exertions in behalf of
Olynthus, and amid great financial embarrassments. Three expeditions were
sent into Chalcidia, under the command of Chares, numbering altogether
four thousand Athenians and ten thousand mercenaries. But they were
powerless against the conquering arms of Philip, who completely overran
and devastated the peninsula, taking thirty-two cities, and selling the
people for slaves. At last Olynthus fell, B.C. 347, and the spoils of this
old Hellenic city were divided among the soldiers of the conqueror, who
celebrated his victories by a splendid festival.

No such calamity had befallen Greece for a century as the conquest of
Chalcidia, and it filled Athens with unspeakable alarms. AEschines, the
rival of Demosthenes as an orator, now joined with him in denouncing
Philip as the common enemy of Greece. Aristodemus was sent to him with
propositions of peace, and Philip professed to entertain them favorably,
with his characteristic duplicity.

(M713) Meanwhile the sacred war had impoverished the Phocians, and there
were dissensions among themselves. Their temple of Delphi had already been
stripped of the enormous sum of ten thousand talents, eleven million five
hundred thousand dollars, probably equal in our times to two hundred and
thirty million dollars; so that it must have been richer, when the
relative value of gold and silver is considered, than any church in
Christendom. The treasures of the temple, enriched for three hundred years
by offerings from all parts of the world, still enabled the Phocians to
maintain war with Thebes. At last the Thebans invoked the aid of Philip,
and a Macedonian army, under Parmenio, advanced as far as Thessaly. But
the Phocians, in alarm, entreated both Sparta and Athens for assistance.
The crisis was great, for if Philip should once secure the Pass of
Thermopylae, all Southern Greece was in imminent danger. The whole defense
of Greece now turned upon this Pass, of as much importance to Philip as to
Athens and Sparta, for it was the only road into Greece. Envoys were again
sent from Athens to Philip, to learn on what conditions peace could be
secured, among whom were Demosthenes and AEschines. But he would grant no
better terms than that each party should retain what they already
possessed, and the Athenians consented. Philip reaped all the advantages
of a peace, which gave him the possession of the cities and territory he
had taken. The Phocians were left out in the negot