"After invading Greece and receiving the submission of other key
city-states,
Philip II of
Macedon sent a message to Sparta: "If I win this war, you will be
slaves forever." In another version, he warned: "You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city." According to both accounts, the Spartan
ephors replied with one word: "If" (αἴκα).
[18] Subsequently neither Philip nor
Alexander attempted to capture the city."