"far as you were the unwilling instrument, but some god, "who long since foreshowed me what was to come to pass.' Croesus therefore performed the funeral of his son with the beseeming honours. Adrastus, on the other hand, the slayer of his own brother, the slayer also of his expiator, convinced that he was the most calamitous of men, went to the sepulchre, when mankind had retired to rest, and slew himself on the tomb. Crœsus, during two years, sat down 11 in deep mourning, bewailing his son.

Some time after, the empire of Astyages son of Cyaxares 46 being overthrown by Cyrus the son of Cambyses, and the increasing power of the Persians, put an end to the mourning of Croesus: it occurred to his mind, whether he could check the growing power of the Persians, before they became too formidable. Having conceived this idea, he forthwith proceeded to make trial of the oracles; not only those in Hellas, but also that in Libya. For this purpose, he despatched various persons to various places; some to Delphi, some to Abæ in Phocis, some to Dodona; others were sent to Amphiaraus and Trophonius; others to Branchidæ in Milesia: the above, therefore, were the Hellenic oracles which Crœsus sent to consult. Others, also, were sent to consult the oracle at Ammon in Libya. These deputations Cræsus sent for the purpose of ascertaining what the oracles respectively knew; in order that, if he found they knew the truth, he might a second time, consult them, whether he should hazard a war against the Persians. Before he sent the Lydians to 47 make trial of the oracles, he gave them these orders; They were to consult the different shrines on the hundredth day from that of their departure from Sardis, and to inquire of each what Croesus son of Alyattes and king of the Lydians was at that moment doing:—whatever responses might be respectively given, they were to write down, and bring to him. As far as the replies from the other oracles are concerned, nothing is related by any body: but in the case of Delphi, no sooner had the Lydians consulted the god, and put the questions prescribed, than the Pythia, in hexameters, spoke thus:

"I ken the number of the sand, the dimensions of the sea; I "understand the dumb, and I hear him that speaketh not 120. "On my senses strikes the smell of the heard-sheathed turtle, boiling in brass with flesh of lamb: brass stretches beneath: 66 over all stands brass."

66

119 xalñero, sat down; i. e. attended to no business. Schweig.

120 Matt. 327. obs. 2.

48

122

The Lydians having written down the above words that had fallen from the oracular Pythia, went their ways back to Sardis. When all the rest, who had been despatched around, had arrived, bringing the dictates from the different shrines, Croesus unrolled each manuscript, and looked over what was written in them; but none came up to his expectations 121: when, however, he had read that from Delphi, forthwith he adored and approved it; being convinced that the oracle at Delphi alone was the true one, as it had discovered what he had done. Because, on the appointed day, from the departure of the messengers for the various shrines, having first considered what would be the thing most difficult to guess and describe, he hit upon the following contrivance: he cut up a tortoise and a lamb, and boiled them together himself 49 in a brass caldron with a coverlid of brass. Such, therefore, was the answer to Crœsus, returned from Delphi: as to that from the shrine of Amphiaraus, I cannot quote exactly what was said to the Lydians, who performed the accustomed rites round the holy precinct; nothing is related on that subject: at all events, however, Croesus acknowledged that oracle also to be falseless.

50

After this, he propitiated the god of Delphi with magnificent sacrifices: he offered up three thousand head of cattle fit for sacrifice, and of each kind 123, together with gilt and silvered table-couches, gold flagons, purple shawls and garments; and building up a lofty pile, burnt it down; fancying that, by so doing, he should especially conciliate the god. He had likewise given previous notice to all Lydians, to offer up whatever victim each might happen to possess, to the same divinity. When the sacrifice was ended, he melted down a great quantity of gold, which he run into lingots; making each lingot six inches long, three inches broad, and one inch thick; the number of which was one hundred and seventeen: four of them, of refined gold, weighed each two talents and a half 124: the other lingots, of pale gold, weighed each two talents. He made likewise the figure of a lion of pure gold, of the weight of ten talents 125. This lion, at the

121 τῶν μὲν δὴ οὐδὲν προσίετό μιν.-Ion. and καθ ̓ ὑπαλλαγὴν, for τῶν μὲν δὴ οὐδὲν αὐτὸς προσίετο. Horum tamen [oraculo. rum] nullum ad ipsum ibat, ad ejus animum accedebat, ci placebat, instead of nullum tamen horum ipse probabat. -E. Port. Lex. Ion. The usual signification of προσίεσθαι is, to allow, to approve, to believe, i. 75. i. 135. vi. 123.

