M A C E D O N. 
that, for his part, he was not politician enough to fee any 
thing of difguife or dillimulation in the king's conduct ; 
that there was great danger in diftrufting princes; and that 
the fureft method of putting men upon deceit was to Ihow 
that we fufpefted them of it. The reft of the plenipoten¬ 
tiaries concurred with Asfchines; and the people, defirous 
of quiet, and addifted to pleafure, eafily gave credit to all 
that was faid, and decreed that the peace thonld be kept. 
All this was the eafier brought about, becaufe Phocion, 
the worthieft man in the republic, did notoppofe Philip ; 
which was owing to his having a juft fenfe of the ftate his 
country was in. He conceived that the Athenians of thole 
times were nothing like their anceftors; and therefore, 
as he exprefted himfelf on another occafion, he was delir- 
ous, lince they would not be at the head of Greece them- 
felves, that they would at lead be upon good terms with 
that power which would be fo. 
Philip, who knew how to ufe as well as to procure oppor¬ 
tunity, while the Athenians were in this good humour, 
palfed Thermopylae, without their knowing whether he 
would fall on Phocis or Thebes; but he quickly unde¬ 
ceived them, by commanding his foldiers to put on crowns 
of laurel, declaring them thereby the troops of Apollo, 
and himfelf the lieutenant-general of that god. He then 
entered Phocis with an air of triumph ; which fo terrified 
the Phocians, whom he had caufed to be proclaimed fa- 
crilegious perfons, that they immediately difmiffed all 
thoughts of defence, and without more ado fubmitted to 
his mercy. Thus the Pliocian war, which had fo long 
employed all Greece, was ended without a ftroke; and 
the judgment on the Phocians remitted to the Amphic- 
tyons, or grand council of Greece. By their decree the 
walls of three Phocian cities were demolilhed, the people 
were forbid to inhabit in any but villages, to pay a yearly 
tribute of lixty talents, and never to make ufe either of 
houfes or arms till they had repaid to the temple of Apollo 
the money they had facrilegioufly carried from thence. 
Their arms were taken from them, broken to pieces, and 
burnt; their double voice in the council was taken from 
them, and given to the Macedonians. Other orders were 
made for lettling the affairs both of religion and ftate 
throughout Greece ; all of which were executed by Phi¬ 
lip with great exactnefs and moderation, he paying the 
moll profound refpeft to the council ; and, when he had 
performed its commands, retiring peaceably with his 
army back to Macedon, which gained him great reputa- 
tion. 
At Athens alone, the juftice and piety of Philip were 
not underftood. The people began to fee, though a little 
too late, that they had been abufed and deceived by thole 
who had negociated the late peace. They faw that, 
through their acceptance of it, the Phocians were deftroy- 
ed ; that Philip was become matter of Thermopylae and 
might enter Greece when he pleafed ; that, in abandoning 
their allies, they had abandoned themfelves ; and that, 
in all probability, they might loon feel the weight of his 
power, whom they had fo foolifhly trulted ; they therefore 
began to take new and hoftile meafures ; they ordered that 
the women Ihould retire out of the villages into the city, 
their wall be repaired, and their forts newly ftrengthened. 
They leemed inclined to queftion Philip’s eleffion into 
the council of the Amphiftyons, becaufe it had been done 
without their confent; and even to proceed to an open 
war. In all likelihood they had, carried things to extre¬ 
mities, if Demofthenes had notinterpofed. He told them, 
that, though he was not for making the peace, he was 
however for keeping it; and that he law no manner of 
occafion for their entering into fo unequal a conteft as 
would needs enfue, if they took up arms, not onlyagainft 
Philip, but againlt all the ftates concurring with hun in 
the late tranfaftions. This feems to have cooled the rage 
of the Athenians; and to have brought them to think of 
ruining Philip by degrees , as by degrees they had railed 
him. 
