form them that the Phoenician fleet would be ordered to
join that of the Confederates, they began to ponder on the
consequences. The king of Macedonia had extended his
power very considerably, a new war was on the eve of
breaking out in Greece, and no one could tell what turn
events might take : it would therefore, they thought, be ad-
visable to have peace at the other side of the JEgean. The
Confederates, on their part, were also desirous of peace ;
their deputies came to Athens ; the Athenians renounced
their claims of sovereignty ; peace was made ; and the Con-
federate War, as it is named, terminated.*

From the time of Solon, down to the present period,
hardly any mention of the Amphictyonic council occurs in
Grecian history. The deputies of the different states had
probably continued to meet at the vernal and autumnal
equinoxes of each year, at Pylae and Delphi, and make regu-
lations for the support of the temple and public worship at
Delphi ; but, owing probably to the balance of power among
Lacedaemon, Athens, and Thebes, the three great states of
Dorian, Ionian, and ^Eolian race, who were members of it,
it had never been employed for political purposes. Now,
however, that the Lacedaemonians were depressed, the The-
bans deemed the occasion good, as they were sure of the
Thessalian votes, for making it the instrument of their ven-
geance. Deprived of the wisdom of Epaminondas, they
raised a conflagration in which their city and their indepen-
dence were eventually to perish.t

Not content with the ample revenge which they had had
for the seizure of the Cadmeia, they charged the Lacedae-

* Diodor. xvi. 7, 21, 22.
t The details of this war are only to be found in Diodorus.



THE SACRED WAR. 377

monians before the Amphictyons with that offence, and with
the destruction of some Boeotian towns. A fine of five hun-
dred talents was imposed on them ; and on their neglecting
to pay it, it was doubled, according to Amphictyonic law.
It still however remained unpaid, as the Amphictyons had no
means of enforcing their decree. The Thebans had, there-
fore, only the satisfaction of having insulted the haughty
Spartans.

The Phocians were another people to whom they bore a
grudge ; they had been generally on ill terms with them ;
they had refused to take share in the last expedition to
Peloponnesus ; and their destruction would be likely to
give the Thebans the command of the Delphian temple and
its treasures. To these public grounds of enmity, we are
told a private one, as is so often the case, was added. An
heiress in Phocis was sought in marriage by a Theban and
a Phocian ; the latter was successful, and the disappointed
suitor sought to kindle a war. Another account says the war
was caused by a Phocian's abduction of a Theban lady.*

The charge made against the Phocians was that of having
cultivated the devoted lands of the Cirrhaeans.f An enor-
mous fine was imposed by the obsequious Amphictyons ; and
this not being paid, all Phocis was declared forfeit to the
god. The Spartans were included in this sentence, which
was engraved on a pillar at Delphi. As the Amphictyons
called on all Greece to aid in carrying their decree into exe-
cution, the Phocians, knowing the hostility of the Thebans,
Thessalians, and the peoples of Mount (Eta, felt no little
alarm ; but Philomelus, one of their leading men, urged
them not to submit tamely to be deprived of their country
by an unjust decree, but to seize on Delphi, which by right,
and the testimony of Homer, belonged to them, and to stand
on their defence. He pledged himself for their ultimate
success, if they would make him their general.

The arguments of Philomelus were of effect, and he was

* Arist., Pol., v. 3. Athenseus, xiii. 560.
t That is, the Crissseans. See above, p. 61.
32* vv



378 HISTORY OF GREECE.

appointed general with unlimited powers, [avTOKQum^.)
Leaving then his brothers, Onomarchus and Phayllus, to
command in Phocis, he repaired in person to Sparta, where
he secretly communicated his plans to King Archidamus,
showing him that the interests of Sparta were as deeply in-
volved as those of Phocis. Archidamus assented to all he
said, but as he did not deem it prudent for the Lacedaemo-
nians openly to make common cause with the Phocians, he
would only aid them underhand for the present. He gave
him fifteen talents, to which Philomelus added as many of
his own, and with this sum he hired from 2000 to 3000 mer-
cenaries, whom he led direct from the Isthmus to Delphi,
and seized the town and temple. (Ol. 105, 4.) The Thra-
cides, (a kind of Levites,) who attempted resistance, were cut
to pieces, and their property confiscated ; but all the other
inhabitants were assured of safety. The Ozolian Locrians,
who dwelt at hand, hastened with all their forces to the de-
fence of the temple ; but they were speedily put to flight.
Philomelus then effaced the decrees of the Amphictyons, and
declared that he had no intention whatever of plundering
the temple, his only objects being to restore to the Phocians
the right of precedence, of which they had been unjustly
deprived. He immediately set about fortifying Delphi, and
augmenting his mercenary force, whose pay he raised ; he
also selected the best men among the Phocians for military
service, and he had soon 15,000 men under his command.
With the whole or a part of these he invaded and ravaged
Locris. In a skirmish with the Locrians, (probably in the
defiles of the mountains,) he lost about twenty of his men,
and when he sent a herald to claim their bodies, he was told,
that it was the law of Greece to leave unburied the bodies
of temple-robbers. Irritated at this insolent reply, he at-
tacked the Locrians, killed some of them, and then forced
them to exchange the bodies.

