Edward Mewburn Walker

“ The history of the confederacy of Olynthus illustrates at once the strength and the weakness of that movement towards federation which is one of the most marked features of the later stages of Greek history. The strength of the movement is shown both by the duration and by the extent of the Chalcidic League. It lasted for something like seventy years; it survived defeat and temporary dissolution, and it embraced upwards of thirty cities. Yet, in the end, the centrifugal forces proved stronger than the centripetal; the sentiment of autonomy stronger than the sentiment of union. ”

“ It is probable that the strength of the league was more seriously undermined by the policy of Athens than by the action of Sparta. The successes of Athens at the expense of Olynthus, shortly before Philip's accession, must have fatally divided the Greek interest north of the Aegean in the struggle with Macedon. ”

“ Authorities.—The chief passages in ancient literature are the Olynthiac Orations of Demosthenes, and Xenophon, Hell. v. 2. See E. A. Freeman, History of Federal Government, ch. iv.; A. H. J. Greenidge, Handbook of Greek Constitutional History (1896) , p. 228 ”