sacred horse race called Troja,[659] in which youths are the actors, and had got together the boys of n.o.ble birth and appointed two captains, the boys submitted to the one for his mother's sake, for he was a son of Metella, Sulla's wife; but the other, who was a nephew of Pompeius and named s.e.xtus, they would not have, nor would they go through their exercise nor follow him; and on Sulla asking whom they would have, they all called out "Cato," and s.e.xtus himself gave way and yielded the honour to Cato as his better. It happened that Sulla was an old friend of Cato's family, and sometimes he had the children brought to him and talked with them, a kind of friends.h.i.+p which he showed to few, by reason of the weight and state of the office and power that he held. Sarpedon considering this a great matter both as regarded the honour and security of the youth, constantly took Cato to pay his respects to Sulla at his house, which at that time to all outward appearance differed not from a place of torture for criminals,[660] so great was the number of those who were dragged there and put to the rack. Cato was at this time in his fourteenth year, and seeing the heads of persons who were said to be men of distinction brought out, and those who were present lamenting inwardly, he asked his paedagogus why n.o.body killed this man. Sarpedon replied, "Because they fear him, child, more than they hate him."

"Why, then," said Cato, "do you not give me a sword that I might kill him, and so free my country from slavery?" Hearing these words and at the same time observing his eyes and countenance to be filled with pa.s.sion and resolve, Sarpedon was so afraid that henceforward he kept a close look and watch upon him, that he should not venture on any desperate measure. Now when he was still a little boy, and some persons asked him whom he loved most, he replied his brother; when he was asked whom he loved next, he gave the same answer, his brother; and so on to the third question, until the questioner was tired out by always getting the same answer. When he arrived at man's estate, he strengthened still more his affection to his brother; for when he was twenty years of age he never supped, he never went abroad, never came into the Forum without Caepio. When Caepio used perfumes, Cato would not have them; and in all other respects he was strict and frugal in his way of living. Accordingly Caepio, who was admired for his temperance and moderation, admitted that he was indeed temperate and moderate when contrasted with others, "but," said he, "when I compare my life with Cato's, I seem to myself to differ not at all from Sippius;" which was the name of a man notorious at that time for luxury and effeminacy.