300 llISTORi OF GREECE. surrender of the town. These hostages he had consigned to tim custody of the mercenary general Charidemus, though a vote had been passed in the Athenian assembly that they should be sent to Athens. 1 As soon as the appointment of Iphikrates was cancelled, Charidemus forthwith surrendered the hostages to the Amphi- politans themselves, thus depriving Athens of a material advan- tage. And this was not all. Though Charidemus had been three years with his band in the service of Athens under Iphi- kra*3s, yet when the new general Timotheus wished to reengage him, he declined the proposition ; conveying away his troops in Athenian transports, to enter into the pay of a decided enemy of Athens Kotys ; and in conjunction with Iphikrates himself. 2 He was subsequently coming by sea from Kardia to take service under her other enemies, Olynthus and Amphipolis, when he was captured by the Athenian fleet. Under these circumstances, he was again prevailed on to serve Athens. It was against these two cities, and to the general coast of Macedonia and the Chalkidic Thrace, that Timotheus devoted his first attention, postponing for the moment Kotys and the Cher- sonese. In this enterprise he found means to obtain the alliance of Macedonia, which had been hostile to his predecessor Iphi- krates. Ptolemy of Alorus, regent of that country, who had assassinated the preceding king, Alexander son of Amyntas, was himself assassinated (365 B. c.) by Perdikkas, brother of Alexan- der. 3 Perdikkas, during the first year or two of his reign, seems to have been friendly and not hostile to Athens. lie lent aid to Timotheus, who turned his force against Olynthu? and other towns both in the Chalkidic Thrace and on the cotist of Macedonia. 4 Probably the Olynthian confederacy may have ben again acquir- 1 Demosth. cont. Aristokrat. p. 669, s. 174-177. Respecting these hosta- ges, I can do nothing more than repeat the brief and obscure notice of De- mosthenes. Of the various conjectures proposed to illustrate it, none appear to me at all satisfactory. Who Harpalus was, I cannot presume to say.
- Demosthen. cont. Aristocrat, p. 669. e. 175.
Tie orator refers to letters written 'by Iphikrates and Timotheus to the Athenian people, in support of these allegations. Unfortunately these let- ters are not cited in substance. 3 Diodorus, xv, 77 ; JEschines de Fals. Leg. p. 250. c. 14. 4 Demosthenes (Olynth. 1, p. 21. s. 14) mentions the assisunce of thfl Macedonians to Timotheus against Olynthus. Compare aLc nis oratio*
