τόδε μὲν ἡμῖν ἐγένετο ἐπεισόδιον τῷ λόγῳ· μετὰ δὲ τὰ ἐρείπια τῆς Νεστάνης ἱερὸν Δήμητρός ἐστιν ἅγιον, καὶ αὐτῇ καὶ ἑορτὴν ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος ἄγουσιν οἱ Μαντινεῖς. καὶ κατὰ τὴν Νεστάνην ὑπόκειται μάλιστα , μοῖρα μὲν καὶ αὐτὴ τοῦ πεδίου τοῦ Ἀργοῦ, χορὸς δὲ ὀνομάζεται Μαιρᾶς. τοῦ πεδίου δέ ἐστιν ἡ διέξοδος τοῦ Ἀργοῦ σταδίων δέκα. ὑπερβὰς δὲ οὐ πολὺ ἐς ἕτερον καταβήσῃ πεδίον· ἐν τούτῳ δὲ παρὰ τὴν λεωφόρον ἐστὶν Ἄρνη καλουμένη κρήνη.
λέγεται δὲ καὶ τοιάδε ὑπὸ Ἀρκάδων, Ῥέα ἡνίκα Ποσειδῶνα ἔτεκε, τὸν μὲν ἐς ποίμνην καταθέσθαι δίαιταν ἐνταῦθα ἕξοντα μετὰ τῶν ἀρνῶν, ἐπὶ τούτῳ δὲ ὀνομασθῆναι καὶ τὴν πηγήν, ὅτι περὶ αὐτὴν ἐποιμαίνοντο οἱ ἄρνες· φάναι δὲ αὐτὴν πρὸς τὸν Κρόνον τεκεῖν ἵππον καί οἱ πῶλον ἵππου καταπιεῖν ἀντὶ τοῦ παιδὸς δοῦναι, καθὰ καὶ ὕστερον ἀντὶ τοῦ Διὸς λίθον ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ κατειλημένον σπαργάνοις.
τούτοις Ἑλλήνων ἐγὼ τοῖς λόγοις ἀρχόμενος μὲν τῆς συγγραφῆς εὐηθίας ἔνεμον πλέον, ἐς δὲ τὰ Ἀρκάδων προεληλυθὼς πρόνοιαν περὶ αὐτῶν τοιάνδε ἐλάμβανον· Ἑλλήνων τοὺς νομιζομένους σοφοὺς διʼ αἰνιγμάτων πάλαι καὶ οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ εὐθέος λέγειν τοὺς λόγους, καὶ τὰ εἰρημένα οὖν ἐς τὸν Κρόνον σοφίαν εἶναί τινα εἴκαζον Ἑλλήνων. τῶν μὲν δὴ ἐς τὸ θεῖον ἡκόντων τοῖς εἰρημένοις χρησόμεθα·
Μαντινέων δὲ ἡ πόλις σταδίους μάλιστά που δώδεκά ἐστιν ἀπωτέρω τῆς πηγῆς ταύτης. Μαντινεὺς μὲν οὖν ὁ Λυκάονος ἑτέρωθι φαίνεται οἰκίσας τὴν πόλιν, ἣν ὀνομάζουσι καὶ ἐς ἡμᾶς ἔτι Πτόλιν οἱ Ἀρκάδες· ἐκεῖθεν δὲ Ἀντινόη Κηφέως τοῦ Ἀλέου θυγάτηρ κατὰ μάντευμα ἀναστήσασα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἤγαγεν ἐς τοῦτο τὸ χωρίον, ὄφιν—ὁποῖον, οὐ μνημονεύουσιν— ἡγεμόνα ποιησαμένη τῆς ὁδοῦ· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὁ παρὰ τὴν πόλιν ῥέων τὴν νῦν ποταμὸς Ὄφις ὄνομα ἔσχηκεν.
εἰ δὲ Ὁμήρου χρὴ τεκμαιρόμενον τοῖς ἔπεσι συμβαλέσθαι γνώμην, τὸν ὄφιν τοῦτον δράκοντα εἶναι πείθομαι. περὶ Φιλοκτήτου μὲν ἐν νεῶν καταλόγῳ ποιήσας ὡς ἀπολίποιεν αὐτὸν οἱ Ἕλληνες ἐν Λήμνῳ ταλαιπωροῦντα ὑπὸ τοῦ ἕλκους, ἐπίκλησιν οὐκ ἔθετο ὄφιν τῷ ὕδρῳ· τὸν δράκοντα δέ, ὃν ἐς τοὺς Τρῶας ἀφῆκεν ὁ ἀετός, ἐκάλεσεν ὄφιν. οὕτω τὸ εἰκὸς ἔχει καὶ τῇ Ἀντινόῃ τὸν ἡγεμόνα γενέσθαι δράκοντα.
