PHILIP II

PHILIP II. was the fourth son of Amyntas, king of Lempi. Macedonia. He was sent to Thebes as an hostage by etc's Bibli- etheca classica. his father, where he learnt the art of war under Epaminondas, and studied with the greatest care the manners and the pursuits of the Greeks. He discovered, from his earliest years, that quickness of genius and greatness of courage which afterwards procured him so great a name and such powerful enemies. He was recalled to Macedonia; and at the death of his brother Perdicas he ascended the throne as guardian and protector of the youthful years of his nephew. His ambition, however, soon discovered itself, and he made himself independent about the year 360 before Christ. The valour of a prudent general, and the policy of an experienced statesman, seemed requisite to ensure his power. The neighbouring nations, ridiculing the youth and inexperience of the new king of Macedonia, appeared in arms; but Philip soon convinced them of their error. Unable to meet them as yet in the field of battle, he suspended their fury by presents, and soon turned his arms against Amphipolis, a colony tributary to the Athenians. Amphipolis was conquered, and added to the kingdom of Macedonia; and Philip meditated no less than the destruction of a republic which had rendered itself so formidable to the rest of Greece, and had even claimed submission from the princes of Macedonia. His designs, however, were as yet immature; and before he could make Athens an object of conquest, the Thracians and the Illyrians demanded his attention. He made himself master of a Thracian colony, to which he gave the name of Philippi, and from which he received the greatest advantages on account of the gold mines in the neighbourhood. These made it a very important capture. He settled in it a number of workmen, and was the first who caused gold to be coined in his own name. He employed his wealth in procuring spices and partisans in all the great cities of Greece, and in making conquests without the aid of arms. It was at the siege of Methone in Thrace that Philip had the misfortune to receive a wound in his right eye from the stroke of an arrow. In the midst of his political prosperity, Philip did not neglect the honour of his family. He married Olympias the daughter of Neoptolemus, king of the Molossi; and when, some time after, he became father of Alexander, the monarch, conscious of the inestimable advantages which arise from the lessons, the example, and conversation of a learned and virtuous preceptor, wrote a letter with his own hand to the philosopher Aristotle, and begged

begged him to retire from his usual pursuits, and to dedicate his whole time to the instruction of the young prince. Every thing seemed now to conspire to his aggrandizement; and historians have observed that Philip received in one day the intelligence of three things which could gratify the most unbounded ambition, and flatter the hopes of the most aspiring monarch: the birth of a son, an honourable crown at the Olympic games, and a victory over the barbarians of Illyricum. But all these rather increased than fatiated his ambition: he declared his inimical sentiments against the power of Athens, and the independence of all Greece, by laying siege to Olynthus, a place which, on account of its situation and consequence, would prove most injurious to the interests of the Athenians, and most advantageous to the intrigues and military operations of every Macedonian prince. The Athenians roused by the eloquence of Demosthenes, sent 17 vessels and 2000 men to the assistance of Olynthus; but the money of Philip prevailed over all their efforts. The greatest part of the citizens suffered themselves to be bribed by the Macedonian gold, and Olynthus surrendered to the enemy, and was instantly reduced to ruins. Philip soon after defeated the Athenians, and made a great number of them prisoners, whom he dismissed without ransom. Of this victory, the fruit of that excellent discipline which he had established in his army, the Macedonian phalanx had the principal honour. This was a body of infantry heavily armed, consisting commonly of 16,000 men, who had each of them a shield six feet high and a pike 21 feet long. (See PHALANX). The success of his arms, and especially his generosity after victory, made his alliance and a peace a desirable object to the people of Athens; and as both parties were inclined to this measure, it was concluded without delay. His successes were as great in every part of Greece: he was declared head of the Amphictyonic council, and was entrusted with the care of the sacred temple of Apollo at Delphi. If he was recalled to Macedonia, it was only to add fresh laurels to his crown, by victories over his enemies in Illyricum and Thessaly. By assuming the mask of a moderator and peace-maker, he gained confidence; and in attempting to protect the Peloponnesians against the incroaching power of Sparta, he rendered his cause popular; and by ridiculing the insults that were offered to his person as he passed through Corinth, he displayed to the world his moderation and philosophic virtues. In his attempts to make himself master of Euboea, Philip was unsuccessful; and Phocion, who despised his gold as well as his meanness, obliged him to evacuate an island whose inhabitants were as infensible to the charms of money as they were unmoved at the horrors of war, and the bold efforts of a vigilant enemy. From Euboea he turned his arms against the Scythians; but the advantages he obtained over this indigent nation were inconsiderable, and he again made Greece an object of plunder and rapine. He advanced far in Beotia, and a general engagement was fought at Chæronea. The fight was long and bloody, but Philip obtained the victory. His behaviour after the battle reflects great disgrace upon him as a man and as a monarch. In the hour of festivity, and during the entertainment which he had given to celebrate the trophies he had won, Philip sallied from his camp, and

