Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/396

370 HISTORY OF GREECE. against the remainder, it was still his interest to detach Athens from the war, if he could. Her manner of carrying on war was indeed faint and slack ; yet she di J him much harm at sea, and she was the only city competent to organize an extensive Grecian confederacy against him ; which, though it had not yet been Drought about, was at least a possible contingency under her pre i'lency. An Athenian of influence named Phrynon had been captured by Philip's cruisers, during the truce of the Olympic festival in 848 B. c. : after a certain detention, he procured from home the required ransom and obtained his release. On returning to Athens, he had sufficient credit to prevail on the public assembly to send another citizen along with him, as public envoy from the city to Philip ; in order to aid him in getting back his ransom, which he alleged to have been wrongfully demanded from one captured during the holy truce. Though this seems a strange proceeding during mid-war, 1 yet the Athenian people took up the case with sympathy ; Ktesiphon was named envoy, and went with Phrynon to Philip, whom they must have found engaged in the war against Olynthus. Being received in the most courteous manner, they not only obtained restitution of the ransom, but were completely won over by Philip. With his usual good policy, he had seized the opportunity of gaining (we may properly say, of bribing, since the restoration of ransom was substantially a bribe) two powerful Athenian citizens, whom he now sent back to Athena as his pronounced partisans. 1 There is more than one singularity in the narrative given by JEschines about Phrynon. The complaint of Phrynon implies an assumption, that the Olympic truce suspended the operations of war everywhere throughout Greece between belligerent Greeks. But such was not the maxim recog- nized or acted on ; so far as we know the operations of warfare. Vcemel (Proleg. ad Demosth. De Pace, p. 246) feeling this difficulty, understands the Olympic truce, here mentioned, to refer to the Olympic festival cele- brated by Philip himself in Macedonia, in the spring or summer of 347 B. c. This would remove the difficulty about the effect of the truce ; for Philip of course would respect his own proclaimed truce. But it is liable to an- other objection: that JEschines plainly indicates the capture of Phrynon to have been anterior to the fall of Olynthus. Besides, JEschines would hardly use the words iv ralf '0?ay7rt/tatf onovdalf, without any special addition, to signify the Macedonian games.