year a new Sacred War which had arisen gave him a convenient opportunity
for the invasion of Greece.

At the meeting of the Amphictyonic Council in the autumn of 340,[1]
Aeschines was one of the representatives of Athens. The Athenians had
recently offended Thebes by re-gilding and dedicating in the restored
temple at Delphi fifty shields, with an inscription stating that they were
spoil 'taken from the Medes and the Thebans, when they fought against the
Hellenes' (probably at Plataeae in 479). The Locrians of Amphissa intended
(according to Aeschines' account) to propose that the Council should fine
Athens fifty talents. Aeschines rose to state the case for Athens; but a
delegate from Amphissa forbade all mention of the Athenians, and demanded
their exclusion from the temple, on the ground of their alliance with the
accursed Phocians. Aeschines retorted by charging the Amphisseans with
cultivating and building upon the sacred plain of Cirrha--acts forbidden
for all time in 586 B.C.--and roused the Council to such indignation that
they gathered a body of men and destroyed the harbour and the unlawful
buildings of Cirrha; but they were severely handled by the Amphisseans,
and the Council now voted that the Amphictyonic states should send
representatives, to discuss the question of war against Amphissa, to a
meeting to be held at Thermopylae before the spring meeting of the
Council. To this preliminary meeting, the Athenians (though inclined to
view Aeschines' performance with favour), on the advice of Demosthenes,
sent no representatives; nor did the Thebans (the allies of Amphissa). War
was declared by the Amphictyons against Amphissa; but Cottyphus, the
Thessalian, who had been appointed general, made little headway, and (at
the spring or the autumn meeting of the Council) declared that the
Amphictyonic states must either send men and money, or else make Philip
their general. Philip was, of course, at once appointed; but instead of
proceeding against Amphissa, marched to Elateia and fortified it. This