nilI.II' II. (OF MACEDON). 



THILIP II. (OF MACEDON). 





daughter of the king of Kpirug, who became the mother of Alexander 

 the Great, bat whose temper and conduct made her BO little agreeable 

 to her husband that he finally divorce.! her. 



From the period of the full establishment of hia authority over hU 

 ative kingdom, Philip Mama to hare oommeneed the design, which 

 h thenceforth steadily panned and ultimately accomplished, of 

 destroying the power and influence of the Athenian people ou the 

 northern thorn of the Aigean Sea. As hia projects, both on the 

 present oocaaion and subsequently, brought him into frequent collision 

 with that republic, the state of affairs at Athens throughout his reign 

 require* some detailed notice. 



After the genera] peace which followed the battle of Mantineia and 

 death of Kpuniinondas (B.C. 382), Athens had again become the most 

 prominent state in Greece. The naval successes and moderation of 

 Timotheus and a few other officers of similar character had won her 

 the public respect ; and the people of the yEgean islands and coasts, 

 to secure the protection of her navy against piracy, bad returned their 

 relations to her as subject allies. She had thus nearly recovered the 

 naval supremacy lost by the fatal termination of the Peloponueaian 

 war ; but this brief renovation of glory was soon obscured by a relapse 

 into former habits of oppression towards her allies; and these pro- 

 duced (ac. 858) the Confederate or Social War, by a league of some of 

 the dependent islands and towns against her, which lasted three years, 

 and ended in the loas of her sovereignty. Philip ably took advantage 

 of the distraction of Athens in this contest to reduce or win over in 

 succession Amphipolis, Pydna, Potidaea, and other towns on the 

 northern shores of the .gean Sea, until in those parts Methone alone 

 remained hi the Athenian interest. Some conquests in Thrace also 

 gave the Macedonian prince possession of the gold-mines of Paugxus ; 

 and near these ho built or enlarged a city, which he peopled with 

 Greeks from the conquered towns, and named after himself Philippi. 

 Here, under his personal inspection, the mines were worked to such 

 advantage that they produced him one thousand talents annually ; and 

 the gold ' Philips ' which he coined served him in the sequel both to 

 bribe the venal orators of the Grecian states and to hire the mercenary 

 troops with which he now openly assailed their freedom. 



The ambition of Philip indeed soon taught him to extend his views 

 of aggrandisement into Greece itself; and at whatever epoch the plans 

 were organised which he formed and realised for the acquisition of a 

 general supremacy over the Grecian states, the first occasion for inter- 

 fering in their domestic politics was afforded to him by the Phocian or 

 Sacred War, which had already commenced before the close of the 

 contest between Athens and her allies. The real cause of the persecu- 

 tion of the Phocians was the hatred with which that people had inspired 

 the Thebans by refusing to join them in the late war against Sparta. 

 To this source of political enmity were added some uncertain motives 

 of personal offence between individuals of the neighbouring communi- 

 ties ; and, moved by such passions of public and private revenge, the 

 Thebans rashly excited a commotion which was doomed eventually to 

 bring destruction upon their own state, as well as to annihilate the 

 general liberties of Greece. Availing themselves of their influence in 

 the Amphictvonic Council, of which they hoped also to obtain the 

 absolute control, as well as the command of the temple of Delphi and 

 its treasures, by destroying the 1'hocians, they accused that people of 

 having cultivated lands which had been devoted to the Delphic god. 

 The 1'hocians were found guilty by the compliant Amphyctyons, and 

 condemned to pay a fine so enormous, that for its liquidation their 

 whole country was declared forfeit to the god. Perceiving that their 

 only appeal against this iniquitous sentence must be to arms, the 

 Pbociana anticipated their enemies by boldly seizing upon Delphi 

 (B.C. 357), and, supported by Athens and Sparta, they commenced a 

 sanguinary war with the Thebans and their allies. 



Luring the progress of this struggle, Philip gained a footing in 

 Thessaly by assisting some of the Thessaliau nobles, or Aleuada) (the 

 ancient allies of Macedon), against the tyrants of Phene, who were 

 supported by the Phocians and their Athenian confederates. The 

 sucoMsful interference of Philip in this quarter brought him into oppo- 

 sition with Athens ; but the jealousy of that republic was still moro 

 excited by his continued machinations against her influence on the 

 Tbracian coast*. When she attempted, in conjunction with the people 

 of Methone, to repel these injuries by hostilities, he suddenly appeared 

 before that place, and took it after an obstinate siege, in which lie lost 

 his left eye by an arrow. The people of Olynthus, hitherto his allies, 

 now taking alarm at his ambition, applied to Athens for aid against 

 him; but though the Athenians, moved by the eloquence of Demos- 

 repeatedly sent reinforcements to the Olynthians, Philip 



defeated the confederates, and finally besieged and captured Olynthus 

 (B.C. 847). After this event, both the Athenians and the Macedonian 

 prince were equally desirous of peace, and in the following year a 

 treaty was concluded between them. But the ambassadors who were 

 sent to Philip to arrange the terms suffered themselves to be either 

 outwitted or bribed by the artful monarch ; and the Phocian allies of 

 Athens wen excluded from the benefits of the treaty. 



