§16.57.1τῆς δὲ τῶν ἱερῶν χρημάτων φθορᾶς τὴν μὴν ὅλην ἐπιγραφὴν ἔσκον Φωκεῖς, μετέσχον δὲ τῆς αἱρέσεως Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι συμμαχήσαντες τοῖς Φωκεῦσι καὶ οὐ κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐκπεμπομένων στρατιωτῶν τοὺς μισθοὺς λαβόντες.
While the Phocians bore the whole blame for the squandering of the sacred funds, the Athenians and Lacedaemonians shared in the plunder, having allied themselves with the Phocians and received pay not in proportion to the number of soldiers they sent.
§16.57.2οὕτω δὲ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ὁ χρόνος οὗτος ἤνεγκεν ἐξαμαρτάνειν εἰς τὸ δαιμόνιον ὥστε μικρὸν ἀνώτερον τῶν Δελφικῶν καιρῶν Ἰφικράτους διατρίβοντος περὶ Κόρκυραν μετὰ ναυτικῆς δυνάμεως καὶ Διονυσίου τοῦ Συρακοσίων δυνάστου πέμψαντος εἰς Ὀλυμπίαν καὶ Δελφοὺς ἀγάλματα ἐκ χρυσοῦ καὶ ἐλέφαντος δεδημιουργημένα περιτυχὼν ταῖς κομιζούσαις αὐτὰ ναυσὶν ὁ Ἰφικράτης καὶ κρατήσας αὐτῶν διεπέμψατο πρὸς τὸν δῆμον ἐπερωτῶν τί χρὴ πράττειν, οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι προσέταξαν αὐτῷ μὴ τὰ τῶν θεῶν ἐξετάζειν, ἀλλὰ σκοπεῖν ὅπως τοὺς στρατιώτας διαθρέψει.
And this period brought upon the Athenians such errors against the divine power that, a little before the Delphic crisis, when Iphicrates was staying near Corcyra with a naval force and Dionysius, the ruler of the Syracusans, had sent to Olympia and Delphi statues crafted of gold and ivory, Iphicrates, having fallen in with the ships carrying them and seized them, sent word to the assembly asking what he should do; but the Athenians commanded him not to inquire into the affairs of the gods, but to consider how he might feed his soldiers.
§16.57.3Ἰφικράτης μὲν οὖν ὑπακούσας τῷ δόγματι τῆς πατρίδος ἐλαφυροπώλησε τὸν τῶν θεῶν κόσμον· ὁ δὲ τύραννος ὀργισθεὶς τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ἔγραψε πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐπιστολὴν τοιαύτην. Διονύσιος Ἀθηναίων τῇ βουλῇ καὶ τῷ δήμῳ εὖ μὲν πράττειν οὐκ ἐπιτήδειόν ἐστι γράφειν, ἐπεὶ τοὺς θεοὺς καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν ἱεροσυλεῖτε καὶ τὰ ἀγάλματα τὰ εἰς ἀνάθεσιν ὑφʼ ἡμῶν τοῖς θεοῖς ἀπεσταλμένα παρελόμενοι κατεκόψατε καὶ περὶ τοὺς μεγίστους τῶν θεῶν ἠσεβήκατε, περὶ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα τὸν ἐν Δελφοῖς καὶ τὸν Δία τὸν Ὀλύμπιον. §16.57.4Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν οὖν περὶ τὸ θεῖον τοιαῦτʼ ἔπραξαν, καὶ ταῦτα εὐχόμενοι τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα πατρῷον αὐτῶν εἶναι καὶ πρόγονον· Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ τῷ περὶ Δελφοὺς μαντείῳ χρησάμενοι καὶ τὴν θαυμαζομένην παρὰ πᾶσι πολιτείαν διὰ τούτου κτησάμενοι καὶ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων ἔτι καὶ νῦν τὸν θεὸν ἐπερωτῶντες ἐτόλμησαν τοῖς τὸ ἱερὸν συλήσασι κοινωνῆσαι τῆς παρανομίας.
Iphicrates, then, obeying the decree of his fatherland, sold the adornments of the gods as booty; but the tyrant, angered at the Athenians, wrote them a letter of this sort: "Dionysius to the council and the assembly of the Athenians: to write 'farewell' is not appropriate, since you commit sacrilege against the gods both by land and by sea, and having seized the statues sent by us for dedication to the gods, you melted them down, and have committed impiety against the greatest of the gods, Apollo at Delphi and Zeus the Olympian." The Athenians, then, acted in this manner toward the divine, and this while praying that Apollo might be their ancestral god and progenitor; whereas the Lacedaemonians, who made use of the oracle at Delphi and through it acquired the constitution admired by all, and who even now still inquire of the god concerning the greatest matters, dared to share in the lawlessness of those who had plundered the temple.