4   the League:Often called the League of Corinth by modern historians (but not by ancient sources), after the place where its regular meetings were held. Macedonia in theory only enforced League decisions, but in practice controlled them, largely by the installation of pro-Macedonian regimes in the cities that made up the League.

  5   who had often agitated:In the aftermath of Philip’s victory at Chaeronea in 338, when the Macedonians were in fact showing no signs of planning to invade Attica, Hyperides embarrassed himself by proposing measures in the Assembly for full-scale siege preparations.

  6   Demosthenes regarded:The efforts of Demosthenes to de-Hellenize the Macedonian kings are evident in many of his speeches (the quotation here is from the Third Philippic). Some Athenians, however, including the political essayist Isocrates, defended the claim to Greekness of the Argead royal house. The debate goes back long before Alexander: around 500 B.C., a Macedonian king tried to win entry into the Olympic Games, an exclusively Hellenic institution, based on his family’s alleged origins in the Greek city of Argos; he was initially rejected by a board of Greek judges, but the decision was later overturned (Herodotus 5.22).

  7   the four letters:There are actually six extant letters attributed to Demosthenes, and the question of their authenticity has occasioned much debate. I accept the view of Goldstein ( Letters of Demosthenes) that they may all be genuine, but the first four of the six, dealing with the events during Demosthenes’ exile, almost certainly are.

  8   “If the people ever”:The quip is reported by Plutarch, Phocion9.

  9   The Assembly pulled back:There is uncertainty on this point, and some historians assume Athens did in fact send troops but the forces did not arrive in time. Diodorus (17.8.5–6) indicates the Athenians prepared troops for combat but then did not commit them.

10   he let loose:Alexander’s responsibility for the destruction of Thebes is assessed differently by the various sources. According to Arrian, Alexander only stepped back and let Thebes’ Greek enemies exact vengeance on the city, whereas Diodorus and others portray him orchestrating the violence.

11   perhaps paid off:Plutarch ( Demosthenes23) reports Demades received five talents for his services.

12   Demosthenes stayed silent:To the extent he did make his views known, Demosthenes opposed Athenian support of the Spartan revolt (Aeschines 3.165), but he seems to have said as little as possible, as documented by Worthington in “Demosthenes’ (In)activity.”

13   Quite possibly he colluded:There is no evidence that Aristotle aided Philip in his plans to invade Asia, but some scholars have assumed a collaboration. Anton-Hermann Chroust, who in many writings has stressed the political undertones of Aristotle’s career, has even conjectured that Aristotle first went to Atarneus on Philip’s instructions (“Aristotle and the Foreign Policy of Macedonia,” Review of Politics34 [1972], pp. 373–76). Though extreme, Chroust’s views have recently received a partial endorsement from Peter Green in “Politics, Philosophy and Propaganda: Hermias of Atarneus and his Friendship with Aristotle” (pp. 29–46, Crossroads of History: The Age of Alexander, eds. Waldemar Heckel and Lawrence A. Tritle [Claremont, Calif. 2003]).

14   an invaluable chronological resource:Ancient historians had no way to establish the dates of events other than by correlating them with the names of victors in the Olympic or Pythian games, or with the names of officials elected at Athens. The accuracy of lists of such names was therefore crucial to historical record keeping of all kinds.

15   Himeraeus:He was later put to death by Antipater (Plutarch Demosthenes28). The report of the dedicatory stone and its destruction by Himeraeus is related in the twelfth-century Life of Aristotleby Usaibia (17–21), an Arabic text based on lost Greek materials.

16   a die-hard foe:Leosthenes’ antipathy to Alexander, attested by Diodorus (17.111), is surprising in that Leosthenes had almost certainly fought under Alexander in Asia (see L. Tritle, “Alexander and the Greeks,” pp. 129–30). Perhaps Leosthenes had witnessed the massacre of Greek mercenaries ordered by Alexander after the battle of the Granicus in 334.

17   (almost certainly) Aristotle’s nephew:He is identified by Diodorus as “Nicanor of Stagira,” and we know that Aristotle’s sister, a Stagirite, had a son named Nicanor. Aristotle gives directives to his “son” Nicanor in his will, assuming the document recorded by Diogenes Laertius is authentic.

18   “King Alexander”:Exact wording of the decree is preserved by Diodorus 18.8.4.

19   Some sort of trade-off:The negotiations between Demosthenes and the Macedonians can only be guessed at on the basis of the later actions of both parties. There is much uncertainty about Demosthenes’ goals and policies during this confused period, but I have inclined toward the view of Badian and Worthington, that Demosthenes was in essence agreeing to abandon his opposition to Alexander in exchange for a chance to win back Samos. Like many politicians, he appears to have started out his career in a radical posture but grew more pragmatic with age.

20   sore throat:The anecdote is related by Plutarch, Demosthenes25.5. Plutarch gives an amusing but exaggerated account of Demosthenes’ susceptibility to bribes.

21   had been bribed:The motives for Demosthenes’ indictment may have had little to do with his guilt or innocence; there were complex maneuverings at work, only dimly understood today. Nonetheless, the fact that Demosthenes had a reputation for venality, as Plutarch’s life makes clear, made his political lynching easier to accomplish.

22   partly recovered:Hyperides has been the greatest beneficiary of any classical author of chance textual recoveries. His speeches were totally unknown to the modern world until the mid-nineteenth century; since then, several have been found in papyrus scrolls (most likely unearthed from tombs by plunderers), and in the last few years two more have turned up in recoverable form in the so-called Archimedes palimpsest (http://www.archimedespalimpsest.org).

23   Alexander had rejected:Plutarch ( Alexander28) preserves a snippet of a letter of Alexander’s, believed by some to be genuine, explaining to the Athenians his reasons for denying their request.

24   Those with money:Diodorus (18.10.1) attests to the class divisions in the attitudes toward the war, and his testimony is affirmed by Green (“Occupation and Co-existence,” pp. 4–5).

25   under, or against:Alexander took into his own employ many Greek mercenaries who had formerly fought on the Persian side and opposed him in battle.

26   Some citizens:Plutarch Phocion23.

27   A cruel parodist:The text of this mock epitaph, and of the hymn to Hermias described in the following paragraph, is found in the life of Aristotle by Diogenes Laertius, chaps. 7–8.

28   would escape calumnies:Theophrastus was in fact indicted for impiety not long after Aristotle’s departure, but made a successful defense. Some fifteen years later he was forced into a brief exile by a political faction at Athens that sought to ban all philosophers but soon returned to the city and lived out the remainder of his life there.

29   “the Hellenic War”:It was also sometimes referred to as “the war against Antipater.” It was rechristened the Lamian War later in antiquity and is so termed by Diodorus, as well as by most modern historians, after the place where much of the action was centered. Ashton has traced the history of the nomenclature in “Lamian War: Stat magni nominis umbra.” I have preferred to use the original name.