es and their armour, and then he attacked the
Thessalians by night, telling the Phokians beforehand to slay every
man whom they should see not coloured over with white. So not only the
sentinels of the Thessalians, who saw these first, were terrified by
them, supposing it to be something portentous and other than it was,
but also after the sentinels the main body of their army; so that the
Phokians remained in possession of four thousand bodies of slain men and
shields; of which last they dedicated half at Abai and half at Delphi;
and from the tithe of booty got by this battle were made the large
statues which are contending for the tripod in front of the temple 19
at Delphi, and others similar to these are dedicated as an offering at
Abai.

28. Thus had the Phokians done to the Thessalian footmen, when they were
besieged by them; and they had done irreparable hurt to their cavalry
also, when this had invaded their land: for in the pass which is
by Hyampolis they had dug a great trench and laid down in it empty
wine-jars; and then having carried earth and laid it on the top and
made it like the rest of the ground, they waited for the Thessalians to
invade their land. These supposing that they would make short work with
the Phokians, 20 riding in full course fell upon the wine-jars; and
there the legs of their horses were utterly crippled.

29. Bearing then a grudge for both of these things, the Thessalians sent
a herald and addressed them thus: "Phokians, we advise you to be more
disposed now to change your minds and to admit that ye are not on a
level with us: for in former times among the Hellenes, so long as it
pleased us to be on that side, we always had the preference over you,
and now we have such great power with the Barbarian that it rests with
us to cause you to be deprived of your land and to be sold into slavery
also. We however, though we have all the power in our hands, do not bear
malice, but let there be paid to us fifty talents of silver in return
for this, and we will engage to avert the dangers which threaten to come
upon your land."

30. Thus the Thessalians proposed to them; for the Phokians alone of
all the people in those parts were not taking the side of the Medes,
and this for no other reason, as I conjecture, but only because of their
enmity with the Thessalians; and if the Thessalians had supported the
cause of the Hellenes, I am of opinion that the Phokians would have been
on the side of th