On his return to Delphi, deeming that an oracle in his
favor might be turned to good account, he insisted on the
Pythia's ascending the sacred tripod. At first she declined ;



THE SACRED WAR. 379

but when he menaced her, she cried out that he might do
whatever he pleased. This seeming to him sufficient re-
sponse, he had it written out and exposed in public, to en-
courage the people. He sent embassies to Athens, Sparta,
Thebes, and all the chief towns of Greece, to assure them
that he had no intention of plundering the temple, and of-
fering to give an account of the treasures, with the number
and weight of the offerings, to any who should require it.
He called on all to aid, or at least not to act against them.
The Athenians, the Lacedaemonians, and some few others,
became open allies and supporters of the Phocians ; the
Thebans and their friends prepared for war in the cause of
the god.

Philomelus, seeing war inevitable, augmented his mer-
cenary force. He still, it is said, abstained from touching
the sacred treasures; but he made the wealthy Delphians
furnish the sums requisite for the pay of his men. In the
spring, (Ol. 106, 1,) he invaded Ozolian Locris ; theLocrians
came boldly out against him, but they met a total defeat at
a place named the Phaedriad Rocks ; and no longer hoping
to be able to withstand the Phocians, they sent to the Boeo-
tians, imploring them to come to their aid and that of the
god. The Boeotians sent to the Thessalians and the other
Amphictyons, and all joined in a declaration of war against
the Phocians as temple-robbers. (Ol. 106, 2.)

While the Boeotians and their allies were collecting their
forces, Philomelus again led his troops into Locris. A body
of Boeotians came to the aid of the Locrians, and a skirmish
of cavalry ensued, in which the Phocians had the advantage ;
and soon after they defeated six thousand Thessalians, who
were on their way to Locris. The Boeotians now took the
field with a force of thirteen thousand men ; that of Philo-
melus somewhat exceeded ten thousand, and he was joined
by fifteen hundred Achaeans, so that he felt himself strong
enough to offer them battle. No action took place as yet;
but the Boeotians, happening to make prisoners several of
the Phocian mercenaries, as they were out foraging, put
them publicly to death, as accomplices in sacrilege. This



380 HISTORY OF GREECE.

conduct enraged the remainder of the mercenaries; they
required of Philomelus to retaliate, and, exerting themselves
to the utmost, they took a great many of the enemy prisoners,
all of whom were put to death. This made the self-styled
army of the god cease from their arrogant cruelty. Soon
after, the advance-guards of the two armies, as they were
moving their quarters, encountering by accident in a rugged
and woody country, an action followed, in which the Pho-
cians, who were much inferior in numbers, were defeated
with great slaughter. Philomelus fought with desperation,
and received several wounds ; at length, having ascended a
precipice, and seeing no chance of escape, he flung himself
down, rather than become a captive to his inveterate foes.

The Boeotians appear to have returned home without
making any use of their victory, probably in consequence of
the near approach of winter. A general council of the Pho-
cians and their allies met at Delphi, to deliberate on the
subject of the war : a part of those present were for trying
to make peace, but the great majority declared for continuing
the war. Onomarchus was appointed general (Ol. 106, 3)
in the room of his late brother ; it was resolved to prosecute
the war with vigor, and additional mercenaries were taken
into pay.

It is a matter of doubt whether Philomelus had used any
part of the sacred treasures or not ; but we are assured that
Onomarchus felt no scruples on the subject, and that he
employed the stores of brass and iron in the manufacture
of arms, and coined a large quantity of the gold and silver
to pay his troops and to bribe the leading persons in the
various states of Greece. Resuming the war, he invaded
Epicnemidian Locris, and took Thronion, its chief town :
he reduced Amphissa, in Ozolian Locris, ravaged the lands
and villages of Doris, and then making an irruption into
Baeotia, took Orchomenus, and laid siege to Chaeroneia; he
was here, however, defeated by the Thebans, and forced to
retire.

