Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/538

 512 HISTORY OF GREECE. minded by Phokion that it was a necessary result of the peace which they had accepted on the motion of Demades, and that it was now too late to murmur. 1 We cannot wonder at their feel- ings. Together with the other free cities of Greece, they were enrolled as contributary appendages of the king of Macedon ; a revolution, to them more galling than to the rest, since they pass- ed at once, not merely from simple autonomy, but from a condi- tion of superior dignity, into the common dependence. Athens had only to sanction the scheme dictated by Philip and to furnish her quota towards the execution. Moreover, this scheme the invasion of Persia had ceased to be an object of genuine aspi- ration throughout the Grecian world. The Great King, no longer inspiring terror to Greece collectively, might now be re- garded as likely to lend protection against Macedonian oppres- sion. To emancipate the Asiatic Greeks from Persian dominion would be in itself an enterprise grateful to Grecian feeling, though all such wishes must have been gradually dying out since the peace of Antalkidas. But emancipation, accomplished by Philip, would be only a transfer of the Asiatic Greeks from Persian do- minion to his. The synod of Corinth served no purpose except to harness the Greeks to his car, for a distant enterprise lucrative to his soldiers and suited to his insatiable ambition. It was in 337 B. c. that this Persian expedition was concerted and resolved. During that year preparations were made of suf- ficient magnitude to exhaust the finances of Philip ; 2 who was at the same time engaged in military operations, and fought a severe battle against the Illyrian king Pleurias. 3 In the spring of 336 J. c., a portion of the Macedonian army under Parmenio and At- talus, was sent across to Asia to commence military operations Philip himself intending speedily to follow.* Such however was not the fate reserved for him. Not long be- fore, he had taken the resolution of repudiating, on the allegation of infidelity, his wife Olympias ; who is said to have become re- pugnant to him, from the furious and savage impulses of her char acter. He had successively married several wives, the last of 1 Plutarch, Phokion,. 16. 1 Arrian, vii. 9, 5. * Diodor xvi 93. 4 Justin, ix. 5 : Diodor. xvi. 91