Phocion (9.1-9.2)

The Athenians were once asking contributions[*] for a public sacrifice, and the rest were contributing, but Phocion, after being many times asked to give, said: Ask from these rich men; for I should be ashamed to make a contribution to you before I have paid my debt to this man here, pointing to Callicles the money-lender. And once when his audience would not cease shouting and crying him down, he told them this fable.

A coward was going forth to war, but when some ravens croaked, he laid down his arms and kept quiet; then he picked them up and was going forth again, and when the ravens croaked once more, he stopped, and said at last: You may croak with all your might, but you shall not get a taste of me. And at another time, when the Athenians urged him to lead forth against the enemy, and called him an unmanly coward because he did not wish to do so, he said: Ye cannot make me bold, nor can I make you cowards. However, we know one another.