conveniently situated for favouring the design he had formed against Greece, and he now contrived, upon pretence of an invitation from some of the inhabitants, to send a body of troops thither; by which means he possessed himself of several strong places, dismantled Portmos, and established three tyrants, or kings, over the country. 19. The Athenians were conjured, in this distressful situation, by Plutarch of Ere'tria, to come to the relief of the inhabitants; and they accordingly dispatched a few troops thither under the command of Pho'cion, a general of whom great hopes were entertained, and whose conduct justified the high opinion the public entertained of him. 20. Pho'cion had been long opposed to the politics of Demosthenes, not because he was blind to the ambition of Philip, but because he despaired of his own countrymen. (B. C. 342.) His own rule of life was strict and severe, formed on the rigid model of the Stoics; he, therefore, felt more acutely the demoralized condition of Athens, and the depravity which pervaded every class of society. Unfortunately, he took but little trouble to disguise his sentiments, and his bitter sarcasms excited enmity, where gentle remonstrance might have produced good effects. 21. He was accompanied in the expedition to Eubœ'a by Demos'thenes, and the harangues of the orator not a little contributed to the success of the general. The independence of the island was secured. Plu'tarch, who had invited the Athenians in vain, threw himself into the ranks of their opponents. Pho'cion totally defeated the traitor in a pitched battle, and drove him from the island. Questions. 1. How was Alexander educated? 2. What city in Thrace did Philip subdue? 3. How did Philip behave in Thessaly? 4. By whom was the king of Macedon prevented from seizing Thermopyla ? 5. What were the circumstances of the early life of Demos'thenes ? 6. How did he succeed in his first public speech? 7. Were these defects overcome? 8. How did Philip make himself master of Olynthus ? 9. In what manner were the captives treated? 10. Why was Philip eager to join in the sacred war? 11. How were the Athenians prevented from interfering? 12. What punishment was inflicted on the Phocians? 13. How were the services of Philip rewarded? 14. What was the next enterprise of the Macedonian king? 15. How did Diopeithes act? 16. By whom was his conduct defended? 17. What were the next proceedings of Philip? 18. Did he attack any important island? 19. Were the Athenians invited to assist in repelling this invasion ? 20. What was the character of Phocion ? 21. What was the success of the expedition to Eretria? 1. PHILIP, disappointed in his designs upon Eubœ'a, endeavoured to distress the Athenians in another quarter. He well knew that they had most of their supplies of corn from Thrace; and he, therefore, resolved to shut up the ports of that country against them, and particularly to make himself master of Perin'thus' and Byzan 1 Now Eretili, a town of Thrace. It was a very strong town, and very ably defended by its inhabitants. When Philip found all his attempts to take the place ineffectual, he suddenly detached a strong corps of his army to attack Byzantium, which city had been drained of its garrison to defend Perinthus. This scheme would probably have suc tium 1. 2. Still unwilling, however, to break with them entirely, he took care to amuse them with professions of his regard, and of his extreme reluctance to give them the least offence. Nay, he wrote them a letter, upon the present occasion, in which he strongly insinuated, that they, and not he, were the violators of the peace. In the times of enmity," says he, the most you did was to fit out ships of war against me, and to seize and sell the merchants that came to trade in my dominions; but now you carry your hatred and injustice to such prodigious lengths, as even to send ambassadors to the king of Persia, to make him declare war against me." 3. The king of Persia was greatly alarmed at the rapid progress made by the Macedonian monarch, as he clearly saw that his ultimate aim was to accomplish the great design of Ja'son, and invade Persia at the head of a Greek army collected from all the states. To prevent this, the Eastern monarch distributed large sums among the leading orators, and the Persian gold had fully as much influence as patriotism, in the opposition made by the demagogues to Philip. The Macedonian bribed in his turn, and secured a strong body of partizans at Athens, by whose assistance he hoped either to cajole or terrify the multitude, whom their love of pleasure and tranquillity had rendered weak and contemptible. 4. His letter gave such of the orators as were in Philip's interest a fine opportunity of justifying his conduct. Demos'thenes alone stood firm, and still continued to expose his artful designs; and, in order to remove the first impressions which the perusal of this letter might make, he immediately ascended the tribunal, and from thence harangued the people with all the thunder of his eloquence. 5. He told them that the letter was written in a style not ceeded, had not the arrival of Phocion, with his fleet, quite changed the face of affairs, and compelled him to raise the siege of both places. A town on the Thracian Bos'phorus, now Constantinople. suitable to the people of Athens; that it was a plain declaration of war against them; that Philip had long since made the same declaration by his actions; and that by the peace he had concluded with them, he meant nothing more than a bare cessation of arms, and to fall upon them afresh when they were more unprepared. 6. Though Pho'cion seldom agreed with Demosthenes in any thing, he heartily assented to what he had now said. He further urged the ignorance of the generals already chosen, especially Cha'res, whom the favour of the populace still retained in command, in spite of the numerous instances of profligacy and incapacity that he had exhibited. 7. But his late failure at Byzantium was a disgrace too flagrant to be excused, he was set aside, and Pho'cion himself was appointed to command the troops that were to go against Philip, who was still besieging Byzan'tium. Cha'res had undertaken to defend this city against the Macedo ́nians; but the Byzan'tines refused to admit into their harbour a leader, whose rapacity made him more formidable than an enemy, and Cha'res was soon after signally defeated by Amyn'tas, Philip's admiral. 8. Pho'cion's conduct on this occasion did not detract from the high character he had already acquired; and he was nobly supported by his officers and soldiers, who had an entire confidence in his gallantry and good fortune. 9. He obliged Philip to give over the siege; he drove him out of the Hellespont; he took some of his ships; he recovered many fortresses which he had seized; and having made several descents upon different parts of his territories, he plundered all the open country, till a body of forces assembling to oppose him, he thought proper to retire. 10. Philip, having met with so severe a check in Greece, turned his arms against the Scythians, whom he easily defeated; (B. C. 340.) but, in his return from Scyth'ia, he was obliged to come to an engagement with the Tri bal'li', when he received a wound in his thigh, and had his horse killed under him. Alexander, who accompanied him in this expedition, immediately flew to his father's relief, and covering him with his shield, killed or put to flight all who attacked him. 11. During the absence of the Macedonian monarch, a powerful coalition was formed against him by the Grecian states. The Persian king supplied money with a liberal hand; Demosthenes roused his countrymen by the most animating appeals, and the late triumphant expedition of Pho'cion encouraged those whom the continued successes of Philip had reduced to despair. 12. On this occasion the Athenians repealed the destructive law which ordered the public treasures to be expended in shows and dramatic entertainments; they determined that this fund should for the future be applied to its original and proper destination, and in consequence they were soon able to collect a fleet far superior to the Macedonian navy. 13. The Athenians considered the siege of Byzantium as an open declaration of war; and, therefore, in order to retaliate upon Philip, they blocked up his ports by sea, and put an entire stop to his commerce. Philip at first endeavoured to appease them, by offering them terms of peace, which Pho'cion, with his usual moderation, advised them to accept; but Demosthenes persuaded them to reject the offer with indignation. 14. Philip, therefore, began to form new alliances against them, particularly with the Thebans and Thessa ́lians: but knowing how difficult it would be to persuade these powers to act directly against Athens, merely on account of his personal quarrels, he took care to supply them with a more plausible pretext for embracing such a measure. He found means by his artifice and intrigues, to sow dissensions between the Lo'crians of Amphis'sa and the Amphic'tyonic council. They 1 The inhabitants of the country now called Bulgaria, or, as others say, Servia. |