196 TERPSICHORE.

us in obtaining revenge." The Thebans, not being
able to devise any more plausible interpretation,
thought that they acted in conformity to the will of
the oracle, by sending to the £ginet8e for assistance,
as to their nearest neighbours, who, in return, en­
gaged to send the JSacidse to their aid.

LXXXI. The Thebans, relying on the assistance
of the iEacidae, commenced hostilities with the Athe­
nians, but they met with so ill a reception, that they
determined to send back the /Eacithe, and to require
the aid of some troops. The application was favour­
ably received, and the jEginetae, confident in their
riches, and mindful of their ancient enmity with the
Athenians, began hostilities against them, without any
formal declaration of war. Whilst the forces of Athens
were solely employed against the Boeotians, they pass­
ed over with a fleet into Attica, and not only plundered
Fhaleros, but almost all the inhabitants of the coast;
by which the Athenians sustained considerable injury.

LXXXII. The first occasion of the enmity between
the iEginetae and the Athenians was this : the Epi-
daurians, being afflicted by a severe and continued
famine, consulted the Delphic oracle; the Pythian en­
joined them to erect statues to Damia and Auxesia.
promising that their situation would then be amend­
ed. The Epidaurians next inquired, whether they
should construct these statues of brass or of stone.
The priestess replied, of neither, but of the wood
of the garden-olive. The Epidaurians, in conse­
quence, applied to the Athenians for permission to
take one of their olives, believing these of all others
the most sacred; indeed it is said, that at this period
olives were nowhere else to be found. The Athe­
nians granted their request, on condition that they
should every year furnish a sacrifice to Minerva Po-
lias, and to Erectheus. The Epidaurins, acceding to
these terms, constructed of the Athenian olive the
figures which had been enjoined ; and, as their lands
immediately became fruitful, they punctually fulfilled
their engagements with the Athenians.

LXXXIII. At and before this period, the .XgineUB
were so far in subjection to the Epidaurians, that all