THE DELPHIANS AND THEIR ANCESTORS
The people of Delphi said to Aesop, 'Who were our ancestors?' Aesop replied,
'They were slaves. And if you are ignorant of this story, it is about time you
learned it! Long ago it was the custom that whenever the Greeks captured a city,
they would send one tenth of the spoils to Apollo. So they would send ten oxen
out of every hundred, the same with goats, and the same with other things: money,
women, men. Since you are the descendants of those men and women, you are deprived
of your freedom, like slaves in bondage. That is your origin, and thus you have
become the slaves of all the Greeks.' |