ὡς οὖν διαλύσαντες τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἦγον εἷς τὸ δεσμωτήριον τοὺς ἄνδρας, οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι, περιπλεκομένων τῶν φίλων αὐτοῖς καὶ οἰκείων, ὀδυρόμενοι καὶ καταθρηνοῦντες ἐβάδιζον, τὸ δὲ Φωκίωνος πρόσωπον οἷον ὅτε στρατηγῶν ἀπʼ ἐκκλησίας προὐπέμπετο βλέποντες, ἐθαύμαζον τὴν ἀπάθειαν καὶ μεγαλοψυχίαν τοῦ ἀνδρός.
When, accordingly, the assembly had been dissolved and the men were being led to the prison, the rest of them, as their friends and relatives clung about them, walked along lamenting and shedding tears; but the countenance of Phocion was the same as it used to be when he was escorted from the assembly as general, and when men saw it, they were amazed at the man’s calmness and at his grandeur of spirit.
οἱ δὲ ἐχθροὶ κακῶς ἔλεγον παρατρέχοντες εἷς δὲ καὶ προσέπτυσεν ἐξεναντίας προσελθών. ὅτε καὶ τὸν Φωκίωνα λέγεται βλέψαντα πρὸς τοὺς ἄρχοντας εἰπεῖν οὐ παύσει τις ἀσχημονοῦντα τοῦτον; ἐπεὶ δὲ Θούδιππος ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ γενόμενος καὶ τὸ κώνειον ὁρῶν τριβόμενον ἠγανάκτει καὶ κατέκλαιε τὴν συμφοράν, ὡς οὐ προσηκόντως τῷ Φωκίωνι συναπολλύμενος, εἶτα οὐκ ἀγαπᾷς, εἶπεν, ὅτι μετὰ Φωκίωνος ἀποθνῄσκεις;
His enemies, however, ran along by his side and reviled him; and one of them actually came up and spat in his face. At this, as we are told, Phocion looked towards the magistrates and said: Will not someone stop this fellow’s unseemly behaviour? Again, when Thudippus, on entering the prison and seeing the executioner bruising the hemlock, grew angry and bewailed his hard fate, declaring it not fitting that he should perish with Phocion, Is it no satisfaction to thee, then, said Phocion, that thou art put to death in company with Phocion?
ἐρομένου δέ τινος τῶν φίλων εἴ τι πρὸς Φῶκον λέγει τὸν υἱόν, πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ἔφη· λέγω μὴ μνησικακεῖν Ἀθηναίοις. τοῦ δὲ Νικοκλέους, ὃς ἦν αὐτῷ πιστότατος τῶν φίλων, παρακαλοῦντος ὅπως αὐτὸν ἐάσῃ τὸ φάρμακον πιεῖν πρότερον, βαρὺ μέν, εἶπεν, ὦ Νικόκλεις, ἐμοὶ τὸ αἴτημα καὶ λυπηρόν, ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐδὲ ἄλλο οὐδέποτέ σοι παρὰ τὸν βίον οὐδὲν ἠχαρίστησα, καὶ τοῦτο συγχωρῶ.
And when one of his friends asked him if he had any message for his son Phocus, Certainly, said he; my message is that he cherish no resentment against the Athenians. Again, when Nicocles, his most faithful friend, begged the privilege of drinking the drug first, O Nicocles, he said, thy request is grievous to me and painful; but since I have never in all my life denied thee any other favour, I grant thee this one also.
πεπωκότων δὲ ἤδη πάντων τὸ φάρμακον ἐπέλιπε, καὶ ὁ δημόσιος οὐκ ἔφη τρίψειν ἕτερον, εἰ μὴ λάβοι δώδεκα δραχμάς, ὅσου τὴν ὁλκὴν ὠνεῖται. χρόνου δὲ γενομένου καὶ διατριβῆς ὁ Φωκίων καλέσας τινὰ τῶν φίλων, καὶ εἰπών εἰ μηδὲ ἀποθανεῖν Ἀθήνησι δωρεὰν ἔστιν, ἐκέλευσε τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ δοῦναι τὸ κερμάτιον.
But when all the rest had drunk of it, the drug ran short, and the executioner refused to bruise another portion unless he were paid twelve drachmas, which was the price of the weight required. However, after a delay of some length, Phocion called one of his friends, and, asking if a man could not even die at Athens without paying for the privilege, bade him give the executioner his money.
ἦν δὲ ἡμέρα μηνὸς Μουνυχιῶνος ἐνάτη ἐπὶ δέκα, καὶ τῷ Διῒ τὴν πομπὴν πέμποντες οἱ ἱππεῖς παρεξῄεσαν ὧν οἱ μὲν ἀφείλοντο τοὺς στεφάνους, οἱ δὲ πρὸς τὰς θύρας δεδακρυμένοι τῆς εἱρκτῆς ἀπέβλεψαν. ἐφάνη δὲ τοῖς μὴ παντάπασιν ὠμοῖς καὶ διεφθαρμένοις ὑπʼ ὀργῆς καὶ φθόνου τὴν ψυχὴν, ἀνοσιώτατον γεγονέναι τὸ μηδʼ ἐπισχεῖν τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην, μηδὲ καθαρεῦσαι δημοσίου φόνου τὴν πόλιν ἑορτάζουσαν.
