Philip's actions in 347 and early 346 B.C..

Although much of great interest has been written recently about the period of the so-called Peace of Philocrates, little or nothing has been said of a passage which provides important information in Justin's Epitome of the Historiae Philippicae of Pompeius Trogus. This passage, 8.3.12-15, comes between the destruction of Olynthus (September, 348) and the arrival of the Athenian envoys at Pella (February, 346). In subject matter it corresponds with 'the subjugation of Thrace and Thessaly' (Thracia atque Thessalia subactae) in Prologue 8 of Pompeius Trogus - a topic which Justin began in 8.3.1-6 and continued in our passage, 8.3.12-15.(1)

1. JUSTIN 8.3.12-8.4.2

['Thereafter, as if everything he had turned over in his mind was permissible for him, he seized gold mines in Thessaly and silver mines in Thrace, and lest he should leave any law or right unviolated, he began to practise piracy as well. After these actions it happened by chance that two brothers, kings of Thrace, chose him to be judge of their disputes not from regard for his uprightness but from their own mutual fear that he would join the other party's forces. But Philip showed his usual flair: he came upon the unsuspecting brothers to give judgement with his army marshalled as if to wage war, and deprived each of them of his kingdom not in the role of a judge but in the criminal manner of a treacherous brigand. While these things were being done, envoys of Athens seeking peace came to him. After hearing them he too sent envoys to Athens with his conditions of peace; and there in the interest of both parties peace was made.']

The temporal sequence is very clearly marked by inde, his ita gestis, dum haec aguntur, and quibus auditis. Within the sequence we may put the actions in Thessaly and Thrace and the start of the piracy in the first half of 347, the outwitting of the Thracian kings in the latter half of 347 and the settlement in Thrace continuing into February 346, and the Athenian envoys reaching Pella in February, 346.(2) At Athens peace was concluded in April, 346. Let us consider each item in turn.

2. PHILIP IN THESSALY

Justin had described the earlier situation in Thessaly where a number of city-states were destroyed, some even having served under Philip as commander (dux) in the past (8.3.2). The probable explanation is that after the defeat of Philip by Onomarchus in 353 some cities deserted from the Thessalian League, of which Philip was the elected archon, and joined the side of the Phocians and Pherae; and then that, when the decisive victory was won on the Crocus Field and the tyrants of Pherae left Thessaly in 352, some city-states were punished for sacrilege as well as for treachery.(3) In our passage Philip was in Thessaly 'seizing gold mines' (auraria sc. metalla). As there are no such mines in Thessaly, Trogus or Justin has introduced a mistake in abbreviating, and we should suggest something like vectigalia ('revenues') in its place.(4) That Philip should be in Thessaly early in 347 was to be expected. For during the war with Athens and the Chalcidian League he had been diverted to Pherae, from which he expelled the ex-tyrant Peitholaus;(5) and now that his hands were free he presumably consolidated his authority in Thessaly.

That he did operate in Thessaly after the Chalcidian War was in fact indicated by Polybius in a speech attributed to Chlaeneas. After describing Olynthus as having very great prestige and power Chlaeneas continued. 'Having enslaved this city and made an example of it Philip not only became master of the Thraceward cities(6) but also made the Thessalians subject to himself in their terror' ([Greek Text Omitted] 9.28.3, a phrase similar to Trogus' Thessalia atque Thracia subactae). That this terror was fresh in early 347 rather than in 344 is obvious.(7) In 347 Philip was no doubt preparing to use Thessaly as his base and the Thessalian cavalry as his supporters in the near future, when he would intervene in the Sacred War. Operations in southern Thessaly continued into early 346. For Philip was helping Pharsalus to reassert its authority over Halus in Achaea Phthiotis, which was under siege in February, 346.(8) Isocrates complimented Philip on his …