History of the Peloponnesian War

The water they had disturbed under the pressure of necessity, which they had not wantonly brought on themselves; but they were compelled to use it while defending themselves against the Boeotians, who had first come against their country.

And every thing, it was natural to suppose, done under pressure of war, or any other danger, would be considered as pardonable even in the eyes of the god. For the altars were a place of refuge in unintentional offences; and transgression was a term applied to those who were wicked through no compulsion, and not to those who had ventured to do any thing in consequence of their misfortunes.

Nay, the Boeotians were much more impious in wishing to give back dead bodies in return for sanctuaries, than they were who would not at the price of sanctuaries recover things not suitable [for such bartering].

They begged, then, that they would simply tell them to take up their dead, not

after evacuating the territory of the Boeotians

on making a truce according to the custom of their fathers.

The Boeotians replied, that

if they were in Boeotia, they might take up their dead after evacuating their country; but if in Athenian territory, then [*]( i. e. they might take them away when they pleased. But, as Arnold remarks, the Boeotians knew all the time that this was merely vexatious; for the Athenians would not bury their dead without their leave, whether the ground which they occupied belonged to Attica or to Boeotia. ) they knew themselves what to do:

when they had evacuated the Boeotian territory, they might then recover what they asked.