when all the energies of Greece were
demanded to put down the encroachments of Philip. As was usual in these
intestine troubles, the weaker party invoked the aid of a foreign power,
and the Amphictyonic Assembly, intent on punishing Amphissa, sought
assistance from Philip. He, of course, accepted the invitation, and
marched south through Thermopylae, proclaiming his intention to avenge the
Delphian god. In his march he took Nicaea from the Thebans, and entered
Phocis, and converted Elatea into a permanent garrison. Hitherto he had
only proclaimed himself as a general acting under the Amphictyonic vote to
avenge the Delphian god,--now he constructed a military post in the heart
of Greece.

(M719) Thebes, ever since the battle of Leuctra, had been opposed to
Athens, and even now unfriendly relations existed between the two cities,
and Philip hoped that Thebes would act in concert with him against Athens.
But this last outrage of Philip exceedingly alarmed Athens, and
Demosthenes stood up in the Assembly to propose an embassy to Thebes with
offers of alliance. His advice was adopted, and he was dispatched with
other envoys to Thebes. The Athenian orator, in spite of the influence of
the Macedonian envoys, carried his point with the Theban Assembly, and an
alliance was formed between Thebes and Athens. The Athenian army marched
at once to Thebes, and vigorous measures were made at Athens for the
defensive war which so seriously threatened the loss of Grecian liberty.
The alliance was a great disappointment to Philip, who remained at Phocis,
and sent envoys to Sparta, inviting the Peloponnesians to join him against
Amphissa. But the Thebans and Athenians maintained their ground against
him, and even gained some advantages. Among other things, they
reconstituted the Phocian towns. The Athenians and their allies had a
force of fifteen thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry, and
Demosthenes was the war minister by whom these forces were collected.
These efforts on the part of Thebes and Athens led to renewed preparations
on the part of Philip. He defeated a large body of mercenaries, and took
Amphissa. Unfortunately, the Athenians had no general able to cope with
him, and it was the work of Demosthenes merely to keep up the courage of
his countrymen and incite them to effort.

(M720) At last, in the month of August, Philip, with thirty thousand foot
and two thousand horse, met the allied Greeks at Chaeronea, the last
Boeot