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to propitiate Zeus; and the artist tempered the oracle for the half-bad fortunes, as if Zeus on the one hand fulfilled his own purpose, and on the other did not disregard his daughter's plea. And that many towers will be destroyed, if they had attacked with fennel-stalks, and not with iron and fire, it would perhaps have been a lie, since even with fennel-stalks so great a number would have certainly accomplished something? But "I," he says, "found the wooden wall, the only thing unassailable." You give advice, at least, but not an oracle, not unlike the saying that it is a bad thing neither to flee nor to stay nor to feel shame. 5.24.9 At any rate, the one who solved that riddle was no worse than you at perceiving, that the city of the Athenians was the Persian's pretext for his expedition and that the whole invasion was directed against it as the first and most prominent, since even I myself, the non-prophet, perceiving this, would have ordered the Athenian, not only the Lydian, to flee, turning his back; for he will one day be on the other side; for a great cavalry 5.24.10 and infantry is approaching. But that it was by ships, and not by land; for it would have been ridiculous for those who had a navy and lived by the sea not to save themselves by gathering all their gear and putting on board all the provisions they had, handing over the land to those who wanted it.” 5.24.11 So much for the oracles to the Athenians. But those to the Lacedaemonians are exceedingly weak and ridiculous; for either, it says, the whole city will be besieged or it will mourn its king who has perished. But it was entirely likely for anyone to guess this, that either this or that would happen. 5.24.12 But surely it was not for a god's oracle to be so ambiguous out of ignorance of the future, when it was his duty to help and to appear as a savior of the Greeks in their time of need and rather to procure for the Greeks, as for his own friends, victory over their enemies and the barbarians; or if he was not able to do this, at least to grant that they should not suffer or be captured. But he does not even do this, nor does he even know how the circumstances of their defeat will turn out for them. Therefore, hear what the refutation says in response to these things: 5.25.1 "'But one must not,' you will say, 'give the same advice to the Lacedaemonians.' You speak the truth. For you did not know, O sophist, how the affairs of Sparta would turn out, as you did those of Attica. You were afraid, therefore, that you might command them to flee and then they might 5.25.2 flee, but the enemy might not attack. Since, then, you had to say something, you spoke thus to the Lacedaemonians: For you, O dwellers in wide-wayed Sparta, either your great and glorious city will be sacked by the sons of Perseus, or, if not that, Lacedaemon's border will mourn a king, dead, from the line of Heracles. 