418 HISTORY OF GREECE. His letters served to blind the Athenian public, but his partisans took care not to move the assembly i to a direct compliance with their invitation. Indeed the proposal of such an expedition (be- sides the standing dislike of the citizens towards military service) would have been singularly repulsive, seeing that the Athenians would have had to appear, ostensibly at least, in arms against their Phokian allies. The conditional menace of the Athenian assembly against the Phokians (in case of refusal to surrender the temple to the Amphiktyons), decreed on the motion of Philokrates, was in itself sufficiently harsh, against allies of ten years' standing ; and was tantamount at least to a declaration that Athens would not interfere on their behalf which was all that Philip wanted. Among the hearers of these debates at Athens, were deputies from these very Phokians, whose fate now hung in suspense. It has already been stated that during the preceding September, while the Phokians were torn by intestine dissensions, Phalaskus, the chief of the mercenaries, had repudiated aid (invited by his Phokian opponents), both from Athens and Sparta; 2 feeling strong enough to hold Thermopylae by his >own force. During the intervening months, however, both his strength and his pride had declined. Though he still occupied Thermopylae with eight thousand or ten thousand mercenaries, and still retained supe- riority over Thebes, with possession of Orchomenus, Koroneia, and other places taken from the Thebans, 3 yet his financial re- sources had become so insufficient for a numerous force, and the soldiers had grown so disorderly from want of regular pay, 4 that ne thought it prudent to invite aid from Sparta during the spring, while Athens was deserting the Phokians to make terms with Philip. Archidamus accordingly came to Thermopylae with one 1 Dcmosth. Fals. Leg. p. 356, 357. 2 JEschin. Fals. Leg. p. 46. c. 41. 3 Demosth. Fals. Leg. p. 387. 4 JEschines, Fals. Leg. p. 46. c. 41. This statement of ,/Eschiues about the declining strength of the Phokians and the causes thereof haa every appearance of being correct in point of fact ; though it will not sus- tain the conclusions which he builds upon it. Compare Demosth. Olynth. iii. p. 30 (delivered four yean ear'jcf) etc.
