the keys of Greece. *The Athenians, therefore, being alarmed upon their own account, gave orders that the wo men and children should be brought out of the country into the city; that the walls should be repaired and the Piraus fortified, in order to put themselves into a state of defence in case of invasion, The Athenians had no share in the decree by which Philip had been admitted among the Amphictyons. They perhaps had absented themselves purposely, that they might not authorise it by their presence; or, which is more probable, Philip, in order to remove the obstacles, and avoid the remoras he might meet with in the execution of his de. sign, assembled such of the Amphictyons only as were en, tirely at his devotion. In short, he conducted his intrigue so very artfully, that he obtained his ends. This election might be disputed as clandestine and irregular; and there. fore he required a confirmation of it from the people, who, as members of that body, had a right either to reject or rat ify the new choice. Athens received the circular invitation; but in an assembly of the people, which was called in order to deliberate on Philip's demand, several were of opinion, that no notice should be taken of it. Demosthenes, however, was of a contrary opinion; and though he did not approve in any manner of the peace which had been concluded with Philip, he did not think it would be for their interest to infringe it in the present juncture; since that could not be done without stirring up against the Athenians, both the new Amphictyon, and those who had elected him.His advice therefore was, that they should not expose themselves unseasonably to the dangerous consequences which might ensue, in case of their determinate refusal to consent to the almost unanimous decree of the Amphictyons; and protested that it was their interest to submit for fear of worse, to the present condition of the times; that is, to com. ply with what it was not in their power to prevent. This is the subject of Demosthenes' discourse, entitled, Oration on the peace. We may reasonably believe that his advice was followed. SECTION V. PHILIP EXTENDS HIS CONQUESTS INTO ILLYRIA AND THRACE. CHARACTER OF PHOCION.—HIS SUCCESS AGAINST PHILIP. AFTER Philip had settled every thing relating to the worship of the godf, and the security of the temple of Del * Demost, de fals, Legat. p, 312, +A, M, 3660-Ant. J.C, 344 phos, he returned into Macedonia with great glory, and the reputation of a religious prince and an intrepid conqueror, *Diodorus observes, that all those who had shared in prefaning and plundering the temple, perished miserably, and came to a tragical end. + Philip, satisfied that he had opened himself a passage into Greece by his seizure of Thermopyla; that he had subjected Phocis; had established himself one of the judges of Greece, by his new dignity of Amphictyon; and that he had gained the esteem and applause of all nations by his zeal to revenge the honour of the deity; judged very prudently, that it would be proper for him to stop his carcer, in order to prevent all the states of Greece from taking arms against him, in case they should discover too soon his ambitious views with regard to that country. In order therefore to remove all suspicion, and to soothe the disquietudes which arose on that occasion, he turned his arms against Illyria, purposely to extend his frontiers on that side, and to keep always his troops in exercise by some new expedition. The same motive prompted him afterwards to go over into Thrace. In the very beginning of his reign hè had dis possessed the Athenians of several strong places in that country. Philip still carried on his conquests there. Suidas observes, that before he took Olynthus, he had made himself master of 32 cities in Chalcis, which is part of Thrace. Chersonesus also was situated very commodiously for him. This was a very rich peninsula, in which there were a great number of powerful cities and fine pasture lands. It had formerly belonged to the Athenians. The inhabitants of it put themselves under the protection of Lacedæmonia, after Lysander had destroyed Athens, but submitted again to their first masters, after Conon, the son of Timotheus, had reinstated his country. Cotys, king of Thrace then dispossessed the Athenians of Chersonesus; § but it was afterwards restored to them by Chersobleptus, son of Cotys, who finding himself unable to defend it against Philip, gave it up to them the fourth year of the 106th Olympiad ; reserving however to himself Cardia, which was the most considerable city of the peninsula, and formed, as it were, the gate and entrance of it. After Philip had deprived Chersobleptus of his kingdom, which happened the second year of the 109th Olympiad**, the inhabitants of Cardia being afraid of falling into the hands of the Athenians, who claimed their city, which formerly belonged to them, submitted themselves to Philip, who did not fail to take them under his protection. *Diopithes, principal of the colony which the Athenians had sent into Chersonesus, looking upon this step in Philip as an act of hostility against the commonwealth, without waiting for an order, and fully persuaded that it would not be disavowed, marches suddenly into the dominions of that prince in the maritime part of Thrace, whilst he was carrying on an important war in Upper Thrace; plunders them before he had time to return and make head against him, and carries off a rich booty, all which he lodged safe in Chersonesus. Philip not being able to revenge himself in the manner he could have wished, contented himself with making grievous complaints to the Athenians by letters upon that account. Such as received pensions from him in Athens served him but too effectually. These venal wretches loudly exclaimed against a conduct, which, if not prudent, was at least excusable. They declaim against Diopithes; impeach him of involving the state in a war; accuse him of extortion and piracy; insist upon his being recalled, and pursue his condemnation with the utmost heat and violence. Demosthenes, seeing at this juncture that the public welfare was inseparable from that of Diopithes, undertook his