Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/422

 408 PHILIP Y. (MACEDON) decree. He immediately began the march southward, and on his passage through Phocis seized Elatea and began refortifying that town. He declared his purpose to invade Attica, and sent envoys to Thebes, where a strong feeling against Athens prevailed, asking her assistance, or at least that a free passage through Boeotia should be granted. By the eloquence of De- mosthenes, Thebes was persuaded to enter into an alliance with Athens, and the allied forces kept the field against Philip during the au- tumn and winter of 339 and 338, and gained several advantages over him. In August, 338, the battle of Chseronea was fought, in which Philip was signally victorious. The conquered Thebans he treated with severity, but motives of policy led him to adopt mild measures in regard to the Athenians, between whom and himself the treaty called the peace of Demades was negotiated, by which the Athenians recog- nized Philip as the head of Greece. He now reduced the entire Peloponnesus, with the ex- ception of Sparta, which he did not attack. He held a congress of Grecian cities at Corinth, in which he unfolded his design of invading the Persian empire, and liberating the Asiatic Greeks. The congress voted him the leader of the Greeks, and decreed that the various states should furnish contingents. During 337 his preparations went steadily on, and early in 336 a body of troops under Attalus and Par- menio was sent over into Asia. Not long be- fore he had repudiated his wife Olympias, the mother of Alexander, on the ground of infi- delity, and had married Cleopatra, the niece of Attalus. To retain the good will of the king of Epirus while he himself was in Asia, Phil- ip gave him his daughter in marriage; and festivities of great splendor were celebrated at ^Egss in Macedonia. Among the members of his body guard was a noble youth named Pausanias, who had vainly implored Philip to avenge an outrage committed by Attalus. His determination to assassinate Philip is said to have been encouraged by Olympias. As Philip was entering the theatre, Pausanias rushed for- ward and thrust a sword through his breast, killing him almost instantly. The assassin was overtaken and slain on the spot. PHILIP V., king of Macedon, son of Deme- trius II., born in 237 B. C., died in 179. His father died when he was eight years old, but he did not succeed to the throne until the death of his uncle Antigonus Doson in 220. In the first year of his reign he was brought into the war then raging between the ^Etolians and the Achaean league. Marching to Corinth with an army for the support of the latter, he presided over an assembly of the allied states in which war was declared against the ^Etolians, and in the spring of 219 entered Epirus, but quickly returned to repel an invasion of the Dardanians. At the close of the year he suddenly showed himself in the Peloponnesus, and in a short campaign defeated an JStolian and Elean army under Euripidas, captured Psophis, ravaged the Elean plain, and conquered Triphylia. He then suddenly passed over into ^Etolia, and took Thermum, the capital of that country, with all its treasures ; and then, turning to the Peloponnesus, ravaged Laconia and defeated the Spartans under Lycurgus. In 217 he cap- tured Bylazora in Paeonia, and .reduced the Phthiotic Thebes in Thessaly, but finally con- cluded a peace, by which it was agreed that each party should retain what it possessed. At this time Philip began to turn his attention to the war then waged in Italy by Hannibal, and after the battle of Cannae sent a messenger to conclude an alliance with the Carthaginian leader ; but owing to the ambassador being in- tercepted by the Romans, the treaty was not made till 215. In 214 his fleet appeared in the Adriatic, took Oricum, and laid siege to Apol- lonia, but was obliged to retreat on the ar- rival of a Roman force under Laevinus. The next year he took Lissus and reduced the great- er portion of Illyria. Meanwhile the charac- ter of Philip seems to have undergone a great change. In the beginning of his reign he had not only manifested military talents of a high order, but had been so distinguished for his moderation and generosity that the cities of Crete had placed themselves of their own accord under his protection. But now he quarrelled with Aratus, his former friend and counsellor, and ravaged Messenia with fire and sword. In 211 an alliance was entered into against him by the Romans, the ^Etolians, Scer- dilaidas, king of Illyria, and Attalus, king of Pergamus. The war began in 210 and last- ed till 205 ; and upon the whole Philip was successful. The terms of the treaty concluded with the allies were not much respected by the Macedonian king, who formed an alliance with Antiochus the Great of Syria against Egypt ; and having inflicted much injury on the Rhodians, he became involved in a war with them and Attalus. While besieging Chios, he was attacked and defeated by the combined fleet ; but in another engagement off Lade he was successful. The allies equipped anoth- er fleet, and it was with some difficulty that Philip was able to pass over into Europe in the spring of 200. The Romans, now free from their war with Carthage, declared Avar against Macedon. In 200 Philip invaded Thrace, took JEnus and Maronea, penetrated into the Chersonese, captured Abydos, and returning entered Attica, nearly surprising Athens ; but being foiled in this, he laid waste the country around the city. The following year he de- feated the jEtolians, who had joined the Ro- mans. The arrival of Titus Quintius Flami- ninus to take the command of the Roman army soon changed the aspect of affairs. A battle was fought in 197 at Cynoscephalae in Thessaly, in which the Macedonians were de- feated with a loss of 8,000.men killed and 5,000 taken prisoners. A peace was concluded in 196, according to the terms of which Philip was required to give up all his conquests in