Either, however, with a view to extend his conquests, or in order to unite the Greeks more firmly under his power, lie planned the invasion of the Persian empire, and procured himself to be appointed generalissimo in the ex pedition. No measure could have been conceived more popular in Greece. A general council of the states was summoned, and the quota determined which each of them was to furnish. Philip exerted himself with extraordinary activity to complete his formidable preparations ; and his whole army, in the most perfect state of military discipline and equipment, was in readiness to cross the Hellespont. But, in the midst of his greatest splendour, while solem nizing, before his departure, the nuptials of his daughter Cleopatra, surrounded by his guards and principal officers, and receiving, among the assembled states of Greece, little less than divine honours, he was stabbed to the heart by a desperate assassin. Sec DEriosTHENES, and PHILIP.
Upon the accession of Alexander to the throne of Mace donia, when only twenty years of age, the different nations whom his father had brought under his dominion made an attempt to regain their independence; and Demosthenes ex erted all his powers of persuasion to engage the Greeks to unite against the youthful successor of the formidable Philip. But Alexander, having punished the Thracians, Illyrians, and other barbarians, for their indiscretion, turn ed, with the utmost expedition, the whole weight of his arms upon Greece. The Thebans, who had massacred the Macedonian garrison, which Philip had placed in their citadel, having refused the offer of a free pardon made to them by Alexander, upon condition of their surrendering the principal leaders of the insurrection, were defeated with great slaughter, their city given up to be pillaged, and the inhabitants sold as slaves. These dreadful acts of severity filled the Athenians with alarm, and an embassy was instantly dispatched to implore the clemency of the Macedonian prince. Alexander at first insisted that ten of their principal orators should be delivered into his hands ; but was at length satisfied with the banishment of Chari demus, and expressed the highest regard for the republic of Athens. The other states hastened, in like manner, to make their submission ; and, in one campaign, the whole nation of the Greeks acknowledged his supremacy. Hav ing assembled their deputies at Corinth, and renewed the proposal of invading the Persian empire, he was appointed, as his father had been, to the chief command. His rapid conquest of Persia, which would form too extensive an episode in this brief sketch of Grecian history, and which must therefore be passed over without detail, produced one of the most extraordinary and important revolutions in the political aspect of the world. No national its u recorded in history was ever more interesting in s pro gress, or involved consequences of greater magnitude, than the struggle which had so long been maintained between Persia and Greece. Its object was to decide the great question, whether Europe or Asia should have the ascen dancy ; and at length, under the auspices of the Macedo nian prince, the former gained a superiority, which it has preserved to the present day. During the progress of Alexander's conquests, various attempts were made by the Grecian states to shake off the yoke of Macedonia. The Spartans, especially, under the direction of their king Agis, excited a powerful insut rection in Peloponnesus ; but Antipater, who had been left to govern in Macedonia, marching a powerful army into the peninsula, completely broke their spirit by a decisive defeat of their forces, and the death of Agis, who fell in the pursuit. Harpalus, one
of the officers of Alexander, who had incurred the displea sure of that prince by his extortions, when governor of Babylon, took refuge in Athens ; and, by means of his treasures, succeeded in attaching them to his cause ; but, upon the report of a powerful army being dispatched by Alexander to punish their treachery, they expelled Har palus from their city, and banished Demosthenes, who had been convicted of accepting his bribes. A new com motion also had been excited throughout all the states of Greece, by a proclamation of Alexander to restore the exiles to their respective countries and possessions; and, upon the event of his death being known, the revolt which had already commenced instantly became general. De mosthenes was recalled, and a powerful army of confede rated Greeks, under the Athenian commander Leosthenes, marched against Antipater. Elated by the success which attended their first operations, they despised, as usual, the prudent warnings of Phocion, and began to calculate upon the return of their ancient greatness. But Antipater ha ving been joined by Craterus with a part of the victori ous army of Alexander, speedily reduced the insurgent states in succession; and, advancing towards Attica, as the great object of his vengeance, though in some mea sure softened by the intercession of the virtuous Phocion, he abolished the democracy of the Athenians, and esta blished the aristocratical government, as it had existed in the days of Solon ; obliged them to pay the ex pences of the war ; and placed a Macedonian garrison in the port of Munychia. Similar changes were made in most of the other states ; and, though the people loudly complained, i in the first instance, of these infringements upon their li berties, they began at length to feel, that their freedom was in reality gi eater than it had hitherto been, and acknow ledged their obligations to Antipater, by entitling him the Father and Protector of Greece. After the death of An tipater, the Grecian states largely shared in the revolu tions and dissensions which agitated, for so many years, the empire of Alexander. Polysperchon, who had been associated with Cassarider, the son of Antipater, in the regency of Macedonia, being engaged in a contest witl his ambitious colleague, sought to attach the Greeks to his interests, by displacing the governors whom Antipa ter had placed over them, and by restoring the power of democracy. Several of the cities, particularly Mcgolo polis, resisted his decree, and drew upon their heads a bloody revenge. Athens, on the contrary, gladly hailed its recovered liberty ; and proceeded, in its moments of renewed turbulence, to put to death the friends of Anti pater. Among these perished the greatest ornament of their city, the incorruptible Phocion, who had served in the armies and councils of his country till he was above eighty years of age; and whose distinguished merit his fellow citizens soon after acknowledged, with their ac customed inconsistency, by erecting a statue to his me mory, and inflicting punishment upon his accusers. But Cassander, by the aid of Antigonus, having recovered his influence in Greece, restored the aristocracy, replaced the Macedonian garrison, and appointed Demetrius Pha lerius governor of the city, who conducted himself in his office with so much wisdom and moderation for ten years, that more than three hundred statues are said to have been erected in testimony of his benefits. The power of Cassander prevailed also in Peloponnesus ; and, except ing a very few cities, Greece was again entirely subject ed to the Macedonian dominion. See ALEXANDER.