Page images
PDF
EPUB

time was amazed at what he heard; but, afterwards, he implored her not to compel him to make such a choice. He however could not persuade, but saw a necessity imposed on him, either to kill his master Candaules or die himself by the hands of others; he chose therefore to survive, and made the following inquiry: "Since you compel me to kill my master against my will, tell me how we shall lay hands on him." She answered, "The assault shall be made from the very spot whence he showed me naked; the attack shall be made on him while asleep." 12. When they had concerted their plan, on the approach of night he followed the lady to the chamber: then (for Gyges was not suffered to depart, nor was there any possibility of escape, but either he or Candaules must needs perish) she, having given him a dagger, concealed him behind the same door: and after this, when Candaules was asleep, Gyges having crept stealthily up and slain him, possessed himself both of the woman and the kingdom. Of this event, also, Archilochus the Parian, who lived about the same time, has made mention in a trimeter Iambic poem. 13. Thus Gyges obtained the kingdom, and was confirmed in it by the oracle at Delphi. For when the Lydians resented the murder of Candaules, and were up in arms, the partisans of Gyges and the other Lydians came to the following agreement, that if the oracle should pronounce him king of the Lydians, he should reign; if not, he should restore the power to the Heraclidæ. The oracle, however, answered accordingly, and so Gyges became king. But the Pythian added this, "that the Heraclidæ should be avenged on the fifth descendant of Gyges." " 1 Of this prediction neither the Lydians nor their kings took any notice until it was actually accomplished.

14. Thus the Mermnadæ, having deprived the Heraclidæ, possessed themselves of the supreme power. Gyges having obtained the kingdom, sent many offerings to Delphi; for most of the silver offerings at Delphi are his : and besides the silver, he gave a vast quantity of gold; and among the rest, what is especially worthy of mention, the bowls of gold, six in number, were dedicated by him: these now stand in the

9 Archilochus was one of the earliest writers of Iambics. All that remains of his is to be met with in Brunck's Analecta.

I See I. 91.

treasury of the Corinthians, and are thirty talents in weight; though, to say the truth, this treasury does not belong to the people of Corinth, but to Cypselus son of Eetion. This Gyges is the first of the barbarians whom we know of that dedicated offerings at Delphi; except Midas, son of Gordius, king of Phrygia, for Midas dedicated the royal throne, on which he used to sit and administer justice, a piece of workmanship deserving of admiration. This throne stands in the same place as the bowls of Gyges. This gold and silver, which Gyges dedicated, is by the Delphians called Gygian, from the name of the donor. Now this prince, when he obtained the sovereignty, led an army against Myletus and Smyrna, and took the city of Colophon; but as he performed no other great action during his reign of eight and thirty years, we will pass him over, having made this mention of him. 15. I will pro

ceed to mention Ardys, the son and successor of Gyges. He took Priene, and invaded Miletus. During the time that he reigned at Sardis, the Cimmerians, being driven from their seats by the Scythian nomades, passed into Asia, and possessed themselves of all Sardis except the citadel.

16. When Ardys had reigned forty-nine years, his son Sadyattes succeeded him, and reigned twelve years; and Alyattes succeeded Sadyattes. He made war upon Cyaxares, a descendant of Deioces, and upon the Medes. He drove the Cimmerians out of Asia; took Smyrna, which was founded from Colophon, and invaded Clazomenæ. From this place he departed, not as he could wish, but signally defeated. He also performed in the course of his reign the following actions worthy of mention.-17. He continued the war which his father had begun against the Milesians; and leading his army against Miletus, he invaded it in the following manner. When their fruits were ripe on the ground, he led his army into their territory, attended in his march with pipes, harps, and flutes, masculine and feminine. On his arrival in Milesia, he neither demolished nor burnt their country houses, nor forced off the doors, but let them stand as they were; but when he had destroyed their trees and the fruits on the ground, he returned home; for the Milesians were masters of the sea, so that there was no use in the army's besieging it. And the Lydian king would not destroy their houses, for this reason, that the Milesians, having those habitations,

