Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/522

496 ffiSTORY OF GREECE. and two thousand cavalry ; l and pecuniary contributions beside^ to no inconsiderable amount, for the payment of mercenary troops- Whether all these troops fought either in Phokis or at Chaeroneia, we cannot determine ; we verify the Achaaans and the Corinthians. 3 As far as we can trust Demosthenes, the autumn and winter of 339-338 B. c. was a season of advantages gained by the Athe- nians and Thebans over Philip, and of rejoicing in their two cities ; not without much embarrassment to Philip, testified by his ur- gent requisitions of aid from his Peloponnesian allies, with which they did not comply. Demosthenes was the war-minister ol the day, exercising greater influence than the generals de- liberating at Thebes in concert with the Boeotarchs advising and swaying the Theban public assembly as well as the Athenian and probably in mission to other cities also, for the purpose of pressing military efforts. 3 The crown bestowed upon him at the. Dionysiac festival (March 338 B. c.) marks the pinnacle of his glory and the meridian of his hopes, when there seemed a fair chance of successfully resisting the Macedonian invasion. Philip had calculated on the positive aid of Thebes ; at the very worst, upon her neutrality between him and Athens. That she would cordially join Athens, neither he nor any one else im agined ; nor could so improbable a result have been brought about, had not the game of Athens been played with unusual decision and judgment by Demosthenes. Accordingly, when opposed by the unexpected junction of the Theban and Athenian force, it is not wonderful that Philip should have been at first repulsed. Such disadvantages would hardly indeed drive him to send instant 1 Demosth. De CoronA, p. 306 ; Plutarch, Demosth. c. 17. In the decree of the Athenian people (Plutarch, Vit. X. Orat. p. 850) passed after tha death of Demosthenes, granting various honors and a statue to his memory it is recorded that he brought in by his persuasions not only the allies enumerated in the text, but also the Lokrians and the Messenians ; and that he procured from the allies a total contribution of above five hundred talents. The Messenians, however, certainly did not fight at Chaeroncia ; nor is it conectto say that Demosthenes induced the Amphissian Lokrians to be come allies of Athens. 1 Strabo, ix. p. 414 ; Pausanias, vii. 6, 3. 3 Plutarch, Demosth. c. 48. aSschines (adv. Ktesiph. p. 74) puts the^ same facts the great personal vscendency of Psmosthenes at this period in an invidious point of view