by Pausanias
“οὐκ ἂν οὕτω δίχα λόγου δοκεῖ μοι θεῶν τις Ἀλεξάνδρου τε ὁμοῦ τὸν βίον καὶ ἀκμὴν τὴν Μακεδόνων σβέσαι.
[7.8] But if Philip had taken to heart the fate of the Spartan Glaucus, and at each of his acts had bethought himself of the verse:–
If a man keeps his oath his family prospers hereafter;
then, I believe, some god would not have extinguished so relentlessly the life of Alexander and, at the same time, the Macedonian supremacy.
8. 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.
[8.1] VIII. So much by way of a digression. After the ruins of Nestane is a holy sanctuary of Demeter, and every year the Mantineans hold a festival in her honor. By Nestane there lies, on lower ground, about . . . itself too forming part of the Untilled Plain, and it is called the Dancing Floor of Maera. The road across the Untilled Plain is about ten stades. After crossing it you will descend, a little farther on, into another plain. On it, alongside the highway, is a well called Lamb.
[2] 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.
[8.2] The following story is told by the Arcadians. When Rhea had given birth to Poseidon, she laid him in a flock for him to live there with the lambs, and the spring too received its name just because the lambs pastured around it. Rhea, it is said, declared to Cronus that she had given birth to a horse, and gave him a foal to swallow instead of the child, just as later she gave him in place of Zeus a stone wrapped up in swaddling clothes.
[3] 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 δι᾽ 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:
[8.3] When I began to write my history I was inclined to count these legends as foolishness, but on getting as far as Arcadia I grew to hold a more thoughtful view of them, which is this. In the days of old those Greeks who were considered wise spoke their sayings not straight out but in riddles, and so the legends about Cronus I conjectured to be one sort of Greek wisdom. In matters of divinity, therefore, I shall adopt the received tradition.
MANTINEIA
[4] 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.
[8.4] The city of the Mantineans is about twelve stades farther away from this spring. Now there are plain indications that it was in another place that Mantineus the son of Lycaon founded his city, which even to-day is called Ptolis (City) by the Arcadians. From here, in obedience to an oracle, Antinoe, the daughter of Cepheus, the son of Aleus, removed the inhabitants to the modern site, accepting as a guide for the pilgrimage a snake; the breed of snake is not recorded. It is for this reason that the river, which flows by the modern city, has received the name Ophis (Snake).
[5] 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 δὲ 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.
[8.5] If we may base a conjecture on the verses of Homer, we are led to believe that this snake was a dragon. When in the list of ships he tells how the Greeks abandoned Philoctetes in Lemnos suffering from his wound, he does not style the water-serpent a snake. But the dragon that the eagle dropped among the Trojans he does call a snake. So it is likely that Antinoe’s guide also was a dragon.
MANTINEIA, HISTORY
[6] 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.
[8.6] The Mantineans did not fight on the side of the other Arcadians against the Lacedaemonians at Dipaea, but in the Peloponnesian war they rose with the Eleans against the Lacedaemonians, and joined in battle with them after the arrival of reinforcements from Athens. Their friendship with the Athenians led them to take part also in the Sicilian expedition.
[7] 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.
[8.7] Later on a Lacedaemonian army under Agesipolis, the son of Pausanias, inv
aded their territory. Agesipolis was victorious in the battle and shut up the Mantineans within their walls, capturing the city shortly after. He did not take it by storm, but turned the river Ophis against its fortifications, which were made of unburnt brick.
[8] 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.
[8.8] Now against the blows of engines brick brings greater security than fortifications built of stone. For stones break and are dislodged from their fittings; brick, however, does not suffer so much from engines, but it crumbles under the action of water just as wax is melted by the sun.
[9] 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.
[8.9] This method of demolishing the fortifications of the Mantineans was not discovered by Agesipolis. It was a stratagem invented at an earlier date by Cimon, the son of Miltiades, when he was besieging Boges and the other Persians who were holding Eion on the Strymon. Agesipolis only copied an established custom, and one celebrated among the Greeks. After taking Mantineia, he left a small part of it inhabited, but by far the greater part he razed to the ground, settling the inhabitants in villages.
[10] 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.
[8.10] Fate decreed that the Thebans should restore the Mantineans from the villages to their own country after the engagement at Leuctra, but when restored they proved far from grateful. They were caught treating with the Lacedaemonians and intriguing for a peace with them privately without reference to the rest of the Arcadian people. So through their fear of the Thebans they openly changed sides and joined the Lacedaemonian confederacy, and when the battle took place at Mantineia between the Lacedaemonians and the Thebans under Epaminondas, the Mantineans joined the ranks of the Lacedaemonians.
[11] τούτων δὲ ὕστερον διαφορὰ ἐγένετο Μαντινεῦσιν ἐς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, καὶ ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν μετέστησαν ἐς τὸ Ἀχαϊκόν: καὶ Ἆγιν τὸν Εὐδαμίδου βασιλεύοντα ἐν Σπάρτῃ νικῶσιν ἀμύνοντες τῇ σφετέρᾳ, νικῶσι δὲ προσλαβόντες Ἀχαιῶν στρατιὰν καὶ Ἄρατον ἡγεμόνα ἐπ᾽ 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.
