opportunity; an indefatigable warrior, whom his activity multiplies, and who supports perpetually the most severe toils, without allowing himself a moment's repose, or having the least regard to the difference of seasons; an intrepid hero, who rushes through obstacles, and plunges into the midst of dangers; a corrupter, who with his purse traffics, buys, and employs gold no less than iron; a happy prince, on whom fortune lavishes her favours, and for whom she seems to have forgotten her inconstancy. But, on the other side, this same Philip is an imprudent man, who measures his vast projects, not by his strength, but merely by his ambition; a rash man, who, by his attempts, himself digs the grave of his own grandeur, and opens precipices before him, down which a small effort would throw him; a knave, whose power is raised on the most ruinous of all foundations, breach of faith, and villainy; a usurper, hated universally abroad, who, by trampling upon all laws, human and divine, has made all nations his enemies; a tyrant, detested even in the heart of his dominions, in which, by the infamy of his manners and his other vices, he has tired out the patience of his captains, his soldiers, and of all his subjects in general; to conclude, a perjured and impious wretch, equally abhorred by heaven and earth, and whom the gods are now upon the point of destroying by any hand that will administer to their wrath and seçond their vengeance.

This is the double picture of Philip, which M. de Tourreil draws, by uniting the several detached lineaments in the present oration of Demosthenes. By this we see the great freedom with which the Athenians spoke of so powerful a monarch.

Our orator, after having represented Philip one moment as formidable, the next as very easy to be conquered, concludes, that the only certain method for reducing such an enemy would be to reform the new abuses, to revive the ancient order and regulations, to appease domestic dissensions, and to suppress the cabals which are incessantly forming; and all this in such a manner, that every thing may unite in the sole point of the public service; and that, at a common expense, every man, according to his abilities, may concur in the destruction of the common enemy.

Demades, a bribed by Philip's gold, opposed very strenuously the advice of Demosthenes, but in vain; for, the Athe nians sent, under the conduct of Chares, the general, 30 galleys and 2000 men to succour the Olynthians, who in this urgent necessity, which so nearly affected all the Greeks in geral, could obtain assistance only from the Athenians.

However, this succour did not prevent the designs of Phia Suidas in voce Δημάδης,

lip, nor the progress of his arms. For he marches into Chalcis, takes several places of strength, makes himself master of the fortress of Gira, which he demolishes, and spreads terror throughout the whole country. Olynthus, being thus more closely pressed, and menaced with destruction, sent a second embassy to Athens, to solicit a new reinforcement. Demosthenes argues very strongly in favour of their request, and proves to the Athenians, that they were equally obliged by honour and interest to have regard to it. This is the subject of the Olynthiac generally taken as the third.

The orator, always animated with a strong and lively zeal for the safety and glory of his country, endeavours to intimidate the Athenians, by setting before them the dangers with which they are threatened; exhibiting to them a most dreadful prospect of the future, if they do not rouse from their lethargy for that, in case Philip seizes upon Olynthus, he will inevitably attack Athens afterwards with all his forces.

The greatest difficulty was the means of raising sufficient sums for defraying the expenses requisite for the succour of the Olynthians, because the military funds were otherwise employed, viz. for the celebration of the public games.

When the Athenians, at the end of the war of Ægina, had concluded a 30 years peace with the Lacedæmonians, they resolved to put into their treasury, by way of reserve, 1000 talents every year; at the same time prohibiting any person, upon pain of death, to mention the employing any part of it, except for repulsing an enemy who should invade Attica. This was at first observed with the warmth and fervour which men have for all new institutions. Afterwards Pericles, in order to make his court to the people, proposed to distribute among them, in times of peace, the 1000 talents, and to apply it in giving to each citizen two oboli at the public shows, upon condition, however, that they might resume this fund in time of war. The proposal was approved, and the restriction also. But as all concessions of this kind degenerate one time or other into licence, the Athenians were so highly pleased with this distribution (called by Demades “birdlime by which the Athenians would be catched") that they would not suffer it to be retrenched upon any account. The abuse was carried to such a height, that Eubulus, one of the faction which opposed Demosthenes, prohibited any person, upon pain of death, from so much as proposing to restore, for the service of the war, those funds which Pericles had transferred to the games and public shows. Apollodorus was even punished for declaring himself of a contrary opinion, and for insisting upon it.

a These games, besides the two oboli, which were distributed to each of the persons present, occasioned a great number of other expenses.

This absurd profusion had very strange effects. It was impossible to supply it, but by imposing taxes, the inequality of of which (being entirely arbitrary) perpetuated strong feuds, and made the military preparations so very slow as quite defeated the design of them, without lessening the expense. As the artificers and seafaring people, who composed above twothirds of the people of Athens, did not contribute any part of their substance, and only lent their personal services, the whole weight of the taxes fell entirely upon the rich. These murmured upon that account, and reproached the others with the public moneys being squandered upon festivals, plays, and the like superfluities. But the people, being sensible of their superiority, paid very little regard to their complaints, and had no manner of inclination to curtail their diversions, merely to ease people who possessed employments and dignities, from which they were entirely excluded. Besides, any person, who should dare to propose this to the people seriously and in form, would be in great danger of his life.

