Now the Euboeans had neglected the oracle of Bacis, believing it to be empty of meaning, and neither by carrying away nor by bringing in anything had they shown that they feared an enemy's coming. In so doing they were the cause of their own destruction, for Bacis' oracle concerning this matter runs as follows When a strange-tongued man casts a yoke of papyrus on the waves, Then take care to keep bleating goats far from the coasts of Euboea To these verses the Euboeans gave no heed; but in the evils then present and soon to come they suffered the greatest calamity.