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When the barbarian assailants drew near and were in sight of the
place, the Prophet, who was named Aceratus, beheld, in front of
the temple, a portion of the sacred armour, which it was not lawful
for any mortal hand to touch, lying upon the ground, removed from the
inner shrine where it was wont to hang. Then went he and told the
prodigy to the Delphians who had remained behind. Meanwhile the enemy
pressed forward briskly, and had reached the shrine of Minerva
Pronaia, when they were overtaken by other prodigies still more
wonderful than the first. Truly it was marvel enough, when warlike
harness was seen lying outside the temple, removed there by no power
but its own; what followed, however, exceeded in strangeness all
prodigies that had ever before been seen. The barbarians had just
reached in their advance the chapel of Minerva Pronaia, when a storm
of thunder burst suddenly over their heads - at the same time two crags
split off from Mount Parnassus, and rolled down upon them with a loud
noise, crushing vast numbers beneath their weight - while from the
temple of Minerva there went up the war-cry and the shout of victory.
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