Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/273

 PHOKIAN CLAIMS. 2i< temple-management to the Delphians ; who were confirmed in it by a formal article of the peace of Nikias in 421 B. c., 1 and re- tained it without question, under the recognized Hellenic suprem- acy of Sparta, down to the battle of Leuktra. Even then, too, it continued undisturbed ; since Thebes was nowise inclined to favor the claim of her enemies the Phokians, but was on the contrary glad to be assisted in crushing them by their rivals the Delphians, who, as managers of the temple, could materially contribute tc a eevere sentence of the Amphiktyonic assembly. We see thus that the claim now advanced by Philomelus was not fictitious, but genuine, and felt by himself as well as by other Phokians to be the recovery of an ancient privilege, lost only through superior force. 2 His views being heartily embraced by his countrymen, he was nominated general with full powers. It was his first measure to go to Sparta, upon whose aid he counted, in consequence of the heavy fine which still stood imposed upon her by the Amphiktyonic sentence. He explained his views pri- vately to king Archidamus, engaging, if the Phokians should be- come masters of the temple, to erase the sentence and fine from the column of record. Archidamus did not dare to promise him public countenance or support ; the rather, as Sparta had always been the chief supporter of the Delphian presidency (as against the Phokian) over the temple. But in secret he warmly en- couraged the scheme ; furnishing a sum of fifteen talents, besides a few mercenary soldiers, towards its execution. With this aid Philomelus returned home, provided an equal sum of fifteen talents from his own purse, and collected a body of peltasts, Phokians as well as strangers. He then executed his design against Delphi, attacking suddenly both the town and the temple, and capturing them, as it would appear, with little opposition. To the alarmed Delphians, generally, he promised security and good treatment ; but he put to death the members of the Gens (or Clan) called Thrakidae, and seized their property : these men constituted one among several holy Gentes, leading conductors of the political 1 Thucyd. v. 18. Justin (viii 1) takes no notice of this first position of the Phokians in regard to the temple of Delphi. He treats them as if they had been de- ipoilers of the temple even at first ; " velut deo irascentes."