The motive of this apparent change of opinion is evident : on the former occasion he saw that war would have been the dispersion of strength which was needful for a nearer atruggle; now, he saw that the time for that struggle was come, and knew that, to be effectual, Athena must direct it. (` Oration on the Crown,' p. 249.) But Athens, however powerful when roused, had lost much of that spirit of indi vidual bravery which characterised her in the beat times of her history. The exhortations of Demosthenes failed in producing the desired effect; nor was it till Philip had defeated Kersobleptea the Thracian, whom it was the interest of the Athenians to support as his rival, that they considered themselves compelled to commence military operations against him.
This was at last done by sending successive expeditions to Olynthus, a maritime town near the isthmus of Pallene; and by an inroad into Eubcea, under the direction of Phocion, by means of which the Macedonian influence was lessened in that island. The former step was however the more important, as Olynthus was a place of atrength, and was looked on with great jealousy by Philip.
Olynthua had made alliance with Athens contrary to a compact with Philip, and although well enough supplied with arms and men, it required the assistance of Athenian aeldiera. To provide for these expeditions, Demosthenes, in his Olynthiac orations, advised the appli cation of the money appropriated to the public festivals, and in ao doing was opposed by Phocion. In spite however of the exertions of Demoetbenes, Olynthus was taken by Philip in the spring of n.c. 347. Early in the succeeding year Demosthenes, with 2Eschinca and eight or nine others, went on an embassy to Philip, to treat of peace. According to .tEschines, he exhibited great want of self-possession on this occasion. If this were the case, it is surely not too much to attribute it to a consciousness that he had departed through fear of present danger from his one great object of opposition to Philip, who, even during the settlement of preliminaries, seized on several Thracian towns. The motive which urged Demosthenes to agree to a peace is probably that assigned by Schaumann (nee also-Demosthenes, Oration on the Peace'), that the means of resistance were too ensall to allow any hope that Athens alone could use them effectually. Be that as it may, Demosthenes never slackened hia efforts ; and in Ise. 343 we flud him accusing iEschines of malveraatiou in the former embassy, and acting as one in a second embassy to counteract Philip's influence in Ambracia and Pcloponnesus. Since the cessation of the Phocian war in mc. 346 this influence appears to have increased, as well by the weakening of Sparta and Thebes as by his acquisition of two votes iu the Amphictyonic council ; hence the renewed energy of Demosthenes and the expedition of Diopeithes to the Hellespont, for the purpose of protecting the Athenian corn-trade. (' Oration on the Crown,' p. 254).
About this time too Demosthenes became in a more decided sense the leader of his party in the room of Charee, and for the next two years employed himself in supporting and strengthening the anti Macedonian party iu Greece. His principal measures were an embassy to the Persians ; the strengthening of the alliance with Byzantium and Pcrinthus for the purpose of forming alliances ; and the relinquishment by Athena of all claim on Eubcea, in which Phocion concurred.
The struggle now began. Philip laid siege to Perinthus, to Selymbria, and afterwards to Byzantium, and fitted out a fleet. At this juncture Demoathenea delivered his fourth Philippic, in which, among other things, ho recommended the restoration of the festival-money to its original use, alleging the scruples felt by some concerning its application to military purposes, and the increase in revenue which rendered that application no longer necessary. In B.C. 339 the siege of Byzantium and Perinthus was raised, and a short pewee ensued; but in the succeeding spring Philip was chosen Ampidetyonio general. The object of Demosthenes was now somewhat changed. Before, he had to oppose a foreign influence which sought to insiuuats itself into the affairs of the Grecian States; now that wish had bean gained, and his business became that of arranging party against party in the different sections of the same nation.
From this time till the battle of Chwronea he was engaged in negociationa to detach different states from the Amphictyonic alliance.
At Thebes he was completely successful : a strict alliance was con cluded between Thebes and Athena, and Demosthenes became almost as much the minister of the one state as of the other. He defeated all the counter-efforts of Python, Philip's agent, and procured the preparation of an army and fleet to act against Philip, who had seized and fortified Elatca, a principal town in Phocis. But his hopes were again destroyed at the battle of Chreronea in the summer of B.C. 338, and Philip remained apparently master of the destinies of Greece— perhaps not unaided in the conflict by is superstition which considered his cause na in some sort identified with that of Apollo, the Delphian god. Under these circumstances, the party of Phocion ninde some faint attempts at action ; but Philip, with his usual remarkable policy, forestalled them by releasing his Athenian prisoners, and using his victory with the greatest moderation.