Greek Texts & Translations

16.56.8But as the soldiers attempted to dig about the tripod, great earthquakes occurred and roused fear in the hearts of the Phocians, and since the gods clearly indicated in advance the punishment they would visit upon the temple-robbers, the soldiers desisted from their efforts. The leader of this sacrilege, the aforementioned Philon, was promptly punished as he deserved for his crime against the god.

ch. 57 16.57.1Although the loss of the sacred property was ascribed entirely to the Phocians, the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians, who were fighting on the side of the Phocians and received pay out of all proportion to the number of soldiers they sent out, shared in the seizure. 16.57.2This period brought it to pass for the Athenians that they sinned against the divine powers to such an extent that, shortly before the Delphian affair, ^note as Iphicrates was tarrying near Corcyra with a naval force and Dionysius the tyrant of Syracuse had shipped to Olympia and to Delphi statues cunningly wrought in gold and ivory, Iphicrates, chancing to fall in with the ships that were conveying these statues, seized them and sent word to the Athenian people inquiring what he should do with them; whereat the Athenians instructed him not to raise questions about what concerned the gods but to give his attention to seeing that his soldiers were well fed. 16.57.3Now Iphicrates, obeying the decision of his country, sold as booty the works of art belonging to the gods. The tyrant, filled with rage at the Athenians, wrote them a letter of the following tenor:

"Dionysius to the Senate and Assembly of the Athenians: It is inappropriate to wish you to do well since you are committing sacrilege ^note against the gods both on land and on sea, and, having made off with the statues which had been sent by us to be dedicated to the gods, you have turned them into coin and have committed impiety toward the greatest of the gods, Apollo, whose abode is Delphi, and Olympian Zeus."

16.57.4Such now was the conduct of the Athenians toward the divine powers, and that too though they boasted that Apollo was their tutelary god and progenitor. ^note And the Lacedaemonians, though they had consulted the oracle of Apollo at Delphi and through it come to possess their constitution ^note which is admired of all the world, though even now they still interrogate the god on matters of supreme importance, ^note had the effrontery to become partners in crime of those who pillaged the sanctuary.

ch. 58 16.58.1In Boeotia the Phocians, who held three strongly fortified cities, Orchomenus, Coroneia, and Corsiae, ^note conducted from these their campaign against the Boeotians. Being well supplied with mercenaries they pillaged the country and in their thrusts and engagements proved superior to the inhabitants of the place. 16.58.2As a consequence the Boeotians, feeling the pinch of war and the loss of great numbers of their men, but having no financial resources, sent envoys to Philip with a request for assistance. 16.58.3The king, pleased to see their discomfiture and disposed to humble the Boeotians' pride over Leuctra, dispatched few men, being on his guard against one thing only—lest he be thought to be indifferent to the pillaging of the oracle. 16.58.4As the Phocians were engaged in building a fortress near the place named Abae, ^note at which is a holy shrine of Apollo, the Boeotians took the field against them. Some of the Phocians straightway fled to the nearest cities and dispersed, while others took refuge in the temple of Apollo and perished to the number of five hundred. 16.58.5Now many other divine visitations fell to the lot of the Phocians about this period, and in particular the one that I am about to relate. The men who had taken refuge in the temple supposed that their lives would be saved through the intervention of the gods, but on the contrary through some divine Providence ^note they met with the punishment temple-robbers well deserve. 16.58.6For there was a quantity of rushes about the temple, and a fire had been left behind in the tents of the men who had fled, with the result that the rushes caught fire and such a great conflagration was touched off so miraculously that the temple was consumed and the Phocians who had fled to it for refuge were burned alive. Indeed it became apparent that the gods do not extend to temple-robbers the protection generally accorded to suppliants.