up to this time, despised these barbarians.
Demosthenes, in the third Philippic, reproaches his countrymen with
enduring insult and outrage from a vile barbarian out of Macedon, whence
formerly not even a respectable slave could be obtained. It is indeed
doubtful whether the world has ever seen a man, placed in a position
of great power, more capable of seizing every opportunity and of using
every agency, fair or foul, for accomplishing his ambitious purposes,
than was Philip of Macedon. The Greeks were most unfortunate in their
enemy.

Philip understood the Greek people thoroughly. He had received his early
training among them while a hostage at Thebes. He found in their petty
feuds, in their indolence and corruptibility, his opportunity to carry
into effect his matured plans of conquest. His energy never slept; his
influence was ever present. When he was far away, extending his
boundaries among the barbarians, his money was still active in Athens
and elsewhere. His agents, often among the ablest men in a community,
were busy using every cunning means at the command of the wonderful
Greek ingenuity to conceal the danger or to reconcile the fickle people
to a change that promised fine rewards for the sale of their liberty.
Then he began to trim off one by one the outlying colonies and
dependencies of the Greek States. His next step was to be the obtaining
of a foothold in Greece proper.

The chief obstacle to Philip's progress was Athens, degenerate as she
was, and his chief opponent in Athens was Demosthenes. This Philip
understood very well; but he treated both the city and the great
statesman always with a remarkable leniency. More than once Athens,
inflamed by Demosthenes, flashed into her old-time energy and activity,
and stayed the Macedonian's course; as when, in his first bold march
towards the heart of Greece, he found himself confronted at Thermopylae
by Athenian troops; and again when prompt succor from Athens saved
Byzantium for the time. But the emergency once past, the ardor of the
Athenians died down as quickly as it had flamed up.

The Social War (357-355 B.C.) left Athens stripped almost bare of
allies, and was practically a victory for Philip. The Sacred War
(357-346 B.C.) between Thebes and Phocis, turning upon an affront
offered to the Delphian god, gave Philip the eagerly sought-for
opportunity of interfering in the internal affairs of Greece. He became
the successful champion of the god, and rec