Peace of Philocrates - Settlement of The Sacred War

Settlement of The Sacred War

Main article: Third Sacred War (section "Settlement of the Sacred War")

The Peace of Philocrates is intimately linked with the final end of the Sacred War. It was in the aftermath of finally ratifying the Peace that Philip applied the coup de grace. He had persuaded the Athenians and other Greeks that he and his army was heading for Halus, but it seems certain that he also sent other units straight to Thermopylae. Thus, when he swore oaths to the Athenian assembly in Pherae, his troops were already very close to Thermopylae; by the time the Athenian ambassadors arrived home (9 July), Philip was already in possession of the pass. By delaying the oaths, and making what was effectively a feint against Halus, he prevented the Athenians from seeing their imminent danger, and from having time to try and garrison the Thermopylae.

All of central and southern Greece was now at Philip's mercy, and the Athenians could not now save Phocis even if they abandoned the peace. However, the Athenians were still ignorant of this turn of events when Phocian ambassadors came to Athens to plead for military aid around the 9th July. The Athenian council recommended that the peace be rejected, and Thermopylae be occupied in order to help save Phocis; since, as far at the Athenian embassy knew, Philip's troops were still in Pherae, there seemed to be ample time to occupy the pass. By the 12th July the news that Philip was "in the gates" arrived in Athens; the Athenians then knew that the situation was hopeless, and instead of acting on the previous recommendation of the council, the Assembly instead passed a motion re-affirming the Peace of Philocrates. Demosthenes was one of those who recommended this stance. His argumentation, exposed in the oration On the Peace, is based on the fact that Athens is not ready for a war against all the other members of the League led by Philip. Thereby, he advised his countrymen to abide by the provisions of the peace, but he opposes Aeschines, who believed in an alliance between Macedon and Athens.