History of the Peloponnesian War

To this the Boeotians answered that if the dead were in Boeotia, they should quit the ground and take with them whatsoever was theirs; but if the dead were in their own territory, the Athenians themselves knew best what to do. For they thought that though Oropia, wherein the dead lay (for the battle was fought in the border between Attica and Boeotia), by subjection belonged to the Athenians, yet they could not fetch them off by force; and for truce that the Athenians might come safely on Athenian ground, they would give none, but conceived it was a handsome answer to say that if they would quit the ground, they should obtain whatsoever they required. Which when the Athenian herald heard, he went his way without effect.