Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/44

 12 IlISTOnY OF greeceT Corinth into Peloponnesus. The details of his inarch we do ro know ; but his great force, probably not inferior to that which had conquered at Chferoneia, spread terror everywhere, silencing all except his partisans. Nowhere was the alarm greater than at Athens. The Athenians recollecting both the speeches of their orators and the votes of their assembly, — offensive at least, if not hostile, to the Macedonians — trembled lest the march of Alexander should be directed against their city, and accordingly made preparation for standing a siege. All citizens were en- joined to bring in their families and pi-operties from the country, insomuch that the space within the walls was full both of fugi- tives and of cattle.^ At the same time, the assembly adopted, on the motion of Demades, a resolution of apology and full sub- mission to Alexander : they not only recognized him as chief of Greece, but conferred upon him divine honors, in terms even more emphatic than those bestowed on Philip.^ The mover, with other legates, cai-ried the resolution to Alexander, whom they found at Thebes, and who accepted their submission. A young speaker named Pytheas is said to have opposed the vote in the Athenian assembly.* Wliether Demosthenes did the like — or whether, under the feeling of disappointed anticipations and overwhelming Macedonian force, he condemned himself to silence, — we cannot say. That he did not go with Demades on the mission to Alexander, seems a matter of course, though he is said to have been appointed by public vote to do so, and to have declined the duty. He accompanied the legation as far as Mount Kithasron, on the frontier, and then retured to Athens.* We read with astonishment that ^schines and his other enemies ' Demadis Fragment, vnep t7/c dudeKaeriac, p. 180. " Arrian, i. 1,4. ' Plutarch, Ileipub. Gcr. Pracept. p. 804. Diodor. xvii. 4; Plutarch, Demosth. c. 23 (Plutarch confounds the pro- ceedings of this year with those of the succeeding year). Demades, in the fragment of his oration remaining to us, makes no allusion to this proceed- ing of Demosthenes. The decree, naming Demostbcnes among the envoys, is likely enough to have been passed chiefly by the votes of his enemies. It was always open to an Athenian citizen to accept or decline such an appointment.
 * iEschines adv. Ktesiph. p. 5G4. c. 50; Dcinardius cont. Dcmostli. p. 57