The fame of his achievements without the bounds of Ma» 
Vol. XIV, No. 953* 
cedon having difpofed the fubjcfls of Philip to hope every 
thing from his conduct, and the feveral ftates of Greece 
to defire above all things his friendlhip; that prudent mo¬ 
narch laid hold of this favourable moment to fix his do¬ 
minion on fuch a liable foundation as that a reverie of 
fortune Ihould not immediately deltroy it. To this end, 
while he carried on his negociations through Greece, lie 
likewife kept his army in exercife, by taking feveral places 
in Thrace, which terribly incommoded the Athenians. 
Diopitlies, who had the government of the Athenian co¬ 
lonies in thofe parts, perceiving well what end Philip had 
in view, did not ftay for inltrudions from home ; bur, hav¬ 
ing raifed with much expedition a confiderable body of 
troops, taking advantage of the king’s being abfent with 
his army, entered the adjacent territories of Philip, and 
wafted them with fire and fword. The king, who, on ac¬ 
count of the operations of the campaign in the Cherfonele, 
was not at leifure to repel Diopitlies by force, nor indeed 
could divide his army without imminent hazard, chofe, 
like an able general, rather to abandon his provinces to 
inlults which might be afterwards revenged, than, by fol¬ 
lowing the dictates of an ill-timed paffion, to hazard the 
lofs of his veteran army, whereon lay all his hopes. 
The Illyrians alfo recovering courage, and feeing Phi¬ 
lip at fuch a diftance, haralTed the frontiers of Macedon, 
and threatened a formidable invafion ; but Philip, by quick 
marches, arrived on the borders of Illyricum ; and ftruck 
this barbarous people with fuch a panic, that they were 
glad to compound for their former depredations at the 
price he was pleafed to fet. Molt of the Greek cities in- 
Thrace now fought the friendlhip of the king, and entered 
into a league with him for their mutual defence. As it 
cannot be fuppo.fed that each of thefe free cities had a* 
power equal to that of Philip, we may therefore look upon 
him as their proteftor. About this time Philip’s ne^o- 
ciations in Peloponnefus began to come to light; the 
Argives and Meflenians, growing weary of that tyranni¬ 
cal authority which the Spartans exercifed over them, 
applied to Thebes for alfiftance ; and the Thebans, out 
of their natural averfion to Sparta, fought to open a paf- 
fage for Philip into Peloponnefus, that, in conjunction 
with them, he might humble the Lacedemonians. Philip 
readily accepted the offer; and refolved to procure a de¬ 
cree from the AmphiCtyons, directing the Lacedemonians 
to leave Argos and Meflene free; which if they complied 
not with, he, as the lieutenant of the Amphictyons, might, 
with great appearance of juftice, march with a body of 
troops to enforce their order. When Sparta had intelli¬ 
gence of this, Are immediately applied to Athens, earnettly 
entreating alliltance, as in the common caufe of Greece. 
The Argives and Meflenians, on the other hand, laboured 
afliduoully to gain the Athenians to their fide; alleging 
that, if they were friends to liberty, they ought to alii It 
thole whole only aim was to be free. Demofthenes, at. 
this juncture, outwreftled Philip, if we may borrow that 
king’s expreflion ; for, by a vehement harangue, he not only 
determined his own citizens to become the avowed ene¬ 
mies of the king, but alfo made the Argives andMefleni 
ans not over fond of him for an ally; which when Philip 
perceived, he laid afide all thoughts of this enterpril'e for 
the prefent, and began to praftife in Eubcea. 
This country, now called Negropont, is ieparated from 
Greece by the Euripus, a ftrait lb narrow, that Eubcea. 
might eafily be united to the continent. This lituation mads 
Philip call it thefetters of Greece, which he therefore fought 
to have in his own hands. There had been for fome ye^irs 
great dilturbances in that country ; under colour of which, 
Philip lent forces thither, and demoiilhed Porthmos, the 
ltrongelt city in thofe parts, leaving the country under the 
government of three lords, whom Demofthenes roundly 
calls tyrants, eftablilhed by Philip. Shortly after, the Ma¬ 
cedonians took Oreus, which was left under the govern¬ 
ment of five magiftrates, ftyled alfo tyrants at Athens. 
Thither Plutarch of Eretria, one of the molt eminent per¬ 
fons in Eubcea, went to reprefent the diftrdles of his coun= 
G try. 
