ὑπερβαλόντα δὲ ἐς τὴν Μαντινικὴν διὰ τοῦ Ἀρτεμισίου πεδίον ἐκδέξεταί σε Ἀργὸν καλούμενον, καθάπερ γε καὶ ἔστι· τὸ γὰρ ὕδωρ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ κατερχόμενον ἐς αὐτὸ ἐκ τῶν ὀρῶν ἀργὸν εἶναι τὸ πεδίον ποιεῖ, ἐκώλυέ τε οὐδὲν ἂν τὸ πεδίον τοῦτο εἶναι λίμνην, εἰ μὴ τὸ ὕδωρ ἠφανίζετο ἐς χάσμα γῆς.
ἀφανισθὲν δὲ ἐνταῦθα ἄνεισι κατὰ τὴν Δίνην· ἔστι δὲ ἡ Δίνη κατὰ τὸ Γενέθλιον καλούμενον τῆς Ἀργολίδος, ὕδωρ γλυκὺ ἐκ θαλάσσης ἀνερχόμενον. τὸ δὲ ἀρχαῖον καὶ καθίεσαν ἐς τὴν Δίνην τῷ Ποσειδῶνι ἵππους οἱ Ἀργεῖοι κεκοσμημένους χαλινοῖς. γλυκὺ δὲ ὕδωρ ἐν θαλάσσῃ δῆλόν ἐστιν ἐνταῦθά τε ἀνιὸν ἐν τῇ Ἀργολίδι καὶ ἐν τῇ Θεσπρωτίδι κατὰ τὸ Χειμέριον καλούμενον.
θαύματος δὲ ἔτι πλέονός ἐστιν ἐν Μαιάνδρῳ ζέον ὕδωρ, τὸ μὲν ἐκ πέτρας, περιέχοντος τοῦ ῥεύματος τὴν πέτραν, τὸ δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἰλύος ἄνεισι τοῦ ποταμοῦ. πρὸ Δικαιαρχίας δὲ τῆς Τυρσηνῶν ὕδωρ τε ἐν θαλάσσῃ ζέον καὶ νῆσος διʼ αὐτό ἐστι χειροποίητος, ὡς μηδὲ τοῦτο τὸ ὕδωρ ἀργὸν εἶναι ἀλλά σφισι λουτρὰ θερμά.
τοῦ δὲ Ἀργοῦ καλουμένου πεδίου Μαντινεῦσιν ὄρος ἐστὶν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ, σκηνῆς τε Φιλίππου τοῦ Ἀμύντου καὶ κώμης ἐρείπια ἔχον Νεστάνης· πρὸς ταύτῃ γὰρ στρατοπεδεύσασθαι τῇ Νεστάνῃ Φίλιππον λέγουσι καὶ τὴν πηγὴν αὐτόθι ὀνομάζουσιν ἔτι ἀπὸ ἐκείνου Φιλίππιον. ἀφίκετο δὲ ἐς Ἀρκαδίαν Φίλιππος οἰκειωσόμενός τε Ἀρκάδας καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ σφᾶς τοῦ ἄλλου διαστήσων.
Φίλιππον δὲ βασιλέων μὲν τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ καὶ ὅσοι Μακεδόσι γεγόνασιν ὕστερον, τούτων μὲν πείθοιτο ἄν τις μέγιστα αὐτὸν ἔργα ἐπιδείξασθαι· στρατηγὸν δὲ ἀγαθὸν οὐκ ἄν τις φρονῶν ὀρθὰ καλέσειεν αὐτόν, ὅς γε καὶ ὅρκους θεῶν κατεπάτησεν ἀεὶ καὶ σπονδὰς ἐπὶ παντὶ ἐψεύσατο πίστιν τε ἠτίμασε μάλιστα ἀνθρώπων.