It was the nineteenth day of the month Munychion, and the horsemen conducting the procession in honour of Zeus were passing by the prison. Some of them took off their garlands, and others gazed at the door of the prison with tears in their eyes. And it was thought by all those whose souls were not wholly savage and debauched by rage and jealousy, that an impious thing had been done in not waiting over that day, and so keeping the city pure from a public execution when it was holding festival.
οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἐνδεέστερον ἠγωνισμένοις τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἔδοξε καὶ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Φωκίωνος ἐξορίσαι καὶ μηδὲ πῦρ ἐναῦσαι μηδένα πρὸς τὴν ταφὴν Ἀθηναίων, διὸ φίλος μὲν οὐδεὶς ἐτόλμησεν ἅψασθαι τοῦ σώματος, Κωνωπίων δέ τις, ὑπουργεῖν εἰθισμένος τὰ τοιαῦτα μισθοῦ, κομισθέντα τὸν νεκρὸν ὑπὲρ τὴν Ἐλευσῖνα, πῦρ λαβὼν ἐκ τῆς Μεγαρικῆς, ἔκαυσεν.
However, his enemies, as if their triumph were incomplete, got a decree passed that the body of Phocion should be carried beyond the boundary of the country, and that no Athenian should light a fire for his obsequies. Therefore no friend of his ventured to touch his body, but a certain Conopion, who was wont to perform such services for hire, carried the body beyond Eleusis, took fire from the Megarian territory, and burned it.
ἡ δὲ γυνὴ παροῦσα μετὰ τῶν θεραπαινίδων ἔχωσε μὲν αὐτόθι χῶμα κενὸν καὶ κατέσπεισεν, ἐνθεμένη δὲ τῷ κόλπῳ τὰ ὀστᾶ καὶ κομίσασα νύκτωρ εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν κατώρυξε παρὰ τὴν ἑστίαν, εἰποῦσα· σοὶ, ὦ φίλη ἑστία, παρακατατίθεμαι ταῦτα ἀνδρὸς ἀγαθοῦ λείψανα· σὺ δὲ αὐτὰ τοῖς πατρῴοις ἀπόδος ἠρίοις, ὅταν Ἀθηναῖοι σωφρονήσωσι.
The wife of Phocion, however, who was present with her maid-servants, heaped up a cenotaph on the spot and poured libations upon it; then, putting the bones in her bosom and carrying them by night to her dwelling, she buried them by the hearth, saying: To thee, dear Hearth, I entrust these remains of a noble man; but do thou restore them to the sepulchre of his fathers, when the Athenians shall have come to their senses.
καὶ μέντοι χρόνου βραχέος διαγενομένου, καὶ τῶν πραγμάτων διδασκόντων οἷον ἐπιστάτην καὶ φύλακα σωφροσύνης καὶ δικαιοσύνης ὁ δῆμος ἀπώλεσεν, ἀνδριάντα μὲν αὐτοῦ χαλκοῦν ἀνέστησαν, ἔθαψαν δὲ δημοσίοις τέλεσι τὰ ὀστᾶ. τῶν δὲ κατηγόρων Ἁγνωνίδην μὲν αὐτοὶ θάνατον καταχειροτονήσαντες ἀπέκτειναν, Ἐπίκουρον δὲ καὶ Δημόφιλον ἀποδράντας ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἀνευρὼν ὁ τοῦ Φωκίωνος υἱὸς ἐτιμωρήσατο.
And indeed, after a short time had passed, and when the course of events was teaching them what a patron and guardian of moderation and justice the people had lost, they set up a statue of him in bronze, and gave his bones a public burial. Moreover, as regards his accusers, the people themselves condemned Hagnonides and put him to death; while Epicurus and Demophilus, who had run away from the city, were found out by Phocion’s son and visited with his vengeance.
τοῦτον οὔτε τἆλλα σπουδαῖον ἄνδρα γενέσθαι φασί, καὶ παιδίσκης ἐρῶντα παρὰ πορνοβοσκῷ τρεφομένης κατὰ τύχην Θεοδώρῳ τῷ ἀθέῳ παραγενέσθαι λόγον ἐν Λυκείῳ διαλεγομένῳ τοιοῦτον εἰ τὸ φίλον λύσασθαι μὴ αἰσχρόν ἐστιν, οὐδὲ τὸ φίλην ὁμοίως· εἰ δὲ μὴ τὸ ἑταῖρον, οὐδὲ τὸ ἑταίραν· θέμενον οὖν ἑαυτῷ πρὸς τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τὸν λόγον ὡς εὖ ἔχοντα, λύσασθαι τὴν ἑταίραν. ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν περὶ Φωκίωνα πραχθέντα τῶν περὶ Σωκράτην πάλιν ἀνέμνησε τοὺς Ἕλληνας, ὡς ὁμοιοτάτης ἐκείνῃ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ταύτης καὶ δυστυχίας τῇ πόλει γενομένης.
This son of Phocion, we are told, turned out to be a man of no worth in general, and once, being enamoured of a girl who was kept in a brothel, chanced to hear Theodorus the Atheist discourse in the Lyceium as follows: If there is no disgrace in ransoming a man beloved, the same is true of a woman loved; what is true of a comrade, is true also of a mistress. Accordingly, his passion leading him to think the argument sound, he ransomed his mistress. But Phocion’s fate reminded the Greeks anew of that of Socrates; they felt that the sin and misfortune of Athens were alike in both cases.
Cite This Text