[8.11] Subsequently the Mantineans quarrelled with the Lacedaemonians, and seceded from them to the Achaean League. They defeated Agis, the son of Eudamidas, king of Sparta, in defence of their own country, with the help of an Achaean army under the leadership of Aratus. They also joined the Achaeans in their struggle against Cleomenes and helped to destroy the Lacedaemonian power. Antigonus of Macedonia, who was guardian of Philip, the father of Perseus, before he came of age, was an ardent supporter of the Achaeans, and so the Mantineans, among other honors, changed the name of their city to Antigoneia.
[12] χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον Αὐγούστου πρὸς τῇ ἄκρᾳ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος τοῦ Ἀκτίου ναυμαχήσειν μέλλοντος Μαντινεῖς ἐμαχέσαντο ὁμοῦ Ῥωμαίοις, τὸ δὲ ἄλλο Ἀρκαδικὸν συνετάχθησαν Ἀντωνίῳ, κατ᾽ 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.
[8.12] Afterwards, when Augustus was about to fight the naval engagement off the cape of Actian Apollo, the Mantineans fought on the side of the Romans, while the rest of Arcadia joined the ranks of Antonius, for no other reason, so it seems to me, except that the Lacedaemonians favoured the cause of Augustus. Ten generations afterwards, when Hadrian became Emperor, he took away from the Mantineans the name imported from Macedonia, and gave back to their city its old name of Mantineia.
9. ἔστι δὲ Μαντινεῦσι ναὸς διπλοῦς μάλιστά που κατὰ μέσον τοίχῳ διειργόμενος: τοῦ ναοῦ δὲ τῇ μὲν ἄγαλμά ἐστιν Ἀσκληπιοῦ, τέχνη δὲ Ἀλκαμένους, τὸ δὲ ἕτερον Λητοῦς ἐστιν ἱερὸν καὶ τῶν παίδων: Πραξιτέλης δὲ τὰ ἀγάλματα εἰργάσατο τρίτῃ μετὰ Ἀλκαμένην ὕστερον γενεᾷ. τούτων πεποιημένα ἐστὶν ἐπὶ τῷ βάθρῳ Μοῦσαι καὶ Μαρσύας αὐλῶν. ἐνταῦθα ἀνὴρ ἐπείργασται στήλῃ Πολύβιος ὁ Λυκόρτα:
[9.1] IX. The Mantineans possess a temple composed of two parts, being divided almost exactly at the middle by a wall. In one part of the temple is an image of Asclepius, made by Alcamenes; the other part is a sanctuary of Leto and her children, and their images were made by Praxiteles two generations after Alcamenes. On the pedestal of these are figures of Muses together with Marsyas playing the flute. Here there is a figure of Polybius, the son of Lycortas, carved in relief upon a slab, of whom I shall make fuller mention later on.
[2] καὶ τοῦ μὲν ἐπιμνησθησόμεθα καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔπειτα, Μαντινεῦσι δέ ἐστι καὶ ἄλλα ἱερά, τὸ μὲν Σωτῆρος Διός, τὸ δὲ Ἐπιδώτου καλουμένου: ἐπιδιδόναι γὰρ δὴ ἀγαθὰ αὐτὸν ἀνθρώποις. ἔστι δὲ καὶ Διοσκούρων καὶ ἑτέρωθι Δήμητρος καὶ Κόρης ἱερόν: πῦρ δὲ ἐνταῦθα καίουσι, ποιούμενοι φροντίδα μὴ λάθ�
� σφίσιν ἀποσβεσθέν. καὶ Ἥρας πρὸς τῷ θεάτρῳ ναὸν ἐθεασάμην:
[9.2] The Mantineans have other sanctuaries also, one of Zeus Saviour, and one of Zeus Giver of Gifts, in that he gives good things to men. There is also a sanctuary of the Dioscuri, and in another place one of Demeter and the Maid. Here they keep a fire, taking anxious care not to let it go out. Near the theater I saw a temple of Hera.
[3] Πραξιτέλης δὲ τὰ ἀγάλματα αὐτήν τε καθημένην ἐν θρόνῳ καὶ παρεστώσας ἐποίησεν Ἀθηνᾶν καὶ Ἥβην παῖδα Ἥρας. πρὸς δὲ τῆς Ἥρας τῷ βωμῷ καὶ Ἀρκάδος τάφος τοῦ Καλλιστοῦς ἐστι: τὰ δὲ ὀστᾶ τοῦ Ἀρκάδος
ἐπηγάγοντο ἐκ Μαινάλου, χρησμοῦ σφισιν ἐλθόντος ἐκ Δελφῶν:
[9.3] Praxiteles made the images Hera is sitting, while Athena and Hera’s daughter Hebe are standing by her side. Near the altar of Hera is the grave of Arcas, the son of Callisto. The bones of Arcas they brought from Maenalus, in obedience to an oracle delivered to them from Delphi:–
[4] “ἔστι δὲ Μαιναλίη δυσχείμερος, ἔνθα τε κεῖται
Ἀρκάς, ἀφ᾽ οὗ δὴ πάντες ἐπίκλησιν καλέονται,
οὗ τρίοδος καὶ τετράοδος καὶ πεντακέλευθος.
ἔνθα σ᾽ ἐγὼ κέλομαι στείχειν καὶ ἐύφρονι θυμῷ
Ἀρκάδ᾽ ἀειραμένους κατάγειν εἰς ἄστυ ἐραννόν:
ἔνθα τε δὴ τέμενός τε θυηλάς τ᾽ Ἀρκάδι τεύχειν.
“τὸ δὲ χωρίον τοῦτο, ἔνθα ὁ τάφος ἐστὶ τοῦ Ἀρκάδος, καλοῦσιν Ἡλίου βωμούς.