PROGRESS OF PHILIP 235 mined Athens on this occasion to refrain from interference ; since there were probably few of her resolutions which she afterwards more bitterly regretted. The letter of assurance from Philip was received and trusted ; the envoys from Amphipolis were dismissed with a refusal. Deprived of all hope of aid from Athens, the Amphipolitans still held out as long as they could. But a party in the town en- tered into correspondence with Philip to betray it, and the de- fence thus gradually became feebler. At length he made a breach in the walls, sufficient, with the aid of partisans within, to carry the city by assault, not without a brave resistance from those who still remained faithful. All the citizens unfriendly to him were expelled or fled, the rest were treated with lenity ; but we are told that little favor was shown by Philip towards those who had helped in the betrayal. 1 Amphipolis was to Philip an acquisition of unspeakable impor- tance, not less for defence than for offence. It was not only the most convenient maritime station in Thrace, but it also threw open to him all the country east of the Strymon, and especially the gold region near Mount Pangaeus. He established himself firm- ly in his new position, which continued from henceforward one of the bulwarks of Macedonia, until the conquest of that kingdom by the Romans. He took no steps to fulfil his promise of hand- ing over the place to the Athenians, who doubtless sent embassies to demand it. The Social War, indeed, which just now broke out, absorbed all their care and all their forces, so that they were un- able, amidst their disastrous reverses at Chios and elsewhere, to take energetic measures in reference to Philip and Amphipolis. Nevertheless he still did not peremptorily refuse the surrender, but continued to amuse the Athenians with delusive hopes, sug- gested through his partisans, paid or voluntary, in the public as- sembly. It was the more necessary for him to postpone any open breach 1 Diodor. xvi. 8, with the passage from Libanius cited in Wesseling's note. Demosthenes, Olynth. i. p. 10. s. 5. Ilicrax and Stratokles were the Amphipolitan envoys despatched to Athens to ask for aid against Philip. An Inscription yet remains, record mg the sentence of perpetual banishment of Philo and Stratokles See Boeckh, Corp. Inscr. No. 2008.
