In 352 BC, Athenian troops successfully opposed Philip at Thermopylae,* E. M. Burke, "The Early Political Speeches of Demosthenes", 184 (note 92).</ref> but the Macedonian victory over the Phocians at the Battle of Crocus Field shook Demosthenes. In 351 BC, Demosthenes felt strong enough to express his view concerning the most important foreign policy issue facing Athens at that time: the stance his city should take towards Philip. According to Jacqueline de Romilly, a French philologist and member of the Académie française, the threat of Philip would give Demosthenes' stances a focus and a . Demosthenes saw the King of Macedon as a menace to the autonomy of all Greek cities and yet he presented him as a monster of Athens's own creation; in the "First Philippic" he reprimanded his fellow citizens as follows: "Even if something happens to him, you will soon raise up a second Philip [...]".* G. Kennedy, "Oratory", 519–520.</ref>