might come out to sow and cultivate the ground, and when they had cultivated it, he might have something to ravage, when he should invade them with his army. 18. In this manner he carried on the war eleven years, during which the Milesians received two great blows, one in a battle at Limeneion in their own territory, the other in the plain of the Mæander. Six of these eleven years Sadyattes the son of Ardys was still king of the Lydians, and during those he made incursions into the Milesian territory (for this Sadyattes was the person that began the war). But during the five years that succeeded the six, Alyattes the son of Sadyattes, who (as I have before mentioned) received it from his father, earnestly applied himself to it. None of the Ionians, except the Chians, assisted the Milesians in bearing the burden of this war: they did it in requital for succour they had received; for formerly the Milesians had assisted the Chians in prosecuting the war against the Erythræans. 19. In the twelfth year, when the corn had been set on fire by the army, an accident of the following nature occurred. As soon as the corn had caught fire, the flames, carried by the wind, caught a temple of Minerva, called Assesian;2 and the temple, thus set on fire, was burnt to the ground. No notice was taken of this at the time; but afterwards, when the army had returned to Sardis, Alyattes fell sick. When the disease continued a considerable time, he sent messengers to Delphi to consult the oracle, either from the advice of some friend, or because it appeared right to himself to send and make inquiries of the god concerning his disorder. The Pythian, however, refused to give any answer to the messengers when they arrived at Delphi, until they had rebuilt the temple of Minerva which they had burnt at Assesus in the territory of Milesia. 20. This relation I had from the Delphians but the Milesians add, that Periander the son of Cypselus, who was a very intimate friend of Thrasybulus, at that time king of Miletus, having heard of the answer given to Alyattes, despatched a messenger to inform him of it, in order that, being aware of it beforehand, he might form his plans according to present circumstances. This is the Milesian account. 21. Alyattes, when the above an

2 Assesus was a small town dependent on Miletus. Minerva had a temple there, and hence took the name of the Assesian Minerva. Larcher.

swer was brought to him, immediately sent a herald to Miletus, desiring to make a truce with Thrasybulus and the Milesians, till such time as he should have rebuilt the temple. The herald accordingly went on this mission to Miletus. But Thrasybulus being accurately informed of the whole matter, and knowing the design of Alyattes, had recourse to the following artifice: having collected in the market-place all the corn that was in the city, both his own and what belonged to private persons, he made a proclamation, that when he gave the signal, all the inhabitants should feast together. 22. Thrasybulus contrived and ordered this, to the end that the Sardian herald, seeing so great a profusion of corn, and the people enjoying themselves, might report accordingly to Alyattes; and so it came to pass. For when the herald had seen these things, and delivered to Thrasybulus the message of the Lydian king, he returned to Sardis; and, as I am informed, a reconciliation was brought about for no other reason. For Alyattes expecting that there was a great scarcity of corn in Miletus, and that the people were reduced to extreme distress, received from the herald on his return from Miletus an account quite contrary to what he expected. Soon afterwards a reconciliation took place between them, on terms of mutual friendship and alliance. And Alyattes built two temples to Minerva at Assesus, instead of one, and himself recovered from sickness. Such were the circumstances of the war that Alyattes made against the Milesians and Thrasybulus.

23. Periander was the son of Cypselus,-he it was who acquainted Thrasybulus with the answer of the oracle. Now, Periander was king of Corinth, and the Corinthians say, (and the Lesbians confirm their account,) that a wonderful prodigy occurred in his life-time. They say that Arion of Methymna, who was second to none of his time in accompanying the harp, and who was the first, that we are acquainted with, who composed, named, and represented the dithyrambus at Corinth, was carried to Tænarus on the back of a dolphin. 24. They say that this Arion, having continued a long time with Periander, was desirous of making a voyage to Italy and Sicily; and that having acquired great wealth, he determined to return to Corinth: that he set out from Tarentum, and hired a ship of certain Corinthians, because he put

more confidence in them than in any other nation; but that these men, when they were in the open sea, conspired together to throw him overboard and seize his money, and he being aware of this, offered them his money, and entreated them to spare his life. However, he could not prevail on them but the sailors ordered him either to kill himself, that he might be buried ashore, or to leap immediately into the sea. They add, that Arion, reduced to this strait, entreated them, since such was their determination, to permit him to stand on the poop in his full dress and sing, and he promised when he had sung to make away with himself. The seamen, pleased that they should hear the best singer in the world, retired from the stern to the middle of the vessel. They relate, that Arion, having put on all his robes, and taken his harp, stood on the rowing benches and went through the Orthian strain ; that when the strain was ended he leaped into the sea as he was, in his full dress; and the sailors continued their voyage to Corinth: but they say that a dolphin received him on his back, and carried him to Tænarus; and that he, having landed, proceeded to Corinth in his full dress, and upon his arrival there, related all that had happened; but that Periander, giving no credit to his relation, put Arion under close confinement, and watched anxiously for the seamen: that when they appeared, he summoned them and inquired if they could give any account of Arion; but when they answered, that he was safe in Italy, and that they had left him flourishing at Tarentum, Arion in that instant appeared before them just as he was when he leaped into the sea; at which they were so astonished, that being fully convicted, they could no longer deny the fact. These things are reported by the Corinthians and Lesbians; and there is a small brazen statue of Arion at Tænarus, representing a man sitting on a dolphin.

25. Alyattes the Lydian, having waged this long war against the Milesians, afterwards died, when he had reigned fifty-seven years. On his recovery from sickness he dedicated at Delphi a large silver bowl, with a saucer of iron inlaid; an object that deserves attention above all the offerings at Delphi. It was made by Glaucus the Chian, who first invented the art of inlaying iron.

26. After the death of Alyattes, his son Croesus, who was then thirty-five years of age, succeeded to the kingdom.

« PreviousContinue »