THE ALLEGED FAILURE OF ATHENS IN THE FOURTH CENTURY

The view that the successes of Macedon in the fourth century marked the failure, orthe end, of the Greek polis is increasingly being abandoned, and some scholars are abandoningalso the view that Athens was great and glorious in the fi fth century but degenerate in the fourth.However, the successes of Macedon meant for Athens the loss of that ultimate freedom whichit had aspired to and had often enjoyed between the early fi fth century and the late fourth, freedomnot merely from receiving orders from others but to give orders to others, and in this paperI explore the reasons for that change. Some scholars believe that fourth-century Athens was ledastray by “the ghost of empire;” others believe that the Athenians were unwilling to pay for a responsewhich could have defeated Philip; I argue that except in the years after Leuctra the ghostof empire did not have malign effects, and even with more expenditure Athens could not havedefeated Philip. There was nothing fundamentally wrong with Athens in the fourth century, butSparta’s success in the Hellespont in 387 and the resulting King’s Peace, the rule in Macedon ofPhilip II, who was too clever diplomatically and became too strong militarily for the Athenians,and Alexander’s succession in 336 and his success and survival in his campaigns, placed Athensin situations which it could not overcome