give more than three hundred talents, as coming from Megalopolis
itself; for it is acknowledged that most of the inhabitants, free and
slaves, escaped to Messene. But the strongest confirmation of my words
is the case of Mantinea, which, as he himself observes, was second to
no Arcadian city in wealth and numbers. Though it was surrendered after
a siege, so that no one could escape, and no property could without
great difficulty be concealed; yet the value of the whole spoil of the
town, including the price of the captives sold, amounted at this same
period to only three hundred talents.
[Sidenote: Ptolemy Euergetes and Cleomenes.]
+63.+ But a more astonishing misstatement remains to be remarked. In
the course of his history of this war, Phylarchus asserts “that about
ten days before the battle an ambassador came from Ptolemy announcing
to Cleomenes, that the king declined to continue to support him with
supplies, and advised him to make terms with Antigonus. And that when
this message had been delivered to Cleomenes, he made up his mind that
he had better put his fortune to the supreme test as soon as possible,
before his forces learnt about this message, because he could not hope
to provide the soldiers’ pay from his own resources.” But if he had
at that very time become the master of six thousand talents, he would
have been better supplied than Ptolemy himself. And as for war with
Antigonus, if he had become master of only three hundred talents, he
would have been able to continue it without any difficulty. But the
writer states two inconsistent propositions—that Cleomenes depended
wholly on Ptolemy for money: and that he at the same time had become
master of that enormous sum. Is this not irrational, and grossly
careless besides? I might mention many instances of a similar kind, not
only in his account of this period, but throughout his whole work; but
I think for my present purpose enough has been said.
[Sidenote: B.C. 222. Cleomenes invades Argos.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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