To the crows

Explanation

there is in Thessaly a place called "Crows" (Korakes), where they used to hurl evildoers; whence the proverb. Menander mentions it constantly. They say that to the Boeotians, when they were settling Arne, it had been foretold by the god that they would be cast out of the country when white crows appeared. Some young men, drunk one day, caught some crows, plastered them with gypsum, and let them fly; the Boeotians, seeing them, were panic-stricken, supposing the prophecy fulfilled. The youths, terrified by the uproar, fled and settled in a place which they called "Crows." Afterwards the Aeolians, having driven out the Boeotians, took Arne, which became their own; and they used to banish wrong-doers to "Crows" for punishment.