"
XXXVIII. After a short time, however, when circumstances had taught
them what a protector and guardian of virtue they had lost, the
Athenians set up a brazen statue of Phokion, and gave his remains a
public burial. They themselves condemned and executed Hagnonides,
while Phokion's son followed Epikurus and Demophilus, who fled the
country, discovered their place of refuge, and avenged himself upon
them. He is said to have been far from respectable in character; and
once, when attached to a common prostitute, who was the slave of a
brothel-keeper, he happened to attend one of the lectures of
Theodorus, who was surnamed "the atheist," in the Lyceum. As he heard
him say that "if it be noble to ransom one's male friends from
captivity, it must be equally so to ransom one's female friends; and
that, if it be right for a man to set free the man whom he loves, it
must be his duty to do likewise to the woman whom he loves," he
determined to use this argument for the gratification of his own
passion, and to conclude that the philosopher bade him purchase the
freedom of his mistress.
The treatment of Phokion reminded the Greeks of that of Sokrates, as
both the crime and the misfortune of the city in both cases was almost
exactly the same.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 622: Cic. ad Att. ii. 1. Dicit enim tanquam in Platonis
[Greek: politeia] non tanquam in faece Romuli sententiam.
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