History of the Peloponnesian War

When the herald had spoken, the Athenians sent a herald of their own to the Boeotians, saying that they had done no injury to the temple, and would not damage it wilfully in the future; for they had not entered it at the outset with any such intent, but rather that from it they might defend themselves against those who were wronging them.

And the law of the Hellenes was, they said, that whosoever had dominion over any country, be it larger or smaller, to them tile sanctuaries also always belonged, to be tended, so far as might be possible, with whatsoever rites had hitherto been customary.[*](Or, reading πρὸς τοῖς εἰωθόσι with the MSS., “to be tended, besides the usual rites, with such others as they might be able to use.”)

Indeed the Boeotians, and most others who had driven out any people and taken forcible possession of their country, had at first attacked the temples as alien but now possessed them as their own.

And they themselves, if they had been able to conquer more of the Boeotian territory, would have held it; but as it was, they would not depart from that portion in which they were, at least of their free will, considering it their own.