should take tokens of suppliants in their hands, and in this guise go and inquire of the oracle once more. This then the Athenians did, and spake, saying, “O King, prophesy unto us some better thing about our country, having regard to these tokens of suppliants which we bring into thy presence. Else will we not depart from thy sanctuary, but will abide here till the day of our death.” Then the priestess prophesied to them a second time, using these words:
These words seemed to be, as indeed they were, milder than the former words. So the envoys wrote them down, and returned with them to Athens.