defence, which is the subject of his oration of Chersonesus. This Diopithes was father to Menander, the comic poet, whom Terence has copied so faithfully. Diopithes was accused of oppressing the allies by his unjust exactions. However, Demosthenes lays the least stress on this, because it was personal; he nevertheless pleads his apology (transiently) from the example of all the generals, to whom the islands and cities of Asia Minor paid certain voluntary contributions, by which they purchased security to their merchants, and procured convoys for them to guard them against the pirates. It is true, indeed, that a man may exercise oppressions, and ransom allies very unseasonably. But in this case, a bare decreet, an accusation in due form, a galley appointed to bring whom the general recalled, all this is sufficient to put a stop to abuses. But it is otherwise with regard to Philip's enterprises. These cannot be checked either by decrees or menaces; and nothing will do this effectually, but raising troops and fitting out galleys. *A M 3670-Ant JC 334. Liban in Demest, p 75, It was called Parulos "Your orators," says he, "cry out eternally to you that we must make choice either of peace or war; but Philip "does not leave this at our option, he who is daily meditat"ing some new enterprises against us. And can we doubt "but it was he who broke the peace, unless it is pretended "that we have no reason to complain of him as long as he "shall forbear making any attempts on Attica and the Pi ræus? But it will then be too late for us to oppose him " and it is now we must prepare strong barriers against his "ambitious designs. You ought to lay it down as a certain "maxim, O Athenians, that it is you he aims at; that he "considers you as his most dangerous enemies; that your "ruin only can establish his tranquillity and secure his conquests; and that whatever he is now projecting, is merely "with the view of falling upon you, and of reducing Athens "to a state of subjection. And indeed can any of you be so "vastly simple as to imagine that Philip is so greedy of a "few paltry towns*, (for what other name can we bestow on those he now attacks?) that he submits to fatigues, ca&6 sons, and dangers, merely for the sake of gaining them; "but that as for the harbours, the arsenals, the galleys, the "silver mines, and the immense revenues of the Athenians; "that he, I say, considers these with indifference, does not "covet them in the least, but will suffer you to remain in "quiet possession of them? 46 "What conclusion are we to draw from all that has been "said? Why, that so far from cashiering the army we have "in Thrace, it must be considerably reinforced and strength"ened by new levies, in order, that as Philip has always "one in readiness to oppress and enslave the Greeks, we on "our side may always have one on foot to defend and preserve them." There is reason to believe that Demosthenes' advice was followed. †The same year that this oration was spoke, Arymbas, king of Molossus, or Epirus, died. He was son of Alcetas, and had a brother called Neoptolemus, whose daughter Olympias was married to Philip. This Neoptolemus, by the credit and authority of his son-in-law, was raised so high as to share the regal power with his elder brother, to whom only it lawfully belonged. This first unjust action was followed by a greater; for after the death of Arymbas,‡ Philip played his part so well, either by his intrigues, or his menaces, that the Molossians expelled acidas, son and law * In Thrace. + Diod. I, xvi, P. 465. Juftin. b viii, ch, vi, curtails the genealogy of this prince, and confounds this fucceffion, ful successor to Arymbas, and established Alexander, son of Neoptolemus, sole king of Epirus. This prince was not only brother-in-law, but son in law to Philip, whose daughter, Cleopatra, he had married, as will be observed in the sequel, carried his arms into Italy, and there died. After this, Eacidas reascended the throne.of his ancestors, reigned alone in Epirus, and transmitted the crown to his son, the famous Pyrrhus, so famous in the Roman history, and second cousin to Alexander the Great, Alcetas being grand father to both these monarchs. Philip, after his expedition in Illyria and Thrace, turned his views towards Peloponnesus. *Terrible commotions prevailed at this time in this part of Greece. Lacedæmonia assumed the sovereignty of it, with no other right than of being the strongest. Argos and Messene being oppressed, had recourse to Philip. He had just before concluded a peace with the Athenians, who, on the faith of their orators, who had been bribed by this prince, imagined he was going to break with the Thebans. However, so far from that, after having subdued Phocis, he divided the conquest with them. The Thebans embraced with joy the favoura ble opportunity which presented itself of opening him a gate through which he might pass into Peloponnesus, in which country, the inveterate hatred they bore to Sparta, made them foment divisions perpetually, and continue the war. They therefore solicited Philip to join with them, the Messenians and Argives, in order to humble in concert the power of Lacedæmonia. This prince readily came into an alliance which suited with his views. He proposed to the Amphictyons, or rather dictated to them, the decree which ordained that Lacedæmonia should permit Argos and Messene to enjoy an entire independence, pursuant to the tenor of a treaty lately con cluded; and upon pretence of hot exposing the authority of the states-general of Greece, he ordered at the same time a large body of troops to march that way. Lacedæmonia being justly alarmed, requested the Athenians to succour them; and by an embassy, pressed earnestly for the con cluding of such an alliance as their common safety might require. The several powers, whose interest it was to prevent this alliance from being concluded, used their utmost endeavours to gain their ends. Philip represented by his ambassadors to the Athenians that it would be very wrong in them to declare war against him; that if he did not break with the Thebans, his not doing so was no infraction of the * Demofth in Philip ii, Liban in Demosih, 1 |