It is rather remarkable, that at. the very time (Ol. 106, 3)
when the Thebans were thus at war with the Phocians, and



PROGRESS OF PHILIP. 381

even hard pressed by them, they sent an army out to Asia.
Artabazus, having lost the aid of Chares and his troops, who
had been recalled, applied to the Thebans for a force to
support him against the royal army. Service in Asia was
now become extremely popular in Greece, and probably the
satrap had given money in the proper quarters ; aid was
therefore voted at once, and Pammenes, the friend of Epam-
inondas, led five thousand men by sea to Asia. Thus re-
enforced, Artabazus gave the satraps two great defeats,
whence fame and profit accrued to the Boeotian troops and
their leader.

We must now return to the enterprising king of Mace-
donia. After the reduction of Potidsea, he led his troops
against Cotys, king of Thrace. This prince, famed in the
annals of gluttony, fled in terror before him, and Philip pen-
etrated to the groves of Onocarsis, the chief scene of the
Thracian's luxurious enjoyments. Near them lay the gold
mines of Pangneus and the town of Crenidoe, of which he took
possession. He named the town from himself, Philippi, and
he peopled it with Greeks from Pydna and the other con-
quered towns. He personally inspected the mines, and by
an improved mode of working made them produce one thou-
sand talents a year, which when coined into Philips drew
mercenaries to his standard and bribed the venal orators of
the Grecian republics.

The Aleuads of Thessaly, galled by the insolence and
oppression of the tyrants of Pherge, applied for aid to Philip,
as their ancient ally. He came gladly ; the troops of the
tyrants fled before him, and the independence of the towns
was restored. In their gratitude they ceded to him the right
of collecting and appropriating their tolls and customs. He
at this time further strengthened himself by a marriage
with Olympias, sister of Arrhibas, king of the Molossians
in Epeirus.

The next year, (01. 106, 1,) the Ulyrians, Paeonians, and
Thracians simultaneously took up arms against the king of
Macedonia. Philip sent a part of his troops, under Parme-



382 HISTORY OF GREECE.

nion, one of his ablest officers, against the Illyrians ; he him-
self engaged and speedily reduced the Paeonians, and the dis-
cord which prevailed among the princes of Thrace enabled
him to add a large part of that country to his dominions.
By those writers who study effect more than accuracy we
are told, that he received in one day tidings of a decisive
victory gained by Parmenion, of a race won by his horse at
the Olympic games, and of the birth of his son Alexander
the Great.

Cotys, king of Thrace, having been assassinated by two
citizens of ^Enos, Python and Heracleides,* his dominions
were disputed by his son Kersobleptes, and two princes
named Amadocus and Berisades. The Athenians, taking
advantage of these civil dissensions, sent out successively
Athenodotus, Chabrias, and Chares, and succeeded in regain-
ing the Chersonese, which Cotys had joined to his domin-
ions. Philip, having made some ineffectual efforts to get a
footing in the Chersonese, forced Kersobleptes to cede him
the region north of it ; and as the people of Cardia (a town
at its neck) were not ceded to the Athenians, he took care
to keep up the ill-will which they felt towards the Athenian
colonists who were now (Ol. 106, 1 4) sent out to the
Chersonese.

The Athenians were justly provoked at Philip's encroach-
ments, and in conjunction with the people of Methone they
began to exercise hostilities against Macedonia. But Philip
suddenly appeared before Methone: the inhabitants made
an obstinate defence, but at length were forced to surrender :
they were allowed to depart, each with a single garment ;
the town was levelled, the lands distributed among the Ma-
cedonians. During this siege Philip received a wound from
an arrow, which deprived him of the sight of his left eye.t
(Ol. 106, 4.)

* Demosth. Aristocr. 659. Aristotle (Pol. v. 8) calls the former
Pyrrhon or Parrhon ; he says they slew Cotys to avenge their father.

t An archer, it is said, named Aster, whose proffered services Philip
had rejected with mockery, shot at him an arrow with ' For Philip's



