Phocion

Thus of the genius of one remarkable people we have a fourfold representation.

And to the senses what more unlike than an ode of Pindar, a marble centaur, the peristyle of the Parthenon, and the last actions of Phocion? Every one must have observed faces and forms which, without any resembling feature, make a like impression on the beholder.

A particular picture or copy of verses, if it do not awaken the same train of images, will yet superinduce the same sentiment as some wild mountain walk, although the resemblance is nowise obvious to the senses, but is occult and out of the reach of the understanding.

Nature is an endless combination and repetition of very few laws.

Adhere to your own act and congratulate yourself if you have done something strange and extravagant and broken the monotony of a decorous age.

It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, always do what you are afraid to do.

A simple manly character need never make an apology, but should regard its past action with the calmness of Phocion, when he admitted that the event of the battle was happy, yet did not regret his dissuasion from the battle.

There is no weakness or exposure for which we cannot find consolation in the thought, this is a part of my constitution, part of my relation and office to my fellow creature.

Yeah, he was a character.

When, when I, when my first account on X got deleted a decade ago, uh, I came back with the name Phocion the Good because I looked up what the name was that Thomas Jefferson wrote anonymously under, and it was Phocion the Good.

He was a, a Greek character from, from back in the Athens days.

Uh, so I adopted that-

Thus of the genius of one remarkable people we have a fourfold representation.

And to the senses what more unlike than an ode of Pindar A marble centaur, the peristyle of the Parthenon, and the last actions of Phocion.

Everyone must have observed faces and forms which, without any resembling feature, make a like impression on the beholder.

A particular picture or copy of verses, if they do not awaken the same train of images, will yet superinduce the same sentiment as some wild mountain walk, although the resemblance is nowise obvious to the senses, but is occult and out of the reach of the understanding.

Adhere to your own act and congratulate yourself if you have done something strange and extravagant and broken the monotony of a decorous age.

It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, always do what you are afraid to do.

A simple manly character need never make an apology, but should regard its past action with the calmness of Phocion when he admitted that the event of the battle was happy, yet did not regret his dissuasion from the battle.

There is no weakness or exposure for which we cannot find consolation in the thought, "This is a part of my constitution, part of my relation and office to my fellow-creature." Has nature covenanted with me that I should never appear to disadvantage, never make a ridiculous figure? Let us be generous of our dignity as well as of our money.

You think me a fanatic tonight, for you read history, not with your eyes, but with your prejudices.

But fifty years hence, when truth gets a hearing, the muse of history will put Phocion for the Greek, and Brutus for the Roman, Hampton for England, Lafayette for France.

Choose Washington as the bright consummate flower of our earlier civilization, and John Brown the ripe fruit of our noonday, then, dipping her pen in the sunlight, will write in the clear blue above them all, the name of the soldier, the statesman, the martyr, Toussaint L'Ouverture.

Wendell Phillips, Toussaint L'Ouverture.

This man risked his empire rather than permit the slave trade in the humblest village of his dominions.

You think me a fanatic tonight, for you read history, not with your eyes, but with your prejudices.

But fifty years hence, when truth gets a hearing, the muse of history will put Phocion for the Greek, and Brutus for the Roman, Hampton for England, Lafayette for France, choose Washington as the bright consummate flower of our earlier civilization, and John Brown the ripe fruit of our noonday, then, dipping her pen in the sunlight, will write in the clear blue, above them all, the name of the soldier, the statesman, the martyr, Toussaint Louverture.

Wendell Phillips, Toussaint Louverture Drill on the following selections for change of pitch: Beecher's Abraham Lincoln, page seventy-six, Seward's Irrepressible Conflict, page sixty-seven, Everett's History of Liberty, page seventy-eight, Grady's The Race Problem, page thirty-six, and beverages Pass Prosperity Around, page four-seventy.

And what Demades? Too good for the city.

And the same philosopher tells us that Polyeuctus the Sphaesen, one of the political leaders of that time at Athens, declared that Demosthenes was the greatest orator, but Phocion the most influential speaker, since he impressed the most sense in the fewest words.