122 Compare the beginning of c.125. 123 κτήνεά τε γὰρ τὰ θύσιμα πάντα. πάντα is here equivalent to ἑκάστου yśvous, of each kind. So in ix. 80. Пavσavín dìávra dina itaigion. Larcher. Schweig. Comp. 2 Chron. vii. 5. 124 Matt. 141.

125 This lion was, perhaps, in commemoration of the singular tradition mentioned chap. 84.

time of the conflagration of Delphi, fell off the lingots on which it was placed as a pedestal; and now lies in the treasury of the Corinthians, weighing six talents and a half, three and a half being melted off. Croesus having completed 51 these articles, sent them to Delphi, together with the others following: two wine-bowls of immense size 126; one gold, the other silver: that of gold laid on the right as you entered the temple, and that of silver on the left; but these also were removed at the time the temple was burnt down; and the golden one now is found in the treasury of the Clazomenians, weighing eight talents and a half, and twelve minæ above. The silver bowl in one corner of the vestibule is of the capacity of sixty amphora; in consequence of which, it is used by the Delphians for mixing the wine with the water, at the Theophanian festivals. Some of the Delphians say that this was the work of Theodorus of Samos: in which I agree with them; for indeed the workmanship appears to me of no common order 127. Cræsus sent also four silver casks; and dedicated two lustral vases, one of gold, the other of silver: on the golden one there now stands the inscription AAKEAAIMONION, who are represented as the dedicators; but falsely so, for that also is from Croesus: the inscription was cut out by one of the people of Delphi, who wished to gratify the Lacedæmonians: I know the man's name, but need not mention it: the boy however, through whose hand the water flows, is, in reality, a gift of the Lacedæmonians; but certainly neither of these vases for aspersion. Cræsus sent, moreover, many other votive offerings, distinguished by no marks; among which were some round water-ewers of silver 128; and especially a gold statue, three feet high, of a woman; said, by the Delphian people, to be the image of Cræsus's baking-woman: besides these things, he sent also the necklace and girdles of his wife. 129

Such were the presents he made to Delphi: to Amphi- 52 araus, having ascertained his virtue and sufferings, he dedicated a buckler wholly of gold, together with a spear of solid gold, head and shaft alike 130. Both these were, in my time,

126 Matt. 613, iv.

127 συντυχὸν ἔργον, opus vulgare. E. Port. Lex. Ion.

128 χεύματα ἀργύρια. It is not certain that plates are here meant: the xsúpara, however, formed a part of the vases put on the table. Larcher.Xiμa, equivalent to goxon, a vase to contain the water that is poured on the hands of the guests: the aiguière

VOL. I.

of the French, and giesskanne (pouring-can) of the Germans.

129 Barthélemy makes the value of the presents of Croesus amount to 21,109,140 French francs. Voy. du jeune Anach.

130 The head of the spear was similar to that of a French pike or halbert, which is not unlike a fleurde-lis, having three points.

F

deposited at Thebes, in the temple of Ismenian Apollo, belonging to that city.

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53 To the Lydians commissioned to escort these gifts to the temples, he gave it in charge to inquire at the shrines, whether Croesus ought to levy war against the Persians? and whether he should unite to his own forces those of any other nation? On the arrival of the Lydian deputies, they appended the offerings; and then inquired at the respective shrines; saying, Croesus, king of the Lydians and other nations, convinced "that this is the only oracle in the world, has given you "these presents, worthy of your discoveries; and now inquires at your hands, whether he shall levy war against "the Persians, and take the troops of any nation as his "allies?" Both oracles agreed completely in their opinions; predicting to Croesus, that "if he attacked the Persians, he would overthrow a mighty empire;" and advised him to adopt as allies those of the Hellenes he should find to be the 54 most powerful. When these decisions of the god were brought, and made known to Croesus, he was beyond measure delighted with the oracles: fully confident that he should destroy the empire of Cyrus, he sent again to Delphi, ascertained the number of the inhabitants of the town, and gratified every citizen with two gold staters a head. In return for which, the Delphians bestowed on Croesus and the Lydians the privilege of first consulting the oracle, exemption from scot and lot, priority of seats, and permission for ever, to such as chose to avail themselves thereof, of being citizens 55 of Delphi. Croesus having gratified the people of Delphi, consulted for the third time the oracle;-for when once he had admitted the veracity of the oracle, he never tired of it : he now again consulted the shrine therefore, and inquired whether his dynasty would be of long duration: the Pythia pronounced to him this warning:

