Description of Greece

​In the eleventh year of the siege, it was fated both that Eira should be captured and that the Messenians should be driven from their homes, and indeed the god fulfilled for them a certain oracle given to Aristomenes and Theoklos. For to them, when they came to Delphi after the defeat at the Trench and inquired about safety, the Pythia spoke as follows: “When a goat drinks the winding water of Neda, no longer do I protect Messene; for destruction is near. “ ​The springs of the Neda are on Mount Lykaion; and the river, having advanced through the land of the Arcadians and turned back again into Messenia, marks the boundary of the coastal territory between the Messenians and the Eleans. At that time, they were afraid lest the male goats should drink from the Neda; but, as it turned out, the deity was foretelling the following to them. There are some of the Greeks who call the wild fig-tree *olynthe*, but the Messenians themselves call it *tragos*. So at that time a wild fig-tree growing by the Neda had not grown straight up, but was bending towards the stream and touching the water with the tips of its leaves.

​The seer Theoklos, having observed this, understood that the Pythia, in speaking of “the goat drinking from the Neda,” had foretold this wild fig-tree, and that the fatal hour had now come for the Messenians; he kept this secret from the others, but brought Aristomenes to the wild fig-tree and explained to him that the time of their safety had run out. Aristomenes was persuaded that this was so and that there was no longer any delay for them, but he also took thought in advance based on the present circumstances.

​For there was a certain secret thing belonging to the Messenians, which, if hidden and buried underground, was destined to preserve Messene for all time, and if it were preserved, the oracles of Lykos, son of Pandion, said that the Messenians would in time recover their country; Aristomenes, as he knew the oracles, carried this very thing when night came. And having arrived where Mount Ithome was most deserted, he buried it on Mount Ithome, praying to Zeus who holds Ithome and the gods who had preserved the Messenians up to that time to remain guardians of the deposit, and not to deliver to the Lacedaemonians the Messenians’ only hope of return.

​After this, evils began to befall the Messenians through adultery, just as had happened to the Trojans even earlier. They themselves held power over the mountain and the region towards Eira as far as the Neda, but there were dwellings even outside the gates for some. No other deserter had come to them from Laconia, except a slave of Emperamos, a herdsman driving his master’s cattle; and Emperamos was an esteemed man in Sparta.