Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/519

 WAR IN PHOK1S 49$ they do not seem to have produced much effect; nor was it easy foi the Peloponnesians to join Philip either by land, while Boeotia was hostile or by sea while the Amphissians held Kirrha, and the Athenians had a superior navy. War was now carried on, in Phokis and on the frontiers of Boeotia, during the autumn and winter of 339-338 B. c. The Athenians and Thebans not only maintained their ground against Philip, but even gained some advantages over him ; especially in two engagements called the battle on the river, and the winter- battle of which Demosthenes finds room to boast, and which called forth manifestations of rejoicing and sacrifice, when made known at Athens. 1 To Demosthenes himself, as the chief adviser of the Theban alliance, a wreath of gold was proposed by Demo- meles and Hyperides, and decreed by the people ; and though a citizen named Diondas impeached the mover for an illegal decree, yet he did not even obtain the fifth part of the suffrages of the Dikastery, and therefore became liable to the fine of one thousand drachms. 2 Demosthenes was crowned with public proclamation at the Dionysiac festival of March 338 B. c. 3 But the most memorable step taken by the Athenians and Thebans, in this joint war against Philip, was that of reconstitut- ing the Phokians as an independent and self-defending section of the Hellenic name. On the part of the Thebans, hitherto the bitterest enemies of the Phokians, this proceeding evinced adop- tion of an improved and generous policy, worthy of the Pan-hel- lenic cause in which they had now embarked. In 346 B. c., the Phokians had been conquered and ruined by the arms of Philip, under condemnation pronounced by the Amphiktyons. Their cities had all been dismantled, and their population distributed in EK TUV 7T OTO/t(JV EHELVOV fJ.a&T/<7ff&S UV 'f Yle^OTTOVVrjCOV ETTeflTTEV (p. 301, 302). Demosthenes causes the letters to be read publicly, but no letter! appear verbatim. 1 Demosth. De Corona, p. SCO. 3 That Demosthenes was crowned at the Dionysiac festival (March 33(5 B. c.) is contended by Bohnecke (Forschungen, p. 534, 535) ; upon ground4 which seem sufficient, against the opinion of Boeckh and Winiewski (Com- ment, ad Demosth. De Corona, p. 250), who think that he was not crownerf until the Panathenaic festival, in the ensuing J'lly. VOL. xi. 42
 * Deimsth. DC Corona, p. 302 ; Plutarch, Vit. X. Orator., p. 848.