The Sacred War
There were two places in Greece which had been set aside as
sacred,--Plataea, the scene of the final defeat of the Persian invaders,
and Delphi, the seat of the great temple of Apollo, in whose oracles all
Greece placed faith. We have already seen how little the sacredness of
Plataea protected it from ruin. We have next to see how the sacredness of
Delphi was condemned, and how all Greece suffered in consequence.
The temple of Apollo at Delphi had long been held so inviolate that it
became a rich reservoir of treasures, gathered throughout the centuries.
Croesus, the rich king of Lydia, sent thither the overflow of his
wealth, and hundreds of others paid liberally for the promises of the
priestess, until the treasures of Delphi became a by-word in Greece.
This vast wealth was felt to be safe. The god would protect his own.
Men's voices were deep with awe when they told how the wrath of Apollo
had overthrown the Persian robbers who sought to rifle his holy fane.
And yet the time came when a horde of bandit Greeks made the temple
their prey and the hand of the god was not lifted in its defence, nor
did outraged Greece rise to punish the sacrilegious robbers. This is the
tale that we have next to tell, that of the so-called Sacred War, with
all it meant to Greece.
There was a great Greek council, centuries old, called the
Amphictyonic. It met twice every year, usually for religious purposes,
rarely for political. But in the time we have now reached this
Amphictyonic Council ventured to meddle in politics, and made mischief
of the direst character. Its first political act was to fine Sparta five
hundred talents for seizing the citadel of Thebes in times of peace. The
fine was to be doubled if not paid within a certain time. But as Sparta
sneered at the fine, and neither paid it nor its double, the action of
the council proved of little avail.
This was of small importance; it was to the next act of the council that
the mischief was due. The people of the small state of Phocis, adjoining
Delphi, had been accused of cultivating a part of the Cirrhaean plain,
which was consecrated to Apollo. This charge, like the former, was
brought by Thebes, and the Amphictyonic Council, having fined Sparta,
now, under Theban influence, laid a fine on the Phocians so heavy that
it was far beyond their means of payment. But Sparta had not paid; why
should they? The sentence troubled them little.
At the next meeting of the council severer measures were taken. Sparta
was strong; Phocis weak. It was resolved to seize all its territory and
consecrate it to Apollo. This unjust sentence roused the Phocians. A
bold citizen, Philomelus by name, told them that they must now face war
or ruin. The district of Delphi had once been theirs, and had been taken
from them wrongfully. "Let us assert our lost rights and seize the
temple," he said. "The Thebans want it; let us anticipate them and take
back our own."
His words took fire. A strong force was raised, the town and temple were
attacked, and both, being practically undefended, were quickly captured.
Phocis had regained her own, for Delphi had been taken from her during
an older "Sacred War."
Philomelus now announced that the temple and its oracles would not be
meddled with. Its treasures would be safe. Visitors would be free to
come and go. He would give any security that Greece required that the
wealth of Apollo should be safe and all go on as before. But he
fortified the town, and invited mercenary soldiers till he had an army
of five thousand men. As for the priestess of Apollo, from whose lips
the oracles came, he demanded that she should continue to be inspired as
before, and should give an oracle in his favor. The priestess refused;
whereupon he seized her and sought to drag her to the holy tripod on
which she was accustomed to sit. The woman, scared by his violence,
cried out, "You may do what you choose!"
Philomelus at once proclaimed this as an oracle in his favor, and
published it widely. And it is interesting to learn that many of the
superstitious Greeks took his word for it. He certainly took the word of
the priestess,--for he did what he chose.
War at once began. Many of the Greek states rose at the call of the
condemned Amphictyonic Council. The Phocians were in imminent peril.
They were far from strong enough for the war they had invoked. Mercenary
troops--"soldiers of fortune"--must be hired; and to hire them money
must be had. The citizens of Delphi had already been taxed; the Phocian
treasury was empty; where was money to be obtained?
Philomelus settled this question by borrowing, with great reluctance,
a sum from the temple treasures,--to be paid back as soon as possible.
But as the war went on and more money was needed, he borrowed again and
again,--now without reluctance. And the practice of robbery once
started, he not only paid his troops, but enriched his friends and
adorned his wife from Apollo's hoarded wealth.
By this means Philomelus got together an army of ten thousand
men,--reckless, dissolute characters, the impious scum of Greece, for no
pious Greek would enlist in such a cause. The war was ferocious. The
allies put their prisoners to death. Philomelus followed their example.
This was a losing game, and both sides gave it up. At length Philomelus
and his army were caught in an awkward position, the army was dispersed,
and he driven to the verge of a precipice, where he must choose between
captivity or death. He chose the latter and leaped from the beetling
crags.
The Thebans and their allies foolishly believed that with the death of
Philomelus the war was at an end, and marched for their homes.
Onomarchus, another Phocian leader, took the opportunity thus afforded
to gather the scattered army together again, seized the temple once
more, and stood in defiance of all his foes.
