Phokion indeed considered it a great proof of his virtue that he had
grown old in poverty, after having so many times been elected general
of the Athenians, and having been the friend of kings; while Demades
openly prided himself both upon his wealth and his contempt for the
laws. Although there was a law in force at Athens at that period,
which forbade foreigners to appear in a chorus, and imposed a fine of
one thousand drachmas upon the choragus who allowed them to do so,
Demades exhibited a chorus of one hundred foreigners, and publicly
paid in the theatre a fine of a thousand drachmas for each of them. On
the occasion of the marriage of his son Demeas, he said, "My boy, when
I married your mother, our next-door neighbours heard nothing of it;
but kings and potentates shall attend your nuptials."
Although the Athenians tormented Phokion with requests that he would
use his influence with Antipater to get the Macedonian garrison
withdrawn, he always contrived to postpone making this application,
either because he knew that it would not be granted, or because he
thought that the fear of the Macedonian troops compelled the Athenians
to live in a quiet and orderly fashion; but, on the other hand, he
induced Antipater to postpone indefinitely his demand for money from
the city. The Athenians now betook themselves to Demades, who eagerly
promised his services, and, together with his son, started for
Macedonia, to which country it seems as if he was brought by the
direct agency of the gods at a time when Antipater was on a sick bed,
and Kassander, who was now at the head of affairs, had discovered a
letter addressed by Demades to Antigonus in Asia, inviting him to
cross over into Greece and Macedonia, and free them from their
dependence on an old and rotten warp[648] -by which expression he
meant to sneer at Antipater.
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