That brave and unfortunate people, who bad hitherto maintained 

 the war with advantage, were now abandoned to the mercy of their 

 more numerous and powerful enemies. The Thebans, who wen nearly 

 exhausted in the struggle, applied to Philip for aid, which he was but 

 too happy to render. From Thesealy, passing the defiles of Ther- 



mopyloo, which had been left unguarded, he marched rapidly into 

 Proper Greece, and profiting by the misconduct of party leaders and 

 the treachery of the Phocian general, he was completely successful. 

 The Phociau* were compelled to surrender unconditionally ; the 

 Amphictyons assembled, and decreed that their towns should be 

 destroyed and the inhabitants disarmed and hravily assessed ; and 

 their privileges at Delphi and votes in the Amphictyonic Council were 

 solemnly transferred to the pious monarch of Macedon. Thus ended 

 (B.c. 846) the Sacred War, which ruined an innocent people and 

 destroyed the little reverence for religion that had yet remained in 

 Oft* h 



The crisis waa now approaching in the gnat struggle between Athens 

 and Philip, which, on the part of the former, was for the independence 

 of Greece, and on that of the latter for the general supremacy in her 

 national government and councils. But the contest was almost as 

 much one of factions at Athena itself, as between the republic and the 

 Macedonian king. The aristocratic party in that city inclined, perhaps 

 naturally, to the aide of Philip, through conviction of the degenerate 

 character of the democracy and consequent hopelessness of a success- 

 ful collision with the power of Macedon, which they either thought it 

 useless to resist, or considered not likely to be injurious to their 

 country. They might also sincerely believe- that in Greece, for all 

 the evils of intestine commotions of which they were weary, there 

 remained no cure but a general diversion, headed by Macedon, of the 

 national energies against Persia. Their leaders were the venerable 

 Isocrates and upright Phocion, both patriots of unquestionable integ- 

 rity, and anxious for the independence of Athens. But it was the 

 misfortune of this party, that its ranks gave shelter to the venal 

 orators, such as yEschines, Demades, and others, who were undoubt- 

 edly in the pay of Philip, and who basely promoted his designs. On 

 the other hand the democratic, or war party, as a modem historian 

 has termed it, eager for the licence and plunder which were promised 

 by a state of hostilities, was principally guided by the infamous Chares, 

 to whom, together with the mercenary Charidemus, the conduct of 

 military expeditions was often entrusted. But to this party, through 

 a well-founded persuasion of the ambitious project of Philip, and n 

 generous and patriotic enthusiasm for the independence of his country, 

 had the great Demosthenes attached himself; and a view of tho prin- 

 ciples upon which he acted will be found in a former article. [DEMOS- 



TI1ENES.] 



After the conclusion of the Phocian war, Philip turned his attention 

 for a time again to the northward of Greece, and laboured to consoli- 

 date his empire in that quarter by obtaining possession of the 

 of the Propontis and Thraciau Chersonese. But Demosthenes Lad 

 now roused the Athenians to so much alarm and energy, that when 

 the Macedonian attacked and invested Perinthus and By/;intiimi, a 

 strong armament was fitted out at Athens, which, under the command 

 of Phocion, compelled him to raise the siege of those cities (B.C. 339). 

 This wai perhaps the most glorious moment in tho life, of Demos- 

 thense, and the most mortifying check in the successful career of 

 Philip. But the triumph of the great orator and the disappointment 

 of the ambitious prince were alike momentary ; and the event soon 

 proved how unequal was the conflict between the desultory impulse 

 which could be given to a fickle and divided democracy, without 

 secrecy, unity, or consistency of purpose, and tho concentrated power 

 of n monarch of high talent and immense resources, whose politic 

 designs were veiled in the profoundeat mystery until they were ripe 

 for execution, by adroit minister?, experienced generals, and \M 11- 

 disciplined armies. In tho very next year after hia repulse befuro 

 Byzantium, Philip found a pretext for appearing again in arms in 

 Greece itself. He was appointed by the obsequious Auiphictyonii! 

 Council their general in a new sacred war which they had den 

 against the people of Amphista for cultivating some devoted lands; 

 and after reducing that city, he suddenly threw off tho mask by seizing 

 Klateia, the key of Bocotia, at the head of 32,000 veteran troops. Tho 

 Athenians were filled with dismay; but the eloquence and activity f 

 Demosthenes both animated them to signal exertion", and induced the 

 Thebans, Corinthians, and others to join with Athena in the cause of 

 independence. The numerical superiority of tho confederates howu ver, 

 though they fought with great bravery, could not prevail against gene- 

 ralship and discipline ; and the fatal battle of Chicroueia (ac. 838) for 

 ever extinguUhed the liberties of ancient Greece. 



Nothing was more characteristic of the disposition and policy of 

 Philip than his conduct after the battle of Cluuroncia. As soon as 

 the victory was secured, he immediately, with hia usual humanity, 

 stopped the slaughter; and when, on revUiting the field next morning, 

 after a night carousal, he beheld the dead Thcbaus of the Sacred 

 Band lying in ranks where they had valiantly fought and fallen, he is 

 said to have shed tears, and exclaimed, "Perish they who imagine 

 these to have done or suffered shame I " But this burst of admiration 

 did not prevent him from treating the party that had been hostile to 

 him at Thebes with great severity ; and he imposed a Macedonian 

 garrison upon the subjugated city. To the Athenians, on tho contrary, 

 he behaved with the greatest clemency, dismissing without ransom 

 those among them who had been made prisoners, and granting their 

 republic peace upon very easy terms, the principal condition being 

 that they should send deputies to a general congress of the Ampliyc- 

 tyouic state* at Corinth. Here the great object of the ambition of 



