Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/421

 PHILIP II. (MACEDON) 407 Lycophron, the tyrant of Pherae ; and the lat- ter implored the aid of Onomarchus, leader of the Phocians, who sent into Thessaly his broth- er Phayllus with 7,000 men. Philip defeated and drove him out of the country, whereupon Onomarchus, taking the field in person, marched into Thessaly, and routed the Macedonians in two battles, with a loss so great that they were forced to withdraw into their own territory. After considerable difficulty in reviving the courage and devotion of his soldiers, Philip marched again into Thessaly, and, at the head of an army of 20,000 foot and 3,000 horse, sig- nally defeated Onomarchus on the southern coast. He followed up this victory by the cap- ture of Phei-83, which he made a free city, and of the maritime station of Pagasee. On his march into Thessaly, the sacred war between Phocis and Thebes having broken out, he had proclaimed himself the avenger of the Del- phian god, and before the battle had deco- rated his soldiers with laurel wreaths. He now pushed on to the Phocian territory un- der the pretext of punishing the sacrilegious robbery of Delphi ; but his entrance into that country was prevented by the Athenians, who guarded the pass of Thermopylae. He now advanced toward the Chersonese. The Athe- nians made immediate efforts to equip a fleet for the defence of their possessions in that vicinity, but on a false report of his death they allowed their military operations to lan- guish. About this time Demosthenes delivered his first philippic. Meanwhile the Olynthians, who had formerly been allies of Philip, now began to fear his power, and concluded a treaty with Athens. No offensive operations on his part seem to have been begun until the middle of 350, when he seriously set to work to reduce the whole peninsula of Chalcidice, the pretext for the war against Olynthus being that his two half brothers had obtained a ref- uge in that city. The success of his arms in the peninsula was gradual but certain. City after city yielded to his power or was betrayed into his hands ; and at last, master of Chalci- dice, he marched directly against Olynthus and its two confederates, Apollonia and Methone. Near the last named place he was wounded and lost the sight of one eye. Athens sent an expedition to the assistance of its ally, but the reinforcements were not sufficient. Olyn- thus was taken, probably early in the spring of 347, nearly as much by the use of money as by actual military strength. The inhabitants were sold into slavery, and Olynthus itself and the other cities of Chalcidice, 32 in all, were dismantled, and so thoroughly ruined that, ac- cording to a speech of Demosthenes five years later, their very sites were scarcely discerni- ble. Athens now made a vigorous effort to unite the states of Greece in a common league against Macedon ; but failing of much success, she listened to the overtures of peace which Philip indirectly offered. Negotiations were opened, which were skilfully protracted by Philip so as to subserve his own interests. The first embassy left Athens about Decem- ber, 347, and returned about the beginning of March, bringing back a letter professing the' most friendly feelings, but insisting as a con- dition of peace that each party should retain what it possessed. The treaty was adopted, but a dispute arose on the question of who were the allies included in the terms of the peace, the envoys of Philip refusing to ac- knowledge the Phocians as such. Before the second embassy reached him, he had conquered Kersobleptes, the Thracian ally of Athens. He delayed the ratification of the treaty under various pretexts until he was at Pliers, within three days' march of Thermopylae. The Athe- nians, persuaded by ^Eschines and others, did nothing for the defence of the pass. Phalae- cus, the nephew and successor in command of Phayllus, thereupon concluded an agreement with Philip to evacuate the territory, and the country fell immediately into the hands of the Macedonians. The amphictyons, assembling, invested Philip with the right of suffrage pre- viously enjoyed by the Phocians, thus recog- nizing the Hellenic character of his nation ; they moreover appointed him president of the Pythian games, which were held in August, 346, two months after the subjugation of Pho- cis. Athens, indignant at being betrayed, was not disposed to concur in the vote giving him a place in the amphictyonic assembly, but was persuaded by Demosthenes not to display an anger at once dangerous and impotent. Master of Thermopylae, Philip now began his intrigues in the Peloponnesus, striving to excite the Messenians, Megalopolitans, and Argives against the Spartans. His active spirit was constant- ly at work throughout the whole of his do- minions, confirming his authority in Thessaly, overrunning Pasonia and the Illyrian countries bordering on Macedonia, and capturing cities on the Ambracian gulf. In 344 Athens sent unsuccessful embassies into the Peloponnesus to counteract his efforts. Ill feeling prevailed between the Athenians and Macedonians for a long time before it broke out into open war. Philip began the siege of Perinthus in 340, but an Athenian fleet compelled him to retire ; and a similar attempt to capture Byzantium failed in consequence of the presence of a fleet under Phocion, who moreover gained several advantages over him in land and naval actions. Philip therefore made peace with the Byzan- tines, withdrew his forces from that part of the country, and in the spring of 339 made a successful land expedition against the Scythian king Atheas ; but on his return he was attacked by the Triballi, a Thracian tribe, was defeated with the loss of his booty, and received a se- vere wound in his thigh. About this time the amphictyons brought a new war into Greece, by resolving that the Amphissian Locrians, who had settled on the Cirrhsean plain, consecrated to the Delphian god, were to be punished for impiety. Philip was called in to execute the