Indeed, we are told that even Demosthenes himself, when other Phocion mounted the bema to reply to him, would say to his intimates, "Here comes the chopper of my speeches." Now it is not clear whether Demosthenes had this feeling toward Phocion because of his oratory or because of his life and reputation, believing that a single word or nod from a man who is trusted has more power than very many long periods.

End of section one.

Section two of Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, Volume seven.

And Panaetius the philosopher says that most of his speeches also are written in the conviction that the good alone is to be chosen for its own sake; as, for instance, the speech On the Crown, the one Against Aristocracies, that For the Immunities, and the Philippics.

For in all these he does not try to lead his countrymen to do what is pleasantest or easiest or most profitable, but in many places thinks that they ought to make their safety and preservation secondary to what is honorable and fitting; so that If the loftiness of his principles and the nobility of his speeches had been accompanied by such bravery as becomes a warrior and by incorruptibility in all his dealings, he would have been worthy to be numbered not with such orators as Mirocles, Polyeuctus, Hyperades, and their contemporaries, but high up with Simon, Theocydides, and Pericles.

At any rate, Phocion, among his contemporaries, though he took the lead in a policy which is not to be commended, and though he had the reputation of favoring Macedonia, nevertheless, by reason of his bravery and integrity, was held to be in no wise inferior to Ephialtes and Aristides and Simon.

When he asked namely what sort of an orator he thought Demosthenes was, he replied, worthy of the city, and what Demades too good for the city.

And the same philosopher tells us that Polyeuctus the Sphaidan, one of the political leaders of that time at Athens, declared that Demosthenes was the greatest orator, but Phocion the most influential speaker since he impressed the most sense in the fewest words.

Indeed we are told that even Demosthenes himself, when other Phocion mounted the bema to reply to him, would say to his intimates, here comes the chopper of my speeches.

Now it is not clear whether Demosthenes had this feeling toward Phocion because of his oratory or because of his life and reputation, believing that a single word or nod from a man who is trusted has more power than very many long periods.

End of section one.

Section two of Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, volume seven.

As, for instance, the speech on the crown, the one against aristocracies, that for the immunities, and the Philippics, for in all these he does not try to lead his countrymen to do what is pleasantest or easiest or most profitable, but in many places thinks that they ought to make their safety and preservation secondary to what is honourable and fitting.

So that If the loftiness of his principles and the nobility of his speeches had been accompanied by such bravery as becomes a warrior and by incorruptibility in all his dealings, he would have been worthy to be numbered not with such orators as Mirocles, Polyeuctus, Hyperides, and their contemporaries, but high up with Cimon, Thucydides, and Pericles.

When he asked namely what sort of an orator he thought Demosthenes was, he replied, worthy of the city; and what Demades, too good for the city.

And the same philosopher tells us that Polyeuctus the Phaedon, one of the political leaders of that time at Athens, declared that Demosthenes was the greatest orator, but Phocion the most influential speaker, since he impressed the most sense in the fewest words.

Indeed, we are told that even Demosthenes himself, when either Phocion mounted the bema to reply to him, would say to his intimates, here comes the chopper of my speeches.

Now it is not clear whether Demosthenes had this feeling toward Phocion because of his oratory or because of his life and reputation, believing that a single word or nod from a man who is trusted has more power than very many long periods.

End of section one.

Section two of Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, Volume seven.

As, for instance, the speech On the Crown, the one Against Aristocracies, that For the Immunities, and the Philippics, for in all these he does not try to lead his countrymen to do what is pleasantest or easiest or most profitable, but in many places thinks that they ought to make their safety and preservation secondary to what is honourable and fitting.

So that If the loftiness of his principles and the nobility of his speeches had been accompanied by such bravery as becomes a warrior and by incorruptibility in all his dealings, he would have been worthy to be numbered not with such orators as Mirocles, Polyeuctus, Hyperades, and their contemporaries, but high up with Cimon, Thucydides, and Pericles.