2 HISTORY OF GREECE. (like the Greek cities) enjoyed each its own separate autonomy within its own walls ; the offer, now made to them by the Olyn- thians, was one of freedom in exchange for their past subjection under the Macedonian kings, combined with a force adequate to protect them against Illyrian and other invaders. Perhaps also these various cities, Anthemus, Therma, Chalastra, Pella, A16- rus, Pydna, etc., may have contained, among the indigenous population, a certain proportion of domiciliated Grecian inhabi- tants, to whom the proposition of the Olynthians would be es- pecially acceptable. We may thus understand why the offer of Olynthus was gladly welcomed by the Macedonian maritime cities. They were the first who fraternized as voluntary partners in the confederacy ; which the Olynthians, having established this basis, proceeded to enlarge farther, by making the like liberal propositions to the Greek cities in their neighborhood. Several of these latter joined voluntarily ; others were afraid to refuse ; insomuch that the con- federacy came to include a considerable number of Greeks, especially, Potidaea, situated on the Isthmus of Pallene, and com- manding the road of communication between the cities within Pallene and the continent. The Olynthians carried out with scrupulous sincerity their professed principles of equal and inti- mate partnership, avoiding all encroachment or offensive preemi- nence in favor of their own city. But in spite of this liberal procedure, they found among their Grecian neighbors obstructions which they had not experienced from the Macedonian. Each of the Grecian cities had been accustomed to its own town-autonomy and separate citizenship, with its peculiar laws and customs. All of them were attached to this kind of distinct political life, by one of the most tenacious and universal instincts of the Greek mind ; all of them would renounce it with reluctance, even on consenting to enter the Olynthian confederacy, with its generous promise, its enlarged security, and its manifest advantages ; and there were even some who, disdaining every prospective consideration, re- fused to change their condition at all except at the point of the sword. Among these last were Akanthus and Apollonia, the largest cities (next to Olynthus) in the Chalkidic peninsula, and, there- fore, the least unable to stand alone. To these the Olynthiam
