"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."