However, Demosthenes presumed to introduce this subject at two different times; but then he treated it with the utmost art and circumspection. After showing that the Athenians were indispensably obliged to raise an army, in order to stop the enterprises of Philip, he hints (but covertly) that there are no other funds than those which were expended on theatrical representations which can be assigned for levying and maintaining an armed force. He demands that commissioners might be nominated, not to enact new laws, (there being already but too many established) but to examine and abolish such as should be prejudicial to the welfare of the republic. He did not thereby become obnoxious to capital punishment, as enacted by those laws, because he did not require that they should be actually abolished, but only that commissioners might be nominated to inspect them. He only hinted, how highly necessary it was to abolish a law, which gave pain to the most zealous citizens, and reduced them to this sad alternative, either to ruin themselves, in case they gave their opinion boldly and faithfully, or to destroy their country, in case they observed a fearful prevaricating silence.

These remonstrances do not seem to have had the success they deserved, since in the following Olynthiac (which is commonly placed as the first) the orator was obliged to inveigh once more against the misapplication of the military funds. The Olynthians, being now vigorously attacked by Philip, and having hitherto been very ill succoured by the mercenary soldiery of Athens, required, by a third embassy, a body of troops, which should not consist of mercenaries

and foreigners as before, but of true Athenians, of men inspired with a sincere ardour for the interest both of their own glory and the common cause. The Athenians, at the earnest solicitation of Demosthenes, sent Chares a second time, with a reinforcement of 17 galleys, of 2000 foot and 300 horse, all citizens of Athens, as the Olynthians had requested.

The following year Philip possessed himself of Olynthus. Neither the succours nor efforts of the Athenians could defend it from its domestic enemies. It was betrayed by Euthycrates and Lasthenes, two of its most eminent citizens, and actually in office at that time. Thus Philip entered by the breach which his gold had made. Immediately he plunders this unhappy city, lays one part of the inhabitants in chains, and sells the rest for slaves; and distinguishes those which had betrayed their city no otherwise than by the supreme contempt he expressed for them. This king, like his son Alexander, loved the treason, but abhorred the traitor. And, indeed, how can a prince rely upon him who has betrayed his country? Every one, even the common soldiers of the Macedonian army, reproached Euthycrates and Lasthenes for their perfidy, who complaining to Philip upon that account, he only made this ironical answer, infinitely more severe than the reproach itself: "Do not mind what a pack of vulgar fellows say, who call every thing by its "real name."

b

The king was overjoyed at his being possessed of this city, which was of the utmost importance to him, as its power might have very much checked his conquests. Some years before, the Olynthians had long resisted the united armies of Macedon and Lacedæmonia; whereas Philip had taken it with very little resistance, at least had not lost many men in the siege..

He now caused shows and public games to be exhibited with the utmost magnificence; to these he added feasts, in which he made himself very popular, bestowing on all the guests considerable gifts, and treating them with the utmost marks of his friendship.

SECT. IV.

Philip declares for Thebes against the Phocæans. He seizes on Thermopyla.

The Thebans, being unable alone to terminate the war which they had so long carried on against the Phocæans, had

a A. M. 3656. Ant. J. C. 348. Diod. l. xvi. p. 450.-152.

Plut. in Apopbth. p. 178.

d A. M. 3657. Ant. J. C. 347.

c Diod. 1. xv. p. 341.

recourse to Philip. Hitherto, as we before mentioned, he had observed a kind of neutrality with respect to the sacred war; and he seemed to wait, in order to declare himself, till both parties should have weakened themselves by a long war, which equally exhausted them both. The Thebans had now very much abated of that haughtiness and those ambitious views with which the victories of Epaminondas had inspired them. The instant therefore that they requested the alliance of Philip, he resolved to espouse the interest of that republic, in opposition to the Phocæans. He had not lost sight of the project he had formed, of obtaining an entrance into Greece, in order to make himself master of it. To give success to his design, it was proper for him to declare in favour of one of the two parties which at that time divided all Greece, that is, either for the Thebans or the Athenians and Spartans. He was not so void of sense as to imagine, that the latter choice would assist his design of securing to himself a share in the affairs of Greece. He therefore had no more to do but to join the Thebans, who offered themselves voluntarily to him, and who stood in need of Philip's power to support themselves in their declining condition. He therefore declared at once in their favour. But, to give a specious colour to his arms, besides the gratitude which he affected to feel for Thebes, in which he had been educated, he also pretended to derive honour from the zeal with which he was fired, with regard to the violated god; and was very glad to gain the reputation of a religious prince, who warmly espoused the cause of the god and of the temple of Delphos, in order to conciliate by that means the esteem and friendship of the Greeks. Politicians apply every pretext to their views, and endeavour to screen the most unjust attempts with the veil of probity, and sometimes even of religion; though they very frequently have no manner of regard for either.

a There was nothing Philip had more at heart than to possess himself of Thermopyle, as it opened him a passage into Greece; to appropriate all the honour of the sacred war to himself, as if he had been principal in that affair; and to preside in the Pythian games. He was desirous of aiding the Thebans, and by their means to possess himself of Phocis but then, in order to put this double design in execution, it was necessary for him to keep it secret from the Athenians, who had actually declared war against Thebes, and who for many years had been in alliance with the Phocæans. His business therefore was to deceive them, by placing other objects in their view; and on this occasion the politics of Philip succeeded to a wonder.

a Demosth. Orat. de falsa Legationė.