THE SACRED WAR. 383

The power of Lycophron and Peitholaus, the tyrants of
Pherse, in consequence, probably, of the sudsidies which they
drew from Phocis, having again become formidable to the
adverse party in Thessaly, they applied to Philip, who once
more entered the country. (Ol. 107, 1.) Lycophron also
called on his allies, andPhayllus, the brother of Onomarchus,
led seven thousand men to his aid. A battle ensued, in
which theTagos and his allies were defeated. Onomarchus,
aware of the danger of the union of the Thessalian and Ma-
cedonian power, marched without delay his entire force into
Thessaly. Having the superiority of numbers, he gave
Philip two complete defeats, who was with difficulty able
to effect a retreat into Macedonia. Having thus reestab-
lished the authority of the Tagos, Onomarchus led his troops
back to Baeotia, where he defeated the Boeotians and took
the town of Coroneia. But Philip, equally aware of the im-
portance of Thessaly, had returned with a new army. Lyc-
ophron sent to recall the Phocian chief, and Onomarchus
passed Thermopylae with twenty thousand foot and five hun-
dred horse. The united forces of Philip and the Thessalians
were upwards of twenty thousand foot and three thousand
horse. A battle was fought near the Bay of Pagasae, where
an Athenian fleet, under Chares, was at that time lying. Ow-
ing chiefly to his superiority in cavalry, the victory remained
with Philip. The Thessalian horse cutting off retreat, the
troops of Onomarchus flung away their armor, and cast
themselves into the sea, to swim to the Athenian ships.
Some were slain, others drowned : the entire loss was six
thousand men, among whom was Onomarchus himself, and
three thousand prisoners, whom Philip, it is said, drowned as
being sacrilegious. It is also said that he hung Onomarchus'
body on a gibbet.

The first use which Philip made of his victory was to lead



right eye ' upon it. Philip had it shot back, with If Philip takes the
town, he will hang Aster ' on it as a reply, and he kept his word. The
anecdote is utterly unworthy of credit.



334 HISTORY OF GREECE.

his forces to Pherae. Lycophron and Peitholaus surrendered
the city, and retired to Phocis. Having thus won the hearts
of the Thessalians by suppressing the tyranny, he prepared
to pass Pylae, and carry the war into the valleys of Phocis.
But an Athenian force, under Diophantus, had been sent off
to occupy the pass ; and Philip, either fearful of not being
able to force it, or deeming the time not to be yet come for
his interference in Southern Greece, retired on Diophantus'
refusal of a passage. Pherae, Pagasae, and other places were
now in his possession, and he was become the real head of
the Thessalian confederacy.

Phayllus now occupied the place of his brothers; the Del-
phian treasures were not yet exhausted ; new bands of merce-
naries were hired ; aid came from the allies ; the Laedaemo-
nians sent 1000, the Achaeans 2000 soldiers ; the Athenians
5000 foot and 400 horse ; Lycophron had brought with him
from Pherae 2000 mercenaries ; several of the smaller states
also gave their aid. With this force Phayllus invaded Bceo-
tia; but without success, receiving three successive checks at
Orchomenus, on the Cephissus, and at Coroneia. Quitting
Bceotia, he suddenly entered the Epicnemidian Locris, and
took several towns. At one, named Aryca, a friendly party
admitted his troops by night; but the rest of the people rose
and drove them out, with the loss of two hundred men.
While he was besieging Abae, the principal town, the Boeo-
tians came, and falling on him by night, killed a good many
of his men. They then entered and ravaged Phocis, and re-
turning to Locris, attempted to relieve the Arycaeans, who
were besieged ; but Phayllus came up, defeated them, and
took and levelled the town. This was his last exploit ; he
died soon after of a disease with which he had been for some
time afflicted, the punishment of his impiety, according to
his enemies, leaving as his successor Phalaecus, the son of
Onomarchus ; and as he was but a youth, he appointed Mna-
seas, one of his friends, to be his guardian and general. Mna-
seas, however, fell shortly afterwards in a night assault of the
Boeotians ; and Phalaecus, then assuming the command, sue-



WAR IN PELOPONNESUS. 385

cessively took and lost Chaeroneia, and the Boeotians entered
and ravaged a great part of Phocis.

The loss of Messene had utterly enfeebled Lacedaemon,
and its recovery alone could restore her to her former con-
sequence ; but so long as Megalopolis existed on her north-
ern frontier it was unsafe to attack Messene. The Lace-
daemonian government proceeded, with much art, to repre-
sent that every state should be put into its former condition ;
that Triphylia should be restored to the Eleians, Tricaranon
to the Phliasians, Oropus to the Athenians ; and those who
had been forced to quit their lands and villages to become
inhabitants of Megalopolis, be allowed to return to them.
The party in power at Megalopolis, seeing themselves
menaced with invasion from Laconia, sent to call on their
friends for aid ; and as it was of great importance for both
sides to gain the Athenians, embassies from both Sparta and
Megalopolis arrived at Athens. On this occasion Demos-
thenes, afterwards so renowned, made one of his earliest
speeches, in which he first developed the principle which ever
after guided his policy, namely, that it was the interest of
Athens, aiming as she did at the supremacy in Greece, to
maintain a balance of power among the other states. He
therefore advised to aid the Megalopolitans in case the La-
cedaemonians should attack them, as, if that impediment were
removed, they might recover their former power and become
as formidable as ever.

