Page:Greece from the Coming of the Hellenes to AD. 14.djvu/254



meaning of Philip's triumph as interpreted by those friendly to him is expressed in the letter addressed to the king by the aged Athenian orator, Isocrates. He had pacified the states, united the nation, and was a great Panhellenic sovereign. Isocrates therefore exhorted him to make it his aim to crush Persia, the hereditary enemy of Greece. Philip had already let it be known that this was his purpose, and by his nomination as "general with absolute power" (στρατηγὸς αὐτοκράτωρ) by the con-