What was the peace of philocrates?

Demosthenes, answered from the texts and cited to the page.

Demosthenes answers

The Peace of Philocrates was the settlement concluded with Philip in 346, and it was the most shameful transaction Athens made in my lifetime. Here is what it cost the city. Athens surrendered all her possessions and all her allies; she swore to Philip that even if another approached those allies to preserve them for her, she would prevent him; that she would consider anyone who wished to restore them to her as her enemy, and the man who had robbed her of them as her friend and ally.1

That is the resolution Aeschines supported, moved by his accomplice Philocrates of Hagnus — not my partner, whatever lies Aeschines told about my role in it.2 The Thebans, by contrast, obtained through the same peace the utter ruin of their enemies the Phocians, the destruction of their walls and towns, and possession of Orchomenus, Coroneia, Corsia, the Tilphossaeum, and as much Phocian territory as they desired.3

Surely no more could they have asked even in their prayers. Athens surrendered; Thebes was enriched. That is the same treaty. And the ambassadors who arranged it? The calamities of Athens's allies became sources of revenue to the very men sent to protect them — properties, estates, incomes of a talent to Philocrates, thirty minae to Aeschines, while the city got shame in place of honour.4

When the oaths were exchanged and Philip's envoys had sailed, I urged the ambassadors immediately to make for the Hellespont, to receive Philip's oath there and not permit him to occupy our positions in the interval.5 I knew — and said — that whatever is left unsecured while peace is being concluded is simply lost; no one who has made peace over the situation as a whole will afterward go to war again for the sake of positions left unguarded.6

They did not sail. The Phocians fell. Thermopylae passed to Philip within weeks of the oaths being sworn. That is the peace Philocrates moved and Aeschines supported.

Sources

  1. The city has surrendered all her possessions and all her allies; she has sworn to Philip that even if another approaches them to preserve them for her, you will prevent him; that you will consider any one who wishes to give them up to you as your enemy and foe, and the man who has robbed you of them as your ally and friend.
    The Public Orations, Vol 1
  2. The first man to suggest or mention the Peace was Aristodemus the actor; and the person who took the matter up and moved the motion, and sold his services for the purpose, along with Aeschines, was Philocrates of Hagnus--your partner, Aeschines, not mine, even if you split your sides with lying.
    The Public Orations, Vol 2
  3. they obtained the utter ruin of their enemies, the Phocians, and the complete destruction of their walls and towns... they obtained Orchomenus, Coroneia, Corsia, the Tilphossaeum, and as much of the territory of the Phocians as they desired.
    The Public Orations, Vol 1
  4. it is an atrocious and a monstrous thing, that the calamities of your allies should have become sources of revenue to your ambassadors... the same Peace which to the city that sent them meant the ruin of her allies, the surrender of her possessions, and shame in the place of honour, should have created for the ambassadors who brought these things to pass against their country, revenue, affluence, property, and wealth.
    The Public Orations, Vol 1
  5. I asked and told the ambassadors to sail as quickly as possible to the Hellespont, and not to sacrifice any of our positions there, nor allow Philip to occupy them in the interval.
    The Public Orations, Vol 1
  6. everything that is sacrificed when peace is in process of being concluded after war, is lost to those who are so neglectful; since no one who had been induced to make peace with regard to the situation as a whole ever yet made up his mind to fight afresh for the sake of possessions which had been left unsecured.
    The Public Orations, Vol 1