We are not informed what the resolve of the Athenian
people was ; but the Spartan king, Archidamus, at the head
of a Lacedaemonian army, and three thousand foot and one
hundred and fifty horse of the Phocian mercenaries, entered
and ravaged the lands of the Megalopolitans. The Argives,
Sicyonians, and Messenians hastened to the aid of their allies,
and four thousand foot and five hundred horse came from
Thebes. The Confederates encamped at the sources of the
Alpheus, the Lacedaemonians at Mantineia, whence they
went and laid siege to Orneae, in the Argive territory, and
defeated the Argives, who ventured to engage them. The
33 ww



386 HISTORY OF GREECE.

Thebans now came up, and a severe conflict ensued ; but
though the Confederates were double the number of the
Lacedaemonians, the action, owing to their inferiority in
discipline, was indecisive. After the battle the Argives and
the other Peloponnesians separated, and went home; and
Archidamus, having made an irruption into Arcadia, and
taken and plundered the town of Elissus, led his troops
back to Sparta. When the Confederates reassembled, an
action to the disadvantage of the Lacedaemonians, whose
general, Anaxander, was made prisoner, was fought at Tel-
phusa. The Confederates were successful in two other en-
gagements; but at length the Lacedaemonians gave them a
complete defeat. A truce followed, and the Thebans re-
turned home.

To obtain a footing in Eubcea, Philip saw, would be of
the utmost advantage to him in a contest with Athens. He
had, it would appear, at this time contrived to introduce
some of his troops into it; and Plutarchus of Eretria,
fearing to lose his power, sent (Ol. 107, 3) to call on the
Athenians to save the island. The people were always
sensitive on this point; Demosthenes alone opposed what
he called " an inglorious and expensive war." Aid was
voted, and a small force under Phocion sent thither. But
the Eubceans soon grew suspicious of their allies, and Pho-
cion found treachery every where : he advanced, however,
and took a station on a hill near Tamynae. Callias and
Taurosthenes of Chalcis assembled what forces they could,
and joining with them the Macedonians and a body of the
Phocian mercenaries, came and surrounded them. As the
enemy advanced, Phocion directed his men to remain steady
till he had sacrificed. As he was a long time about this
duty, Plutarchus, affecting to ascribe his delay to cowardice,
charged with his mercenaries ; the Athenian horse followed,
without any order : they were repulsed, and Plutarchus ran
away. The enemies advanced to their rampart, and began
to pull it down. Phocion, directing the phalanx to re-
main steady and receive the fugitives, attacked the enemy



THE OLYNTHIAN WAR. 387

at the head of a body of select troops; Cleophanes rallied
the horse, and a complete victory was gained. Phocion
then drove Plutarchus from Eretria for his treachery ; and
having taken the fortress of Zaretra, he let go those who
were in it, lest the orators should excite the people to some
act of cruelty.* Having settled the affairs of Eubcea, he
returned home. His successor, Molossus, let himself be
beaten and made a prisoner : the Macedonian influence was
restored, and the predictions of Demosthenes were verified.

The ambitious projects of Philip now began to cause ap-
prehensions to his Olynthian allies, whose commerce also
suffered from the Athenian privateers : they therefore pro-
posed a peace to the Athenians, which was accepted. Philip,
who was then in Thrace, where he had a severe illness, sent,
with his usual policy, to remonstrate and complain ; but as
soon as he recovered, he appeared with his army in Chal-
cidice. (01. 107, 4.) The Olynthians immediately sent to
Athens to propose an alliance, and solicit aid. The powerful
eloquence of Demosthenes was exerted in their favor ; the
alliance was accepted, and Chares sent off with two thou-
sand mercenaries. He landed in Pallene, where he met
and defeated a body of eight hundred men led by one Au-
daeus ; and he then returned home to boast of his victory,
and, in his usual way, gain the rabble by banquets. The
Olynthians, however, the next year, (01. 108, 1,) being hard
pressed by Philip, sent again to Athens ; and Charidemus
was despatched with four thousand peltasts and other light
troops, and one hundred and fifty horse. These, united