History of the Peloponnesian War

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:

considering that the Oropian territory, in which the bodies happened to be lying, (for the battle was fought on the borders,) was indeed subject to Athens, and yet that the Athenians could not get possession of them without their consent. Nor, again, were they disposed, they said, to grant any truce for a country belonging to Athens; but they thought it was a fair answer to give, that

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

So the herald of the Athenians, after hearing their answer, returned without effecting his object.