PHOCION PHCENICIA. 



535 



humble descent, he received a good education, and 

 imbibed, under Plato and other philosophers, those 

 f levated sentiments which governed his whole life. 

 His external appearance was stern and severe, but 

 his disposition was mild and gentle. His eloquence 

 was distinguished for clearness and brevity ; and his 

 opinion was pronounced in the assemblies of the 

 people, freely and without hesitation. He first served 

 under Chabrias, an officer of merit, but of a violent 

 and unequal character. He gained his esteem and 

 moderated his impetuosity. His activity contributed 

 essentially to the naval victory of Naxos (377 B. C.), 

 and he afterwards collected, with great prudence, the 

 taxes of the islands. In the war with Philip of 

 Macedon, the Athenians sent Phocion with some 

 troops to Euboea, in hopes to introduce the inhabi- 

 tants to form a junction with him. The gold of 

 .Tliilip rendered this project abortive, and Phocion 

 was obliged to retire, with his troops, to an emi- 

 nence for security. The enemy surrounded him, and 

 made preparations for attack. Reduced to despair, 

 Phocion made an onset, and gained a complete vic- 

 tory. Before the battle, he gave permission to all 

 who desired it, to retire ; and, after the battle, he 

 liberated the prisoners, to save them from the fury 

 of the Athenians. His conduct was marked with 

 prudence, boldness and manliness. He banished 

 Plutarchus, who had made himself tyrant of Eretria, 

 and left the island secure from the attacks of Philip. 

 Some time after, the Athenians resolved to yield 

 assistance to the cities of the Hellespont, threatened 

 by Philip, and the command of the fleet was intrusted 

 to Phocion. The inhabitants of Byzantium received 

 him, and he not only saved their city, but compelled 

 Philip to retire from the Hellespont. Notwithstand- 

 ing their success, Phocion always advised peace. 

 His honesty, disinterestedness and patriotism were 

 so generally acknowledged, that he was nominated 

 commander forty-five times, without once applying 

 for the office. He always led a simple life, and cul- 

 tivated his small farm with his own hands. When 

 the inhabitants of Megara requested an alliance with 

 the Athenians, Phocion zealously advocated the 

 measure, marched to the city at the head of a large 

 body of volunteers, and rebuilt the walls. When 

 Philip appeared in Phocis, %vith a view to attack 

 Attica, Phocion in vain advised peace. The battle 

 of Chaeronea (A. C. 338) proved the justness of his 

 opinion. The Athenians disregarded the advice of 

 Phocion, not to take part in the assembly of the 

 Grecian states, convened by Philip, till they knew 

 the intentions of the king ; and, in consequence, 

 found themselves obliged to furnish Philip with a 

 quota of cavalry and galleys. This they were re- 

 luctant to do, but Phocion advised them to submit to 

 adversity with patience. After Philip's death, Phocion 

 advised the Athenians not to expose themselves to 

 new disasters by joining a confederacy against the 

 young Alexander. His opinion was justified by the 

 event. When, after the destruction of Thebes, A lex- 

 ander demanded of the Athenians the deliverance of 

 the orators who had spoken so violently against him, 

 Phocion undertook the commission of appeasing the 

 anger of the king with the happiest success. Alex- 

 ander conceived a great affection for him, and sent 

 him a present of a hundred talents, which he de- 

 clined. The deputies found him carrying water, 

 while his wife was baking bread. But. not to dis- 

 please the king, he requested the liberation of some 

 of his imprisoned friends. Alter Alexander's death, 

 the project was formed of freeing Greece from the 

 Macedonian yoke. Phocion disapproved the mea- 

 sure, though he accepted the command. The Athen- 

 ians were at first successful ; but Antipater soon ob- 

 tained the superiority, and threatened Athens, which 



was instantly abandoned by the orators who had been 

 so clamorous for war. In this pressing danger, 

 Phocion was sent ambassador to Antipater, who was 

 encamped in the territory of Thebes, and obtained, 

 on hard terms indeed, a promise that he would con- 

 clude a treaty without entering the territory of Attica. 

 The terms were, Uiat Demosthenes and Hyperides 

 should be given up, an aristocratical government 

 formed, and a Macedonian garrison introduced into 

 Munychia. This last condition was long opposed 

 by Phocion, but Antipater was inflexible. Under 

 these hard circumstances, all the efforts of Phocion 

 (who, with other distinguished men. was then at the 

 head of government), were directed to mitigate the 

 heavy burdens of his country, and to turn his influ- 

 ence with the Macedonians to its advantage. Ne- 

 vertheless, Phocion was accused of having acted 

 against the good of his country, and of having betray- 

 ed it to the enemy. He was compelled by clamours 

 and accusations, to take refuge in Phocis, with Poly- 

 sperchon, who soon after delivered him and other 

 refugees to .the Athenians, who demanded them. 

 Polysperchon also sent a letter to the city, acknow- 

 ledging them to be guilty of treachery. Their 

 trial took place before the assembly of the peo- 

 ple. Phocion, with several of his friends, was 

 condemned to death unheard. His calmness con- 

 tinued unshaken. "Tell my son," said he to a 

 friend, who asked if he had any commission for him, 

 " to forget that the Athenians have been unjust to 

 me." When many had drank the fatal draught, it 

 was observed, that there was not enough remaining 

 for the rest, and the officer who administered it re- 

 fused to procure more without pay. Phocion re- 

 quested a friend to pay him, and said jestingly, " It 

 is not even allowed us to die gratis in Athens." His 

 body was thrown, unburied, beyond the limits of 

 Athens, but his friends carried it to Eleusis, and 

 burnt it in the house of a Megarensian woman. The 

 Athenians became sensible of their injustice : they 

 procured his remains, buried them at the public ex- 

 pense, erected a monument to his memory, and 

 punished his accusers. 



PHOCIS ; a district of Greece, bounded nortli by 

 Thessaly, east by Locris and Bceotia, south by the 

 bay of Corinth, and west by Doris and the country 

 of the Ozolian Locrians. The principal rivers were 

 the Cephissus and Plistus, and the principal moun- 

 tain Parnassus. Phocis was the country of the 

 Hellenes. Parnassus, son of Neptune, built Delphi, 

 before the flood of Deucalion, and gave his name to 

 the mountain. After the destruction of Delphi by 

 this flood, the surviving inhabitants built, on Parnas 

 sus, a city called Lycorea, where Deucalion reigned. 

 Their posterity spread to the north, and conquered 

 the Pelasgians, who dwelt there. At this time arose 

 the name of Hellenes. Several small kingdoms were 

 erected. Among others, Phocus, son of jEgeus, 

 conducted thither an ^Eginetic colony, and from him 

 the whole country took its name, Phocis. In later 

 times the constitution was probably democratic. The 

 Phocensians were an industrious people, and subsist- 

 ed chiefly by agriculture. They were distinguished 

 for their bravery, of which they gave a signal proof 

 in the war with the Thessalians, and in the Persian 

 and Peloponnesian wars, in which last they took 

 part as allies of the Spartans. They were the cause 

 of the sacred war, so destructive to Greece, and 

 shared the general fate of their countrymen, after the 

 battle of Chaeronea, B. C. 338. See Greece. 



PHCENICIA, which is often considered as a part 

 of Syria, was a narrow strip of land on the Mediter- 

 ranean, extending from Aradus on the Eleuthrus to 

 Tyre on- the Leontes. Several towns on the coast, 

 still farther south, within the limits of Palestine, 



