When Leosthenes plunged the State into war, elated as it was by brilliant hopes to aspire to the distinction of freedom and leadership, Phocion likened his words to the cypress - trees. ‘For,’ said he, ‘they are beautiful and tall, but they bear no fruit.’ However, the first attempts were successful, and, when the State was offering sacrifices to celebrate the good tidings, Phocion was asked whether he wished that these deeds had been done by himself. ‘Yes,’ said he, ‘these deeds done, but that advice given.’ 1
1 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Phocion, chap. xxiii. (752 A B); Valerius Maximus, iii. 8, ext. 2.
Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1931. 3.
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