s should not have listened to the warnings of the most
sagacious patriot who adorned those degenerate times, but the influence of
AEschines was then paramount, and he was sold to Philip. He cried peace,
when there was no peace. The great error of Athens was in not rendering
timely assistance to the Phocians, who possessed the Pass of Thermopylae,
although they had brought upon themselves the indignation of Greece by the
seizure of the Delphic treasures.

(M715) The victories and encroachments of Philip, within the line of
common Grecian defense, were profoundly lamented by Demosthenes, and he
now felt that it was expedient to keep on terms of peace with so powerful
and unscrupulous and cunning a man. Isocrates wished Philip to reconcile
the four great cities of Greece, Sparta, Athens, Thebes, and Argos, put
himself at the head of their united forces, and Greece generally, invade
Persia, and liberate the Asiatic Greeks. But this was putting the Hellenic
world under one man, and renouncing the independence of States and the
autonomy of cities--the great principles of Grecian policy from the
earliest historic times, and therefore a complete subversion of Grecian
liberties, and the establishment of a centralized power under Philip,
whose patrimonial kingdom was among the least civilized in Greece.

(M716) The peace between Philip and Athens lasted, without any formal
renunciation, for six years, during which the Macedonian king pursued his
aggressive policy and his intrigues in all the States of Greece. His
policy was precisely that of Rome when it meditated the conquest of the
world, only his schemes were confined chiefly to Greece. Every year his
power increased, while the States of Greece remained inactive and
uncombined--a proof of the degeneracy of the times--certainly in regard to
self-sacrifices to secure their independence. Demosthenes plainly saw the
approaching absorption of Greece in the Macedonian dominion, unless the
States should unite for common defense; and he took every occasion to
denounce Philip, not only in Athens, but to the envoys of the different
States. The counsels of the orator were a bitter annoyance to the despot,
who sent to Athens letters of remonstrance.

(M717) At last an occasion was presented for hostilities by the refusal of
the Athenians to allow Philip to take possession of the island of
Halicarnassus, claiming the island as their own. Reprisals took place, and
Philip demanded the posse