nx, a manner of arraying his forces which he
had learned in part from Epaminondas. The phalanx was a body of
heavily-armed foot soldiers, each carrying a shield, and a spear
twenty-four feet long. When they advanced, they were taught to lock
their shields together, so as to form a wall, and they stood in ranks,
one behind the other, so that the front row had four spear points
projecting before them.

He also made the Macedonian nobles send their sons to be trained to arms
at his court, so as to form a guard of honour, who were comrades,
friends, and officers to the king. In the meantime, wars were going
on--one called the Social War and one the Sacred War--which wasted the
strength of the Thebans, Spartans, and Athenians all alike, until Philip
began to come forward, intending to have power over them all. At first,
he marched into Thrace, the wild country to the north, and laid siege to
Methone. In this city there was an archer, named Aster, who had once
offered his service to the Macedonian army, when Philip, who cared the
most for his phalanx, rejected him contemptuously, saying, "I will take
you into my pay when I make war on starlings." This man shot an arrow,
with the inscription on it, "To Philip's right eye;" and it actually hit
the mark, and put out the eye. Philip caused it to be shot back again
with the inscription, "If Philip takes the city, he will hang Aster."
And so he did. Indeed he took the loss of his eye so much to heart, that
he was angry if anyone mentioned a Cyclops in his presence.

After taking Methone, he was going to pass into Thessaly, but the
Athenians held Thermopylae, and he waited till he could ally himself with
the Thebans against the Phocians. He took Phocis, and thus gained the
famous pass, being able to attack it on both sides. Next he listened to
envoys from Messenia and Argos, who complained of the dominion of the
Spartans, and begged him to help them. The Athenians were on this urged
by Demosthenes, in one of his Philippics, to forget all their old hatred
to Sparta, and join her in keeping back the enemy of both alike; and
their intention of joining Sparta made Philip wait, and begin by trying
to take the great island of Euboea, which he called the "Shackles of
Greece." To its aid was sent a body of Athenians, under the command of
Phocion, a friend of Plato, and one of the sternest of Stoics, of whom it
was said that no one had ever seen him laugh, weep, or go to the publ