CHAP. XLIV - FROM THE FALL OF OLYNTHUS TO THE END OF THE SACRED WAR

Summary

It is peculiarly necessary in this period of Greek history to distinguish between the impression made by the events on the mind of the reader, who reviews them at a distance of many ages, and that which they produced on the chief actors and their contemporaries, as they occurred. To us the fall of Olynthus, which completed the subjugation of the Chalcidian peninsula, may seem to have decided Philip's contest with Athens, and virtually to have made him master of Greece. Thessaly might be considered as already almost a province of Macedonia. The struggle between Thebes and Phocis had reached such a point, that the one party needed assistance, and the other could not hope to withstand the force with which he was able to support its antagonist. Then, if his arms terminated the conflict, the use to be made of the victory would depend on his will, and there remained no Greek state capable of resisting him. In Peloponnesus there was a similar division of strength and interests: and the side on which he threw his weight must prevail. He had already formed a considerable marine, which after the conquest of the Chalcidian towns he had means of continually augmenting, and which enabled him to threaten and molest the foreign possessions of Athens. The road to Thrace lay open to him: he had already gained a strong footing there: the rival princes were either his humble allies, or enemies who lay at his mercy.