Μαντινεῖς δὲ μάχην μὲν τὴν ἐν Διπαιεῦσιν οὐκ ἐμαχέσαντο πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους μετὰ Ἀρκάδων τῶν ἄλλων, ἐν δὲ τῷ Πελοποννησίων καὶ Ἀθηναίων πολέμῳ συνέστησαν ἐπὶ Λακεδαιμονίους μετὰ Ἠλείων, καὶ παραγενομένου συμμαχικοῦ σφισιν ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἐναντία ἐμαχέσαντο· μετέσχον δὲ καὶ τοῦ ἐς Σικελίαν στόλου κατὰ Ἀθηναίων φιλίαν.
χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον Λακεδαιμονίων στρατιὰ καὶ Ἀγησίπολις ὁ Παυσανίου βασιλεὺς ἐσέβαλον ἐς τὴν Μαντινικήν. ὡς δὲ ἐκράτησεν ὁ Ἀγησίπολις τῇ μάχῃ καὶ ἐς τὸ τεῖχος κατέκλεισε τοὺς Μαντινέας, εἷλεν οὐ μετὰ πολὺ τὴν πόλιν, οὐ πολιορκίᾳ κατὰ τὸ ἰσχυρόν, τὸν δὲ Ὄφιν ποταμὸν ἀποστρέψας σφίσιν ἐς τὸ τεῖχος ὠμῆς ᾠκοδομημένον τῆς πλίνθου.
ἐς μὲν δὴ μηχανημάτων ἐμβολὴν ἀσφάλειαν ἡ πλίνθος παρέχεται μᾶλλον ἢ ὁπόσα λίθου πεποιημένα ἐστίν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ κατάγνυνταί τε καὶ ἐκπηδῶσιν ἐκ τῶν ἁρμονιῶν, ἡ δὲ πλίνθος ἐκ μηχανημάτων μὲν οὐχ ὁμοίως πονεῖ, διαλύεται δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος οὐχ ἧσσον ἢ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου κηρός.
τοῦτο οὐκ Ἀγησίπολις τὸ στρατήγημα ἐς τὸ τεῖχος τῶν Μαντινέων ἐστὶν ὁ συνείς, ἀλλὰ πρότερον ἔτι Κίμωνι ἐξευρέθη τῷ Μιλτιάδου Βόγην πολιορκοῦντι ἄνδρα Μῆδον καὶ ὅσοι Περσῶν Ἠιόνα τὴν ἐπὶ Στρυμόνι εἶχον· Ἀγησίπολις δὲ καθεστηκὸς καὶ ᾀδόμενον ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων ἐμιμήσατο. ὡς δὲ εἷλε τὴν Μαντίνειαν, ὀλίγον μέν τι κατέλιπεν οἰκεῖσθαι, τὸ πλεῖστον δὲ ἐς ἔδαφος καταβαλὼν αὐτῆς κατὰ κώμας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους διῴκισε.
Μαντινέας δὲ ἐκ τῶν κωμῶν κατάξειν ἐς τὴν πατρίδα ἔμελλον Θηβαῖοι μετὰ τὸ ἔργον τὸ ἐν Λεύκτροις. κατελθόντες δὲ οὐ τὰ πάντα ἐγένοντο δίκαιοι· περιληφθέντες δὲ ἐπικηρυκευόμενοι Λακεδαιμονίοις καὶ εἰρήνην ἰδίᾳ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἄνευ τοῦ Ἀρκάδων κοινοῦ πράσσοντες, οὕτω διὰ τὸ δέος τῶν Θηβαίων ἐς τὴν Λακεδαιμονίων συμμαχίαν μετεβάλοντο ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ, καὶ τῆς Μαντινικῆς πρὸς Ἐπαμινώνδαν καὶ Θηβαίους μάχης Λακεδαιμονίων γινομένης ὁμοῦ τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐτάξαντο οἱ Μαντινεῖς.
τούτων δὲ ὕστερον διαφορὰ ἐγένετο Μαντινεῦσιν ἐς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, καὶ ἀπʼ αὐτῶν μετέστησαν ἐς τὸ Ἀχαϊκόν· καὶ Ἆγιν τὸν Εὐδαμίδου βασιλεύοντα ἐν Σπάρτῃ νικῶσιν ἀμύνοντες τῇ σφετέρᾳ, νικῶσι δὲ προσλαβόντες Ἀχαιῶν στρατιὰν καὶ Ἄρατον ἡγεμόνα ἐπʼ αὐτῇ. μετέσχον δὲ καὶ πρὸς Κλεομένην τοῦ ἔργου τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς καὶ συγκαθεῖλον Λακεδαιμονίων τὴν ἰσχύν. Ἀντιγόνου δὲ ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ Φίλιππον τὸν Περσέως πατέρα ἔτι παῖδα ἐπιτροπεύοντος καὶ Ἀχαιοῖς ἐς τὰ μάλιστα ὄντος ἐπιτηδείου, ἄλλα τε ἐς τιμὴν αὐτοῦ Μαντινεῦσιν ἐποιήθη καὶ ὄνομα τῇ πόλει μετέθεντο Ἀντιγόνειαν.
χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον Αὐγούστου πρὸς τῇ ἄκρᾳ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος τοῦ Ἀκτίου ναυμαχήσειν μέλλοντος Μαντινεῖς ἐμαχέσαντο ὁμοῦ Ῥωμαίοις, τὸ δὲ ἄλλο Ἀρκαδικὸν συνετάχθησαν Ἀντωνίῳ, κατʼ ἄλλο μὲν ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν οὐδέν, ὅτι δὲ ἐφρόνουν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὰ Αὐγούστου. δέκα δὲ ὕστερον γενεαῖς ἐβασίλευσέ τε Ἀδριανὸς καὶ ἀφελὼν Μαντινεῦσι τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ἐκ Μακεδονίας ἐπακτὸν ἀπέδωκεν αὖθις Μαντίνειαν καλεῖσθαί σφισι τὴν πόλιν.
After the ruins of Nestane there is a holy sanctuary of Demeter, and the Mantineans celebrate a festival every year in her honour. Just under the village of Nestane lies a portion of the Fallow Plain called the Dancing-ground of Maera. The Fallow Plain measures ten furlongs across.
Passing over a slight eminence you will descend into another plain where there is a fountain called Arne (‘lamb’) beside the high road. The Arcadians tell the following story :—When Rhea had brought forth Poseidon, she put him down in the midst of a flock, there to live with the lambs, and the spring got its name because the lambs browsed round about it ; but she said to Cronus that she had been delivered of a horse, and she gave him a foal to swallow instead of the child, just as afterwards she gave him a stone wrapt in swaddling clothes instead of Zeus. When I began this work I used to look on these Greek stories as little better than foolishness ; but now that I have got as far as Arcadia my opinion about them is this: I believe that the Greeks who were accounted wise spoke of old in riddles, and not straight out ; and, accordingly, I conjecture that this story about Cronus is a bit of Greek philosophy. In matters of religion I will follow tradition. 3. The city of Mantinea is just about twelve furlongs from this spring. Now Mantineus, son of Lycaon, is known to have founded the city on a different site, which the Arcadians to this day still name Ptolis (‘city’). But Antinoe, daughter of Cepheus, son of Aleus, in obedience to an oracle, removed the population to the present site, following the guidance of a snake (the kind of snake is not recorded). Therefore the river that flows by the present city got the name of Ophis (‘snake’). If I may judge from Homer’s lines, I should say that the snake was a dragon. For while in the catalogue of the ships, where he tells how the Greeks left Philoctetes in Lemnos suffering from the wound, he does not call the water-serpent a snake; on the other hand, he does call the dragon which the eagle let fall among the Trojans a snake. Thus the probability is that Antinoe’s guide was also a dragon.
The Mantineans did not take part with the rest of the Arcadians in the battle of Dipaea against the Lacedaemonians, but in the war between the Peloponnesians and Athenians they sided with the Eleans against the Lacedaemonians, and receiving reinforcements from Athens they fought against the Lacedaemonians ; they also shared in the Sicilian expedition out of friendship for Athens.
Afterwards a Lacedaemonian army under King Agesipolis, son of Pausanias, invaded the territory of Mantinea. Having gained a victory and shut up the Mantineans within their walls, Agesipolis soon took the city, not by force of arms, but by diverting the river Ophis, and turning it upon the walls, which were built of unburnt bricks. Now bricks afford greater security than stone walls against the shock of siege engines, because stones break and are forced out of their places; but while bricks suffer less from siege engines, on the other hand they are dissolved by water as readily as wax is melted by the sun. The idea of employing this stratagem against the walls of Mantinea did not originate with Agesipolis: it had been struck out by Cimon, son of Miltiades, when he was besieging Eion on the Strymon, which was held by a Persian garrison under Boges the Mede. Thus Agesipolis only copied an established and celebrated precedent. On taking Mantinea he allowed a small part of it to remain inhabited, but the greater part he razed to the ground and dispersed the population into villages.
After the battle of Leuctra the people were brought back from the villages to the metropolis by the Thebans. But after their restoration they did not behave quite honestly: it was discovered that they were treating with the Lacedaemonians and negotiating a separate peace without reference to the Arcadian confederacy, so for fear of the Thebans they openly espoused the Lacedaemonian alliance, and at the battle of Mantinea, where the Lacedaemonians engaged the Thebans under Epaminondas, the Mantineans were ranged on the Lacedaemonian side. Afterwards, however, they quarrelled with the Lacedaemonians, deserted them, and joined the Achaean League. In the defence of their territory they, with the help of an Achaean army under the command of Aratus, defeated the Spartan king Agis, son of Eudamidas. They also fought on the side of the Achaeans against Cleomenes, and helped them to humble the Lacedaemonian power. Antigonus, regent of Macedonia for the youthful Philip, the father of Perseus, was a warm friend of the Achaeans ; so the Mantineans bestowed various marks of honour upon him, and in particular they changed the name of their city to Antigonea. Afterwards when Augustus was about to engage in the sea-fight at the cape of Actian Apollo, the Mantineans fought on the Roman side, while the rest of the Arcadians were ranged on the side of Antony for no other reason, it seems to me, than that the Lacedaemonians sided with Augustus. Ten generations later the Emperor Hadrian took from the Mantineans the name they had borrowed from Macedonia, and restored to the city its old name of Mantinea.
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