What length of time is denoted by the adverb εὐθὺς, must of course be matter of conjecture. If the expression had been found in the Oration De Coronâ, delivered twenty years afterwards, we might have construed εὐθὺς very loosely. But it occurs here in an oration delivered probably in the latter half of 350 B. C., but certainly not later than the first half of 348 B. C. Accordingly, it is hardly reasonable to assign to the interval here designated by εὐθὺς (that between Philip’s recovery and his serious attack upon the Olynthians) a longer time than six months. We should then suppose this attack to have been commenced about the last quartet of Olymp. 107, 2; or in the first half of 350 B. C. This is the view of Böhnecke, and, I think, very probable (Forschungen, p. 211).
[695] Justin, viii. 3; Orosius, iii. 12. Justin states this as the cause of the attack made by Philip on Olynthus—which I do not believe. But I see no ground for doubting the fact itself—or for doubting that Philip laid hold of it as a pretext. He found the half-brothers in Olynthus when the city was taken, and put both of them to death.
[696] Thucyd. i. 58.
[697] Demosthenes, Fals. Leg. p. 425, 426; Xenophon, Hellen. v. 2. 17.
[698] Demosthenes, Olynth. i. p. 15. s. 22. οὔτ᾽ ἂν ἐξήνεγκε τὸν πόλεμόν ποτε τοῦτον ἐκεῖνος, εἰ πολεμεῖν ᾠήθη δεήσειν αὐτὸν, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἐπιὼν ἅπαντα τότε ἤλπιζε τὰ πράγματα ἀναιρήσεσθαι, κᾆτα διέψευσται. Τοῦτο δὴ πρῶτον αὐτὸν ταράττει παρὰ γνώμην γεγονὸς, etc.
[699] See [ch. lxxxiii. p. 35] of this Volume.
[700] Demosthenes, Fals. Leg. p. 439. Æschines himself met a person named Atrestidas followed by one of these sorrowful troops. We may be sure that this case was only one among many.
[701] Pliny, H. N. ii. 27. “Fit et cœli ipsius hiatus, quod vocant chasma. Fit et sanguineâ specie (quo nihil terribilius mortalium timori est) incendium ad terras cadens inde; sicut Olympiadis centesimæ septimæ anno tertio, cum rex Philippus Græciam quateret. Atque ego hæc statis temporibus naturæ, ut cetera, arbitror existere; non (ut plerique) variis de causis, quas ingeniorum acumen excogitat. Quippe ingentium malorum fuere prænuntia; sed ea accidisse non quia hæc facta sunt arbitror, verum hæc ideo facta, quia incasura erant illa: raritate autem occultam eorum esse rationem, ideoque non sicut exortus supra dictos defectusque et multa alia nosci.”
The precision of this chronological note makes it valuable. Olymp. 107, 3—corresponds to the year between Midsummer 350 and Midsummer 349 B. C.
Taylor, who cites this passage in his Prolegomena ad Demosthenem (ap. Reiske Oratt. Gr. vol. viii. p. 756), takes the liberty, without any manuscript authority, of altering tertio into quarto; which Böhnecke justly pronounces to be unreasonable (Forschungen, p. 212). The passage as it stands is an evidence, not merely to authenticate the terrific character of the time, but also to prove, among other evidences, that the attack of Philip on the Olynthians and Chalkidians began in 350-349 B. C.—not in the following Olympic year, or in the time after Midsummer 349 B. C.