the needless exposure of his own person; this said he appears to have been, during the greater portion of his career, the best commander that Athens had. In politics, we see him connected throughout with Demosthenes. Morally he must have been an incubus on any party to which he attached himself, notwithstanding the assistance he might sometimes render it through the orators whom he is said to have kept constantly in pay. His alleged profligacy, which was measureless, he unblushingly avowed and gloried in, openly ridiculing the austere Phocion. His bad faith passed into a proverb; and his rapacity was extraordinary, even amidst the system then prevailing, when the citizens of Athens would neither fight their own battles nor pay the men who fought them, and her commanders had to support their mercenaries as best they could. His triumphal career under the banners of the republic may be seen as a symptom of the decline of Athens' values and power. References Citations Sources Smith, William (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, "Chares", Boston, (1867) Ancient Athenian generals 4th-century BC Athenians Ancient Greek mercenaries in Achaemenid service