5.25.3 Again the most un-oracular conjunction. But let us leave it, so that by attacking you twice on the same point we may not seem to be both burdensome and at a loss, and let us examine the rest. 5.25.4 All looked to you in so great a danger, and you were for them both a revealer of the future and a counselor of what must be done. And while they considered you trustworthy, you were convinced that they were idiots and that the present crisis was sufficient to lead and drag by the neck the more foolish not only to the Delphic and Dodonaean sophistries, but even to the barley-diviners and 5.25.5 flour-diviners and the ventriloquists. And at that time not only the gods were trusted, but even weasels and crows and delirious fancies in dreams. It is therefore not unclear that they would not have accepted both outcomes rather than one of them, nor the greater evil in place of the lesser, 5.25.6 and it is a lesser thing for one man, the king, to fall instead of all. For with the city falling, there is no escape even for him; but if he himself were stationed somewhere else, perhaps something unexpected might even happen. It remains, then, for those who reason thus to send the king to fight against the enemy, while they themselves, remaining at home, watch from outside the dangers; 5.25.7 for him, therefore, standing opposite the infinite host with a few men, destruction is manifest, but Sparta had a truce from fear and unexpected hopes; and nonetheless for the sophism to be undetectable whether she escaped or was captured. 5.25.8 Why so? Because it was not said, by Zeus, that if the king died, the city would be saved, but that either he alone will perish or the entire city; and this is free from blame in either case, both of him alone

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τὸν ∆ία ἐξιλάσασθαι· πρός τε τὰς ἡμικάκους τύχας ὁ τεχνίτης ἐκέρασεν τὸ λόγιον, ὡς δὴ τοῦ ∆ιὸς τῇ μὲν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πρόθεσιν ἐκτελέσαντος, 5.24.8 τῇ δὲ τὴν δέησιν τῆς θυγατρὸς οὐ περιφρονήσαντος. τά τε πυργώματα ὅτι πολλὰ ἀπολεῖται, εἰ μετὰ ναρθήκων, ἀλλὰ μὴ μετὰ σιδήρου καὶ πυρὸς ἐπῄεσαν, τάχα ἂν ψεῦδος ἦν, ὁπότε καὶ μετὰ ναρθήκων ἔπραξαν ἄν τι πάντως οἱ τοσοῦτοι; ἀλλ' ἐγώ, φησίν, ἐξεῦρον τὸ ξύλινον τεῖχος, τὸ μόνον ἀπόρθητον. συμβούλευμα σύ γε, ἀλλ' οὐ μάντευμα, οὐκ ἀπεοικὸς τῷ φεύγειν μηδὲ μένειν μηδ' αἰδεῖσθαι κακὸν εἶναι. 5.24.9 ὁ γοῦν ἐπιλυσάμενος ἐκεῖνο τὸ αἴνιγμα οὐ χείρων ἦν σου κατιδεῖν, ὅτι ἡ τῶν Ἀθηναίων πόλις πρόφασις ἦν τῷ Πέρσῃ τῆς ὁδοῦ καὶ ἡ πᾶσα ἔλασις ἐπὶ ταύτην πρώτην τε καὶ ἐξοχωτάτην ἐγίνετο, ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ ἄμαντις αὐτὸς ἐγὼ τοῦτο αἰσθόμενος καὶ τὸν Ἀθηναῖον ἄν, οὐ μόνον τὸν Λυδόν, ἐκέλευον φεύγειν νῶτα ἐπιστρέψαντα· ἔτι γάρ ποτε κἀντίος ἔσται· πολλὴ γὰρ ἱπποσύνη 5.24.10 καὶ πεζὸς ἐπέρχεται. ὅτι δὲ ναυσίν, ἀλλ' οὐ κατ' ἤπειρον· καὶ γὰρ ἦν γελοῖον ἔχοντας ναυτικὸν καὶ ἐπὶ θαλάσσης κατοικοῦντας μὴ οὐ πασσυδὶ σκευωρησαμένους καὶ τροφὰς ὅσας εἶχον συνεμβαλομένους σῴζεσθαι, παραδόντας τοῖς βουλομένοις τὴν γῆν.» 5.24.11 Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τὰ πρὸς Ἀθηναίους. ἀσθενῆ δὲ σφόδρα καὶ καταγέλαστα τὰ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους· ἤτοι γὰρ πᾶσα, φησίν, ἡ πόλις πολιορκηθήσεται ἢ ἀπολωλότα τὸν βασιλέα πενθήσει. τοῦτο δ' ἐξ ἅπαντος εἰκὸς ἦν παντί τῳ στο5.24.12 χάζεσθαι, τὸ ἤτοι τόδε ἢ τόδε συμβήσεσθαι. ἀλλ' οὐ δήπου θεοῦ ἦν μάντευμα ὧδέ πως ἀμφιβάλλειν ἀγνοίᾳ τοῦ μέλλοντος, βοηθεῖν δέον καὶ σωτῆρα τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐν καιρῷ παραφαίνεσθαι καὶ μᾶλλον τὴν κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν καὶ βαρβάρων νίκην τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ὡς ἂν οἰκείοις φίλοις προξενεῖν· ἢ εἰ μὴ τοῦτο δυνατὸς ἦν, κἂν τὸ μὴ παθεῖν αὐτοὺς μηδὲ ἁλῶναι παρέχειν. ὁ δὲ οὐδὲ τοῦτο, ἀλλ' οὐδ' ὅπως αὐτοῖς τὰ τῆς ἥττης περιστήσεται γινώσκει. διὸ καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα οἷά φησιν ὁ ἔλεγχος ἄκουε· 5.25.1 «Ἀλλ' οὐ δεῖ Λακεδαιμονίοις, φήσεις, ταὐτὸν παραινεῖν. ἀληθῆ λέγεις. οὐ γὰρ ἠπίστασο, ὦ σοφιστά, οἷ χωρήσει τὰ τῆς Σπάρτης, ὥσπερ τὰ τῆς Ἀττικῆς. ἐδεδοίκεις οὖν μὴ σὺ μὲν κελεύῃς αὐτοὺς φεύγειν κἄπειτα οἱ μὲν 5.25.2 φεύγοιεν, οἱ δὲ μὴ ἐπέλθοιεν. ἐπεὶ οὖν ἔδει τι λέγειν, οὕτως εἶπας τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις· ὑμῖν, ὦ Σπάρτης οἰκήτορες εὐρυχόροιο, ἢ μέγα ἄστυ ἐρικυδὲς ὑπ' ἀνδράσι Περσεΐδῃσι πέρσεται, ἢ τὸ μὲν οὐχί, ἀφ' Ἡρακλέος δὲ γενέθλης πενθήσει βασιλῆ φθίμενον Λακεδαίμονος οὖρον. 5.25.3 πάλιν ὁ ἀμαντευτότατος σύνδεσμος. ἀλλ' ἐῶμεν αὐτόν, ὡς μὴ δὶς περὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ σοι ἐπιπηδῶντες ἐπαχθεῖς ἅμα καὶ ἄποροι δοκῶμεν εἶναι, τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ 5.25.4 ἐπισκοπῶμεν. εἰς σὲ μὲν ἀπέβλεπον ἅπαντες ἐν τηλικούτῳ κινδύνῳ, σὺ δ' αὐτοῖς καὶ τῶν μελλόντων μηνυτὴς καὶ τῶν ποιητέων ἦσθα σύμβουλος. καὶ σὲ μὲν ἐκεῖνοι πιστόν, σὺ δ' αὐτοὺς ἐπέπεισο ἠλιθίους εἶναι καὶ ὁ καθεστὼς καιρὸς ὅτι ἱκανὸς ἦν ἄγειν καὶ τραχηλίζειν τοὺς ἀβελτέρους οὐ μόνον εἰς ∆ελφικὰ καὶ ∆ωδωναῖα σοφιστήρια, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ κριθομαντεῖα καὶ 5.25.5 ἀλευρομαντεῖα καὶ τοὺς ἐγγαστριμύθους. πιστοὶ δὲ οὐ μόνον οἱ θεοὶ τηνικαῦτα, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ αἱ γαλαῖ καὶ αἱ κορῶναι καὶ τὰ καθύπνια παραπαίσματα. οὔκουν ἄδηλον ὅτι οὔτ' ἂν ἀμφότερα μᾶλλον ἐδέξαντο ἢ τὸ ἕτερον οὔτ' ἂν τὸ μεῖζον ἀντὶ 5.25.6 τοῦ μείονος, μεῖον δὲ εἶναι ἕνα ἀντὶ πάντων πταίειν τὸν βασιλέα. μετὰ μὲν δὴ τῆς πόλεως πιπτούσης οὐδεμία οὐδ' αὐτῷ ἀποφυγή· εἰ δ' αὐτὸς ἄλλῃ πη τάττοιτο, τάχα ἄν τι καὶ παράδοξον γένοιτο. λείπεται δὴ τοὺς ταῦτα λογιζομένους τὸν μὲν βασιλέα πέμψαι προσπολεμήσοντα, αὐτοὺς δὲ οἴκοι μένον5.25.7 τας ἔξω κινδύνων καραδοκεῖν· τῷ μὲν οὖν μετ' ὀλίγων ἐναντίῳ ἱσταμένῳ πρὸς τὸν ἄπειρον ὄχλον ὄλεθρος προφανής, ἡ δὲ Σπάρτη ἀνοχὰς εἶχεν τοῦ φόβου καὶ παραδόξους ἐλπίδας· μηδὲν δὲ ἧττον ἀφώρατον εἶναι τὸ σό5.25.8 φισμα καὶ διαφυγούσης καὶ ἁλούσης. τί δή ποτε; ὅτι οὐκ εἴρητο μὰ ∆ία εἰ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀποθάνοι, ἡ πόλις σωθήσεται, ἀλλ' ὅτι ἢ μόνος ἀπολεῖται ἢ ἡ σύμπασα πόλις· τοῦτο δὲ ἐν ἑκατέρῳ ἀνεύθυνον, καὶ μόνου αὐτοῦ