Page "Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC)" Paragraph 11

For the Athenians, the treaty had been expedient, but it was never popular.

Philip's actions in 346 BC had expanded his influence over all Greece, and although he had brought peace, he had come to be seen as the enemy of the traditional liberty of the city-states.

The orator and politician Demosthenes had been a principal architect of the Peace of Philocrates, but almost as soon as it was agreed, he wished to be rid of it.

Over the next few years, Demosthenes became leader of the " war-party " in Athens, and at every opportunity he sought to undermine the peace.

From 343 BC onwards, in order to try to disrupt the peace, Demosthenes and his followers used every expedition and action of Philip to argue that he was breaking the peace.

Conversely, there was at first a substantial body of feeling in Athens, led by Aeschines, that the peace, unpopular though it was, should be maintained and developed.

Towards the end of the decade however, the " war party " gained the ascendancy, and began to openly goad Philip ; in 341 BC for instance, the Athenian general Diopithes ravaged the territory of Philip's ally Cardia, even though Philip demanded that they desist.

Philip's patience finally ran out when the Athenians formed an alliance with Byzantium, which Philip was at that time besieging, and he wrote the Athenians declaring war.

Shortly afterward Philip broke off the siege of Byzantium ; Cawkwell suggests that Philip had decided to deal with Athens once and for all.

Philip went on campaign against the Scythians, and then began to prepare for war in Greece.