Geography

​Ephorus says that the Thracians, having made a treaty with the Boeotians, attacked them by night as they were encamping rather carelessly, believing that peace had been established. When the Boeotians repulsed them and at the same time accused them of violating the treaty, the Thracians claimed that they had not violated it; for they said they had agreed to a treaty by day, but had made the attack by night. It is from this indeed that the proverb “a Thracian excuse” is said to have originated. And while the war was still continuing, the Pelasgians went to consult the oracle, and the Boeotians went as well. Now, Ephorus said he could not tell the oracle given to the Pelasgians, but to the Boeotians the prophetess replied that they would fare well if they committed an impious act. The envoys, suspecting that the prophetess answered thus to favor the Pelasgians because of their kinship (since the temple was originally Pelasgian), seized the woman and threw her into a fire, thinking that, whether she had acted wickedly or not, their action was right in either case: if she had given a false oracle, she was punished; and if she had done no wrong, they had merely done what was commanded. But those around the temple did not approve of killing the perpetrators without a trial, especially in a temple, and so they brought them to trial, calling upon the priestesses, who were the remaining two of the three prophetesses. When it was said that there was no law anywhere for women to act as judges, they chose an equal number of men to join the women. The men voted for acquittal, while the women voted for conviction, and since the votes were equal, those who acquitted won the case. From this circumstance, in Dodona men alone prophesy to the Boeotians. However, the prophetesses, in explaining the oracle, said that the god commanded the Boeotians to plunder the tripods in their own country and send one to Dodona every year. And indeed they do this; for they always take down one of the dedicated tripods by night and, covering it with garments as if in secret, carry the tripod to Dodona.

​After this, they assisted in the Aeolian colonization under Penthilus and his followers, sending out a very large number of their own people with them, so that it was even called the Boeotian colonization. Later on, after many years, the Persian War, which took place around Plataea, laid waste to the country. Afterwards, however, they recovered themselves to such an extent that the Thebans, having defeated the Lacedaemonians in two battles, disputed the hegemony of the Greeks. But when Epaminondas fell in the battle, they were frustrated in this hope, yet they nevertheless fought on behalf of the Greeks against the Phocians who had plundered the common temple. Having been ruined both by this war and by the Macedonians when they attacked the Greeks, they lost their city by being razed to the ground by these same Macedonians, and recovered it when it was rebuilt. From that time on, their affairs have continually grown weaker up to our own day, so that they do not preserve even the likeness of a noteworthy village. The other cities have declined in proportion, except Tanagra and Thespiae; these indeed survive to a sufficient degree when compared with the others.

​Next, we must make the description of the country, beginning from the coast facing Euboea which is continuous with Attica. The beginning is Oropus and the sacred harbor which they call Delphinium, opposite to which is the old Eretria in Euboea, having a crossing of sixty stadia. After Delphinium, at a distance of twenty stadia, is Oropus; and opposite to this is the present Eretria, and the crossing to it is forty stadia.

​Next is Delium, the temple of Apollo temple-founded from Delos, a small town of the Tanagraeans, thirty stadia distant from Aulis, where the Athenians, having been defeated in battle, fled headlong. In this flight, the philosopher Socrates, who was serving as a foot-soldier since his horse was out of the way, saw Xenophon the son of Gryllus lying fallen from his horse; he took him up on his shoulders and carried him to safety for many stadia until the flight ceased.