which broke out in 357 B.C., in
consequence of refusing to pay a fine imposed by the Amphictyonic council.
The Thebans and Locrians carried on this war successfully, joined by
Philip of Macedon, who thus paved the way for the sovereignty of Greece.
One among the most noted places was Crissa, famed for the Pythian games,
and Delphi, renowned for its oracle sacred to Apollo. The priestess,
Pythia, sat on a sacred tripod over the mouth of a cave, and pronounced
her oracles in verse or prose. Those who consulted her made rich presents,
from which Delphi became vastly enriched. Above Delphi towers Parnassus,
the highest mountain in central Greece, near whose summit was the supposed
residence of Deucalion.

(M295) Boeotia was the richest State in Greece, so far as fertility of soil
can make a State rich. It was bounded on the north by the territory of the
Locri, on the west by Phocis, on the south by Attica, and on the east by
the Euboean Sea. It contained about one thousand square miles. Its
inhabitants were famed for their stolidity, and yet it furnished Hesiod,
Pindar, Corinna, and Plutarch to the immortal catalogue of names. Its men,
if stupid, were brave, and its women were handsome. It was originally
inhabited by barbarous tribes, all connected with the Leleges. In its
southwestern part was the famous Helicon, famed as the seat of Apollo and
the Muses, and on the southern border was Mount Cithaeron, to the north of
which was Platea, where the Persians were defeated by the confederate
Greeks under Pausanias. Boeotia contained the largest lake in
Greece--Copaias, famed for eels. On the borders of this lake was Coronea,
where the Thebans were defeated by the Spartans. To the north of Coronea
was Chaeronea, where was fought the great battle with Philip, which
subverted the liberties of Greece. To the north of the river AEsopus, a
sluggish stream, was Thebes, the capital of Boeotia, founded by Cadmus,
whose great generals, Epaminondas and Pelopidas, made it, for a time, one
of the great powers of Greece.

(M296) The most famous province of Greece was Attica, bounded on the north
by the mountains Cithaeron and Parnes, on the west by the bay of Saronicus,
on the east by the Myrtoum Sea. It contained but seven hundred square
miles. It derived its name from Atthis, a daughter of Cranaus; but its
earliest name was Cecropia, from its king, Cecrops. It was divided, in the
time of Cecrops, into four tribes. On its western extremity,