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66

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So soon as a mule becomes the Medic king, then, soft-footed Lydian, o'er pebbly Hermus hie thee: tarry not, nor blush to "be a dastard."

When this communication reached Croesus, he was more than ever delighted; fancying that a mule, instead of a man, could never rule over the Medes; and that, in consequence, neither he himself nor his descendants 131 would ever cease to hold the sway. Immediately after, he directed his attention towards ascertaining who were the most powerful of the Hellenic nations, whom he should adjoin to himself. Making his inquiries, he discovered that the superior nations were

131 auris and in the nominative, instead of the accusative.

the Lacedæmonians and the Athenians; the former of Dorian blood, the latter of Ionic: for these were, from old, the two most distinguished races; this a Pelasgic people, that Hellenic: the former 132 had scarcely ever changed their residence: the other had wandered far and wide; for the progenitors of the Lacedæmonians 133, under king Deucalion, inhabited the territory of Pthiotis; and, under Dorus the son of Hellenus, the country at the foot of Ossa and Olympus, called Histiæotis: driven out of Histiæotis by the Cadmeians, they settled at Pindus 134, and were called Macedni; from thence again they crossed into Dryopis, and so from Dryopis came into Peloponnesus, where they took the name of Dorians.

I cannot, for a certainty, affirm what language the Pelasgi 57 used 135; but if it be permitted to speak from the inferences that may be deduced from the Pelasgians that still exist to this day-those Pelasgians, I mean, that reside above the Tyrrhenians, in the town of Crestone 136, and once were borderers of the people now designated Lacedæmonians, and at that period dwelt in the lands at present called Thessaliotis ;

132 xai rò pív. The Pelasgians of Attica, not the Pelasgians in general, whose migrations were various and distant.

133 I have expanded the sense, to obviate all confusion.

134 If Herodotus had meant that they withdrew on Mount Pindus, he would have used the article, Híd. The omission of the article proves that the town and territory of Pindus are here meant.-Larcher.

135 av: a little lower down, the same thing is expressed ἦσαν ἱέντες. Matt. 559.

136 According to Herodotus, the Pelasgians had in early times settled in Attica; the inhabitants of which were still of the same stock, although they had forsaken the language of their forefathers for the Hellenic. The Pelasgians, in this passage of the text, are not those of Attica, but a colony from the main Pelasgic body, originally placed in Argolis. This colony had migrated into Tyrrhenia (Tuscany) in Italy; from which, desolated by famine, contagious disease, and internal broils, they passed into various countries: some reached Attica. The Athenians received hospitably the emigrants; to whom they

allotted a portion of land at the foot of Hymettus, on condition they should erect the wall around the acropolis of Athens. These terms were acceded to, and the Pelasgians prospered during forty-four years; at the expiration of which, an untoward quarrel ensued between the Athenians and Pelasgians (Herod. vii. 137): the Pelasgians were expelled for ever from Attica. They withdrew to Lemnos. Miltiades, son of Cimon, subsequently drove them out of that island: some then founded in Asia the towns of Placia and Scylace: others took refuge in the peninsula of Athos: lastly, a few proceeded to the coast of Thrace, and founded, a little inland, the town of Crestone.-Larcher.

The Tyrrhenians, a branch of the Pelasgic stock, settled in Lemnos and Imbros: they afterwards occupied various parts of the Chersonesus and Hellespont, as well as the foot of Athos (Thucyd. iv. 109). Above these was the Crestonic nation, and perhaps a city called Crestone, which, in the time of Thucydides, was, for the most part, alien to the Hellenes, and diyλorous. They are mentioned by Herodotus, vii. 124; viii. 116.– Wesseling.