possesses himself of Thessaly:
10. The interference of Philip in the affairs of Thessaly dates from the year 357; the possession of that country was an object equally important for the furtherance of his views upon Greece, as for the improvement of his finances. He first stepped forth as the deliverer of Thessaly, and ended in making it a province of Macedonia.
Expulsion of the tyrants from Pheræ, at the request of the Aleuadæ, 356; the tyrants, however, receive support in the sacred war from the Phocians under Onomarchus. The final defeat of Onomarchus, 352, makes Philip master of Thessaly; he places Macedonian garrisons in the three chief places, and thus supports his authority in the country until he is pleased to make it entirely a Macedonian province, 344.
takes advantage of the sacred war:
11. The protraction of the sacred war in Greece furnished Philip with an excellent opportunity of promoting his views upon that country; although his first attempt at an irruption, too precipitately undertaken, was frustrated by the Athenians. The capture of Olynthus, notwithstanding the assistance afforded it by the Athenians, after a season of apparent inaction, insured the safety of the frontiers in his rear; and by a master stroke of policy, almost at the very moment in which he was driving the Athenians out of Eubœa, he found means to enter with them into negotiations, which, after repeated embassies, were closed by a peace, opening to him the way through Thermopylæ, and enabling him to raise a party favourable to himself within the very walls of Athens.
invades Greece:
12. First descent of Philip into Greece, and termination of the sacred war by reducing the Phocians. The place which he now obtained in the Amphictyonic council, had been the height of his wishes; and the humility of Sparta proved how firmly his ascendancy over Greece was already established.
fosters a party in Greece;
13. Brief view of the state of Greece, and more particularly of Athens, after the sacred war; description of the means by which Philip succeeded in creating and supporting parties favourable to his own interests in the Grecian states. Bribery was not his only instrument; what he gave he borrowed from others; the main feature of his policy was, that he seldom or ever recurred to the same means. Scheming and consistent even in his drunken revels, he hardly ever appears under the same form.
Dreadful consequences to the morals of the Greeks, resulting from the spirit of party, the decline of religion, and the vast increase in the circulating medium, produced by the treasures of Delphi and Macedonia.—Estimate of the power of Athens during the period of Demosthenes and Phocion. It seems that, unfortunately, the eloquence and political acuteness of the former was not accompanied with sufficient talents for negotiation; the latter, perhaps, did not place confidence enough in his country, while Demosthenes placed too much. In spite of public indolence and effeminacy, Athens was still enabled to support her rank as a maritime power, the navy of Philip not being equal to hers.