with the inhumanity of a brute, he insulted the bodies of the slain, and exulted over the calamities of the prisoners of war. His insolence, however, was checked, when Demades, one of the Athenian captives, reminded him of his meanness, by exclaiming, "Why do you, O king, act the part of a Thersites, when you can represent with so much dignity the elevated character of an Agamemnon?" The reproof was felt; Demades received his liberty; and Philip learned how to gain popularity even among his fallen enemies; by relieving their wants and easing their distresses. At the battle of Chæronea the independence of Greece was extinguished; and Philip, unable to find new enemies in Europe, formed new enterprises, and meditated new conquests. He was nominated general of the Greeks against the Persians, and was called upon as well from inclination as duty to revenge those injuries which Greece had suffered from the invasions of Darius and of Xerxes. But he was stopped in the midst of his warlike preparations, being stabbed by Paulanius as he entered the theatre at the celebration of the nuptials of his daughter Cleopatra. This murder has given rise to many reflections upon the causes which produced it; and many who consider the recent repudiation of Olympias and the resentment of Alexander, are apt to investigate the causes of his death in the bosom of his family. The ridiculous honours which Olympias paid to her husband's murderer strengthened the suspicion; yet Alexander declared that he invaded the kingdom of Persia to revenge his father's death upon the Persian satraps and princes, by whose immediate intrigues the assassination had been committed. The character of Philip is that of a sagacious, artful, prudent, and intriguing monarch: he was brave in the field of battle, eloquent and dissimulating at home, and he possessed the wonderful art of changing his conduct according to the disposition and caprice of mankind, without ever altering his purpose, or losing sight of his ambitious aims. He possessed much perseverance, and in the execution of his plans he was always vigorous. He had that eloquence which is inspired by strong passions. The hand of an assassin prevented him from attaining the boldest and the most extensive of his undertakings; and he might have acquired as many laurels, and conquered as many nations, as his son Alexander did in the succeeding reign; and the kingdom of Persia might have been added to the Macedonian empire, perhaps with greater moderation, with more glory, and with more lasting advantages. The private character of Philip lies open to censure, and raises indignation. The admirer of his virtues is disgusted to find him among the most abandoned prostitutes, and disgracing himself by the most unnatural crimes and lascivious indulgencies which can make even the most debauched and the most profligate to blush. He was murdered in the 47th year of his age, and the 24th of his reign, about 336 years before the Christian era. His reign is become uncommonly interesting, and his administration a matter of instruction. He is the first monarch whose life and actions are described with peculiar accuracy and historical faithfulness. Philip was the father of Alexander the Great and of Cleopatra, by Olympias; he had also by Audaca an Illyrian, Cyna, who married Amyntas the son of Perdicas, Philip's elder brother; by Nicisipolis a Thessalian, Nicea, who married Cassander; by Philerna a Larissæan

Larissian dancer, Aridatus, who reigned some time after Alexander's death; by Cleopatra, the niece of Attalus, Caranus and Europa, who were both murdered by Olympias; and Ptolemy the first king of Egypt, by Arsinoe, who in the first month of her pregnancy was married to Lagos. Of the many memorable actions and sayings reported by Plutarch of this prince, the following are the most remarkable. Being present at the sale of some captives, in an indecent posture, one of them informed him of it; "Set this man at liberty (says Philip), I did not know that he was my friend." Being solicited to favour a lord of his court, who was like to lose his character by a just but severe sentence, Philip refused to hearken to the solicitation, and added, "I had rather that he be disgraced than myself." A poor woman was importuning him to do her justice; and as he sent her away from day to day, under the pretence that he had no time to attend to her petition, she said to him with some warmth, "Cease then to be a king." Philip felt all the force of this reproof, and immediately gave her satisfaction. Another woman came to ask justice of him as he was going out from a great entertainment, and was condemned. "I appeal (exclaimed she)!" "And to whom do you appeal (said the king to her)?" "To Philip fasting." This answer opened the eyes of the monarch, who retracted his sentence. If he possessed any virtue, it was principally that of suffering injuries with patience. Demochorus, to whom the Greeks gave the surname of Parrhesiastes, on account of his excessive petulance of tongue, was one of the deputies whom the Athenians sent to this monarch. Philip, at the conclusion of the audience, begged the ambassadors to tell him, "if he could be of any service to the Athenians;" to which Demochorus gave an insolent return, which he forgave. Having learned that some Athenian ambassadors charged him, in full assembly, with atrocious calumnies: "I am under great obligations (said he) to those gentlemen, for I shall henceforth be so circumspect in my words and actions, that I shall convict them of falsehood." One saying of Philip, which does him less honour than those we have before-mentioned, was, "Let us amuse children with playthings, and men with oaths." This abominable maxim, which was the soul and spring of his politics, gave rise to the observation, "That he was in full length, what Louis XI. afterwards was in miniature." It is well known that Philip had a person about him, who called out at times, "Philip, remember that thou art mortal;" but whether we should place this to the account of his pride or his humility, it is difficult to say.