In addition to gold and silver, the treasury contained many gifts in
brass and iron. The precious metals were melted and converted into
money; of the baser metals arms were made. Onomarchus went farther than
Philomelus; he not only paid his troops with the treasure, but bribed
the leaders of Grecian states, and thus gained powerful friends. He was
soon successfully at war, drove back his foes, and pressed his conquests
till he had captured Thermopylae and invaded Thessaly.
Here the Phocians came into contact with a foe dangerous to themselves
and to all Greece. This foe was the celebrated Philip of Macedonia, a
famous soldier who was to play a leading part in the subsequent game. He
had long been paving the way to the conquest of Greece, and the Sacred
War gave him just the opportunity he wanted.
Macedonia lay north of Greece. Its people were not Greeks, nor like
Greeks in their customs. They lived in the country, not in cities, and
had little or none of the culture of Greece. But they were the stuff
from which good soldiers are made. Hitherto this country had been hardly
thought of as an element in the Grecian problem. Its kings were despots
who had been kept busy with their foes at home. But now a king had
arisen of wider views and larger mould. Philip had spent his youth in
Thebes, where he had learned the art of war under Epaminondas. On coming
to the throne he quickly proved himself a great soldier and a keen and
cunning politician. By dint of war and trickery he rapidly spread his
dominions until all his home foes were subdued, Macedonia was greatly
extended, and Thessaly, the most northern state of Greece, was overrun.
Therefore the invasion of Thessaly by the Phocians brought them into
contact with the Macedonians. At first Onomarchus was successful. He won
two battles and drove Philip back to his native state. But another large
army was quickly in the field, and this time the army of Onomarchus was
utterly beaten and himself slain. As for Philip, although he probably
cared not an iota for the Delphian god, he shrewdly professed to be on a
crusade against the impious Phocians, and drowned all his prisoners as
guilty of sacrilege.
A third leader, Phayllus by name, now took command of the Phocians, and
the temple of Apollo was rifled still more freely than before. The
splendid gifts of King Croesus had not yet been touched. They were
held too precious to be meddled with. But Phayllus did not hesitate to
turn these into money. One hundred and seventeen ingots of gold and
three hundred and sixty golden goblets went to the melting-pot, and with
them a golden statue three cubits high and a lion of the same precious
metal. And what added to the horror of pious Greece was that much of the
proceeds of these precious treasures was lavished on favorites. The
necklaces of Helen and Eriphyle were given to dissolute women, and a
woman flute-player received a silver cup and a golden wreath from the
temple hoard.
All this gave Philip of Macedonia the desired pretence. He marched
against the Phocians, who held Thermopylae, while keeping his Athenian
enemies quiet by lies and bribes. The leader of the Phocian garrison,
finding that no aid came from the Athenian fleet, surrendered to
Philip, and that astute monarch won what he had long schemed for, the
Pass of Thermopylae, the Key of Greece.
The Sacred War was at an end, and with it virtually the independence of
Greece. Phocis was in the hands of Philip, who professed more than ever
to be the defender and guardian of Apollo. All the towns in Phocis were
broken up into villages, and the inhabitants were ordered to be fined
ten talents annually till they had paid back all they had stolen from
the temple. Philip gave back the temple to the Delphians, and was
himself voted into membership in the Amphictyonic assembly in place of
the discarded Phocians. And all this took place while a treaty of peace
tied the hands of the Greeks. The Sacred War had served as a splendid
pretext to carry out the ambitious plans of the Macedonian king.
We have now a long story to tell in a few words. Another people, the
Locrians, had also made an invasion on Delphian territory. The
Amphictyonic Council called on Philip to punish them, He at once marched
southward, but, instead of meddling with the Locrians, seized and
fortified a town in Phocis. At once Athens, full of alarm, declared war,
and Philip was as quick to declare war in return. Both sides sought the
support of Thebes, and Athens gained it. In August, 338 B.C., the
Grecian and Macedonian armies met and fought a decisive battle near
Chaeronea, a Boeotian town. In this great contest Alexander the Great
took part.
It was a hotly-contested fight, but in the end Philip triumphed, and
Greece was lost. Thebes was forced to yield. Athens, to regain the
prisoners held by Philip, acknowledged him to be the head of Greece. All
the other states did the same except Sparta, which defied him. He
ravaged Laconia, but left the city untouched.
Two years afterwards Philip, lord and master of Greece, was assassinated
at the marriage feast of his daughter. His son Alexander succeeded him.
Here seemed an opportunity for Greece to regain her freedom. This
untried young man could surely not retain what his able father had won.
Demosthenes, the celebrated orator, stirred up Athens to revolt. Thebes
sprang to arms and attacked the Macedonian garrison in the citadel.
They did not know the man with whom they had to deal. Alexander came
upon Thebes like an avalanche, took it by assault, and sold into slavery
all the inhabitants not slain in the assault. The city was razed to the
ground. This terrible example dismayed the rest of Greece.
Submission--with the exception of that of Sparta--was universal. The
independence of Greece was at an end. More than two thousand years were
to pass before that country would again be free.