77. They then were making their preparations thus in the night without
having taken any sleep at all: and with regard to oracles, I am not
able to make objections against them that they are not true, for I do
not desire to attempt to overthrow the credit of them when they speak
clearly, looking at such matters as these which here follow:
"But when with ships they shall join the sacred strand of the goddess,
Artemis golden-sword-girded, and thee, wave-washed Kynosura,
Urged by a maddening hope, having given rich Athens to plunder,
Then shall Justice divine quell Riot, of Insolence first-born,
Longing to overthrow all things and terribly panting for bloodhshed:
Brass shall encounter with brass, and Ares the sea shall empurple,
Tinging its waves with the blood: then a day of freedom for Hellas
Cometh from wide-seeing Zeus and from Victory, lady and mother."
Looking to such things as this, and when Bakis speaks so clearly, I do
not venture myself to make any objections about oracles, nor can I
admit them from others.