καί οἱ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ μήνιμα ἀπήντησεν οὐκ ὀψέ, πρῶτα δὲ ὧν ἴσμεν. Φίλιππος μὲν οὐ πρόσω βιώσας ἕξ τε καὶ τεσσαράκοντα ἐτῶν τὸ μάντευμα ἐξετέλεσε τὸ ἐκ Δελφῶν, ὃ δὴ χρωμένῳ οἱ περὶ τοῦ Πέρσου γενέσθαι λέγουσιν, ἔστεπται μὲν ὁ ταῦρος, ἔχει τέλος, ἔστιν ὁ θύσων· / τοῦτο μὲν δὴ οὐ μετὰ πολὺ ἐδήλωσεν οὐκ ἐς τὸν Μῆδον, ἀλλὰ ἐς αὐτὸν ἔχον Φίλιππον·
ἐπὶ δὲ Φιλίππῳ τελευτήσαντι Φιλίππου παῖδα νήπιον, γεγονότα δὲ ἐκ Κλεοπάτρας ἀδελφιδῆς Ἀττάλου, τοῦτον τὸν παῖδα ὁμοῦ τῇ μητρὶ Ὀλυμπιὰς ἐπὶ σκεύους χαλκοῦ πυρὸς ὑποβεβλημένου διέφθειρεν ἕλκουσα· χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον καὶ Ἀριδαῖον ἀπέκτεινεν. ἔμελλε δὲ ἄρα ὁ δαίμων καὶ τὸ γένος τὸ Κασσάνδρου κακῶς ἐξαμήσειν· Κασσάνδρῳ δὲ οἱ παῖδες ἐκ Θεσσαλονίκης γεγόνασι τῆς Φιλίππου, Θεσσαλονίκῃ δὲ ἦσαν καὶ Ἀριδαίῳ μητέρες Θεσσαλαί. τὰ δὲ ἐς Ἀλέξανδρον καὶ τοῖς πᾶσιν ὁμοίως δῆλά ἐστιν ·
εἰ δὲ τῶν ἐς Γλαῦκον τὸν Σπαρτιάτην ἐποιήσατο ὁ Φίλιππος λόγον καὶ τὸ ἔπος ἐφʼ ἑκάστου τῶν ἔργων ἀνεμίμνησκεν αὑτόν, ἀνδρὸς δʼ εὐόρκου γενεὴ μετόπισθεν ἀρείων, / οὐκ ἂν οὕτω δίχα λόγου δοκεῖ μοι θεῶν τις Ἀλεξάνδρου τε ὁμοῦ τὸν βίον καὶ ἀκμὴν τὴν Μακεδόνων σβέσαι.
After you have crossed into Mantinean territory, over Mount Artemisius, you will find yourself in a plain called the Fallow Plain, and fallow it is, for the rain-water, pouring down into it from the mountains, renders tillage impossible ; indeed, it must infallibly have been a lake if it were not that the water disappears into a chasm in the ground. Here it vanishes to rise again at Dine.
Dine is at Genethlium, as it is called, in Argolis, and it is a spring of fresh water rising out of the sea. Of old the Argives threw horses, bitted and bridled, into Dine in honour of Poseidon. Fresh water rising in the sea may be seen here in Argolis, and also at the place called Chimerium in Thesprotis.
Still more wonderful is the boiling water in the Maeander, which springs partly from a rock surrounded by the stream, and partly from the slime of the river. Off Dicaearchia, which belongs to the Etruscans, there is boiling water in the sea, and an island has been constructed artificially, that the water may be utilised for warm baths.
On the left of the Fallow Plain is a mountain, in Mantinean territory, on which are remains of an encampment of Philip, son of Amyntas, and of a village called Nestane. For they say that Philip encamped at this village of Nestane, and they still name the spring there after him Philip’s spring. Philip came to Arcadia in order to attach the Arcadians to his interests, and to detach them from the Greek cause. Now, though the achievements of Philip may be thought to be greater than those of any king of Macedonia before or after him, no right-thinking man would call him a good general ; for he always trampled on oaths, violated treaties on every opportunity, and broke faith more shamefully than any other human being. However, the wrath of God did not tarry, but overtook him with unparalleled speed. For after a life of not more than six-and-forty years he fulfilled the Delphic oracle, which was given him, they say, when he inquired of the god with regard to the Persians :— The bull is crowned, ’tis ready, and the sacrificer is provided. It soon appeared that this referred, not to the Medes, but to Philip himself.
After his death Olympias killed Philip’s infant son, together with his mother Cleopatra, niece of Attalus, by dragging them over a bronze vessel filled with fire; and afterwards she killed Aridaeus also. But the deity, as it turned out, was going to mow down the race of Cassander also. Cassander had sons by Thessalonice, daughter of Philip, and the mothers of Thessalonice and Aridaeus were both Thessalian women. The fate of Alexander is known to all. But if Philip had paid heed to the story of Glaucus, the Spartan, and had remembered in all his actions the verse :— But the family of a man who keeps his oath fares better hereafter, I do not believe that one of the gods would so ruthlessly have quenched at a blow the life of Alexander and the glory of Macedonia. But this has been a digression.
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