Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/323

DEPRESSION OF THE PHOKIANS. 297 Demosthenes, 1 in com'jating the general remissness of his coun- trymen when military exigencies arose, remind them of this un wonted act of energetic movement, crowned with complete effect. With little or no loss, the Athenians succeeded in guarding both themselves and their allies against a very menacing contingency, simply by the promptitude of their action. The cost of the arma ncent altogether was more than two hundred talents ; and from iLe stress which Demosthenes lays on that portion of the expense which was defrayed by the soldiers privately and individually, 9 we may gather that these soldiers (as in the Sicilian expedition under Nikias 3 ) were in considerable proportion opulent citizens. Among a portion of the Grecian public, however, the Athenians incurred obloquy as accomplices in the Phokian sacrilege, and enemies of the Delphian god. 4 But though Philip was thus kept out of Southern Greece, and the Phokians enabled to reorganize themselves against Thebes, yet in Thessaly and without the straits of Thermopylas, Macedo- nian ascendency was henceforward an uncontested fact. Before we follow his subsequent proceedings, however, it will be conve- nient to turn to events both in Phokis and in Peloponnesus. In the depressed condition of the Phokians after the defeat of Onomarchus, they obtained reinforcement not only from Athens, but also from Sparta (one thousand men), and from the Pelopon- nesian Achaeans (two thousand men 5 ). Phayllus, the successor 1 Demosthenes, Philippic i. p. 44. s. 20; De Coronl, p. 236. s. 40; De Fals. Leg. p. 444. s. 366. 2 Demosthenes, De Fals. Leg. p. 367. s. 95. 3 Thucyd. vi. 31. 4 Justin, vii. 2. His rhetorical exaggerations ought not to make us re ect the expression of this opinion against Athens, as a real fact. 6 Demosthenes (Fals. Leg. p. 443) affirms that no one else except A then assisted or rescued the Phokians in this emergency. But Diodorus (xvi 87) mentions succors from the other allies also; and there seems no ground for disbelieving him. The boast of Demosthenes, however, that Athena singlehanded saved the Phokians, is not incorrect as to the main fact, though overstated in the expression. For the Athenians, commanding a naval force, and on this rare occasion rapid in their movements, reached Thermo pylae in time to arrest the progress of Philip, and before the Pcloponnesian troops could arrive. The Athenian expedition to Thermopylae seems t have occurred about May 352 B c. as far as we can make out the chro- nology of the time.