Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/1003

Rh DEMOSTHENES. be sent to the kinj? was discussed in the assembly, B. c. .'U4, to phice in his second Philippic the pro- ceedings and designs of the king and his Athe- nian friends in their true light. The answer which the Athenians sent to Philip was probably not very siitisfactory to him, for he immediately sent another embassy to Athens, lieaded by Python, with proposals for a modification of the late peace, although he subsequently denied having given to Python any authority for such proposids. (Dem. </c Halones. p. 81.) Philip had for some time been engaged in the formation of a navy, and the apprehensions which the Athenians entertained on that score were but too soon justified; for no sooner were his preparations completed, than he took possession of the island of Halonesus, which belonged to Athens. The Athenians sent an embassy to claim the island back ; but Philip, who had found it in the hands of pirates, denied that the Athenians had any right to claim it, but at the same time he offered to make them a present of the island, if they would receive it as such. On the return of the ambassadors to Athens in B.C. 343, the oration on Halonesus (irepi 'AAojofo-ou) was delivered. It is usually printed among the orations of Demos- thenes, but belongs in all probability to Hegesip- pus. This and other similar acts of aggi-ession, which at length opened the eyes of the Athenians, roused them once more to vigorous and energetic measures, in spite of the efforts of the Macedonian party to keep the people quiet. Embassies were stMit to Acarnania and Peloponnesus to counteract I'hilip's schemes in those quarters (Dem. FliiL iii. p. 1"29), and his expedition into Thrace, by which tlie Chersonesus was threatened, called forth an energetic demonstration of the Athenians under Diopeithes. The complaints which Philip then made roused Demosthenes, in B. c. 342, to his powerfid oration "mpi rwu tv Xf^poin](T<f'^ and to his third Philippic, in which he describes the king's faithlessness in the most glaiing colours, and exhorts his countrymen to unite and resist the treacherous aggressor. Soon after this, the ty- rants whom Philip had established in Euboea were expelled through the influence and assistiince of Demosthenes (Dem, de Corun. p. 254) ; but it was not till B. c. 341, when Philip laid siege to Perin- thus and attivcked Byzantium, that the long-sup- pressed indignation of the Athenians burst forth. The peace with Philip was now declared violated (h. c. 340) ; a fleet was sent to relieve Byzantium (Plut. P/ioc. 14), and Philip was compelled to withdraw without having accomplished anything. Demosthenes was the soul of all these energetic measures. He had proposed, as early as the Olyn- thian war, to apply the theoricon to defray the expenses of the militjiry underUikings of Athens (Dem. OlyntL iii. p. 31) ; but it was not till Phi- lip's attack upon Byzjintium that he succeeded in carrying a decree to this effect. (Dionys. Ep. ad A mill. i. 1 1.) By his law concerning the trierarchy {v6ixos rpirjpapx'Kos), he further regidated the synunoriae on a new and more equitable footing. (Dem. de Curoii. p. 260, &c.) He thus at once gave a fresh impulse to the maritime power and enterprise of Athens, B. c. 340. Philip now assumed the appearance of giving himself no further concern about the affairs of Greece. He carried on war with his northern neighbours, and left it to his hiielings to prepare DEMOSTHENES. 985 the last stroke at the independence of Greece. He calculated well ; for when in the spring of B.c. 340 the Amphictyons assembled at Delphi, Aeschines, who was present as pylagoras, effected a decree against the Locrians of Amphissa for having un- lawfully occupied a district of sacred hind. The Araphissaeans rose against this decree, and the Amphictyons summoned an extraordinary meeting to deliberate on the punishment to be inflicted upon Amphissa. Demosthenes foresaw and fore- told the unfortunate consequences of a war of the Amphictyons, and he succeeded at least in persuad- ing the Athenians not to send any deputies to that extraordinary meeting. (Dem. de Cktron. p. 275 ; Aeschin. c. Ctesiph. § 125, &c.) The Amphictyons however decreed war against Amphissa, and the command of the Amphictyonic army was given to Cottyphus, an Arcadian ; but the expedition failed from want of spirit and energy among those who took part in it. (Dem. de Coroti. p. 277 ) The consequence was, that in B. c. 339, at the next ordinary meeting of the Amphictyons, king Philip was appointed cliief commander of the Amphictyo- nic army. This was the very thing which he had been looking for. With the appearance of justice on his side, he now had an opportunity of establish- ing himself with an armed force in the very heart of Greece. He set out without delay, and when the Athenians received the news of his having taken possession of Elatea, they were thrown into the deepest consternation. Demosthenes alone did not give up all hopes, and he once more roused his countrymen by bringing about an alliance bi-tween Athens and Thebes. The Thebans had formeriy been favoured by Philip, but his subsequent neg- lect of them had effaced the recollection of it; and they now clearly saw that the fall of Athens would inevitably be followed by their own ruin. They had before opposed the war of the Amphic- tyons, and when Philip now called upon them to allow his ai-my lo march through their territory or to join him in his expedition against Athens, they indignantly rejected all his handsome proposals, and threw themselves into the open arms of the Athenians. (Dem. de Coron. p. 299, &c.) This was the last grand effort against the growing power of Macedonia; but the battle of Chaeroneia, on the 7th of Metageilnion, B. c. 338, put an end to the independence of Greece.' Thebes paid dearly for its resisUuice, and Athens v.hich expected a similar fate, resolved at least to perish in a glorious struggle. The most prodigious efforts were made to meet the enemy; but Philip unexpectedly offered to conclude peace on tolera»»ie terms, which it would have been madness to reject, for Athens thus had an opportunity of at least securing its existence and a shadow of its former independence. The period which now followed could not be otherwise than painful and gloomy to Demosthenes, for the evil might have been averted had his ad- vice been followed in time. The catastrophe of Chaeroneia might indeed to some extent be re- garded as his work ; but the people were too ge- nerous and too well convinced of the purity of his intentions, as well as of the necessity of acting as he had acted, to make him responsible for the unfor- tunate consequences of the war with Philip. It was, on the contrary, one of the most glorious acknowledgments of his merits that he could have received, that he was requested to deliver the fu- neral oiutiou upon those who had fallen at Chaero-