Phocion   

was stern and forbidding, so that he was seldom accosted alone by
any who were not intimate with him. When Chares once made some remark
on his 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
allowance 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 intrinsic worth. He was once observed, it is said, when the theatre
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," replied he, "I am considering how I may
shorten what I am going to say to the Athenians." Even Demosthenes
himself, 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 eloquence 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 capricious humour. 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 into danger
beyond the forwardest, which indeed, in the end, cost him his life
in the island of Chios, he having pressed his own ship foremost to
force a landing. But Phocion, being a man of temper as well as courage,
had the dexterity at some times to rouse the general, when in his
procrastinating mood, to action, and at others to moderate and cool
the impetuousness of his unseasonable fury. Upon which account Chabrias,
who was a good-natured, kindly-tempered man, loved him much, and procured
him commands and opportunities for action, giving him means to make
himself known in Greece, and using his assistance in all his affairs
of moment. Particularly the sea-fight of Naxos added not a little
to Phocion's reputation, when he had the left squadron committed to
him by Chabrias, as in this quarter the battle was sharply contested,
and was decided by a speedy victory. And this being the first prosperous
sea-battle the city had engaged in with its own force since its captivity,
Chabrias won great popularity by it, and Phocion, also, got the reputation
of a good commander. The victory was gained at the time of the Great
Mysteries, and Chabrias used to keep the commemoration of it by distributing
wine among the Athenians, yearly, on the sixteenth day of Boedromion.
After this, Chabrias sent Phocion to demand their quota of the charges
of the war from the islanders, and offered him a guard of twenty ships.
Phocion told him, if he intended him to go against them as enemies,
that force was insignificant; if as to friends and allies, one vessel
was sufficient. So he took his own single galley, and having visited
the cities, and treated with the magistrates in an equitable and open
manner, he brought back a number of ships, sent by the confederates
to Athens, to convey the supplies. Neither did his friendship and
attention close with Chabrias's life, but after his decease he carefully
maintained it to all that were related to him, and chiefly to his
son, Ctesippus, whom he laboured to bring to some good, and although
he was a stupid and intractable young fellow, always endeavoured,
so far as in him lay, to correct and cover his faults and follies.
Once, however, when the youngster was very impertinent and troublesome
to him in the camp, interrupting him with idle questions, and putting