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The Histories · 7.140

For the Athenians had sent men to Delphi to inquire and were preparing to consult the Oracle; and after these had performed the usual rites in the sacred precincts, when they had entered the sanctuary and were sitting down there, the Pythian prophetess, whose name was Aristonike, uttered to them this oracle: "Why do ye sit, O ye wretched? Flee thou to the uttermost limits, Leaving thy home and the heights of the wheel-round city behind thee! Lo, there remaineth now nor the head nor the body in safety,--Neither the feet below nor the hands nor the middle are left thee,--All are destroyed together; for fire and the passionate War-god, Urging the Syrian car to speed, doth hurl them to ruin. Not thine alone, he shall cause many more great strongholds to perish, Yes, many temples of gods to the ravening fire shall deliver,--Temples which stand now surely with sweat of their terror…
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Herodotus of Halicarnassus · trans. G. C. Macaulay, 1890
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