going to any such contest of valour; for first it is not fitting that
one who is suffering such a great misfortune as mine should seek the
company of his fellows who are in prosperity, and secondly I have no
desire for it; and for many reasons I should have kept myself away. But
now, since thou art urgent with me, and I ought to gratify thee (for I
am bound to requite thee with kindness), I am ready to do this: expect
therefore that thy son, whom thou commandest me to protect, will home to
thee unhurt, so far as his protector may avail to keep him safe."
43. When he had made answer to Croesus in words like these, they
afterwards set forth provided with chosen young men and with dogs.
And when they were come to Mount Olympos, they tracked the animal;
and having found it and taken their stand round in a circle, they
were hurling against it their spears. Then the guest, he who had been
cleansed of manslaughter, whose name was Adrastos, hurling a spear at it
missed the boar and struck the son of Croesus. So he being struck by the
spear-point fulfilled the saying of the dream. And one ran to report
to Croesus that which had come to pass, and having come to Sardis he
signified to him of the combat and of the fate of his son. And Croesus
was very greatly disturbed by the death of his son, and was much the
more moved to complaining by this, namely that his son was slain by the
man whom he had himself cleansed of manslaughter. And being grievously
troubled by the misfortune he called upon Zeus the Cleanser, protesting
to him that which he had suffered from his guest, and he called moreover
upon the Protector of Suppliants 37 and the Guardian of Friendship,
38 naming still the same god, and calling upon him as the Protector of
Suppliants because when he received the guest into his house he had
been fostering ignorantly the slayer of his son, and as the Guardian of
Friendship because having sent him as a protector he had found him the
worst of foes.
45. After this the Lydians came bearing the corpse, and behind it
followed the slayer: and he taking his stand before the corpse delivered
himself up to Croesus, holding forth his hands and bidding the king slay
him over the corpse, speaking of his former misfortune and saying that
in addition to this he had now been the destroyer of the man who had
cleansed him of it; and that life for him was no more worth living. But
Croesus hearing this pitied Adrastos, although he was himself suffering
so great an evil of his own, and said to him: "Guest, I have already
received from thee all the satisfaction that is due, seeing that thou
dost condemn thyself to suffer death; and not thou alone art the cause
of this evil, except in so far as thou wert the instrument of it against
thine own will, but some one, as I suppose, of the gods, who also long
ago signified to me that which was about to be." So Croesus buried his
son as was fitting: but Adrastos the son of Gordias, the son of Midas,
he who had been the slayer of his own brother and the slayer also of the
man who had cleansed him, when silence came of all men round about the
tomb, recognising that he was more grievously burdened by misfortune
than all men of whom he knew, slew himself upon the grave.
46. For two years then Croesus remained quiet in his mourning,
because he was deprived of his son: but after this period of time the
overthrowing of the rule of Astyages the son of Kyaxares by Cyrus
the son of Cambyses, and the growing greatness of the Persians caused
Croesus to cease from his mourning, and led him to a care of cutting
short the power of the Persians, if by any means he might, while yet it
was in growth and before they should have become great.
So having formed this design he began forthwith to make trial of
the Oracles, both those of the Hellenes and that in Libya, sending
messengers some to one place and some to another, some to go to Delphi,
others to Abai of the Phokians, and others to Dodona; and some were
sent to the shrine of Amphiaraos and to that of Trophonios, others to
Branchidai in the land of Miletos: these are the Oracles of the Hellenes
to which Croesus sent messengers to seek divination; and others he sent
to the shrine of Ammon in Libya to inquire there. Now he was sending the
messengers abroad to the end that he might try the Oracles and find
out what knowledge they had, so that if they should be found to have
knowledge of the truth, he might send and ask them secondly whether he
should attempt to march against the Persians.
47. And to the Lydians whom he sent to make trial of the Oracles he gave
charge as follows,—that from the day on which they set out from Sardis
they should reckon up the number of the days following and on the
hundredth day they should consult the Oracles, asking what Croesus
the son of Alyattes king of the Lydians chanced then to be doing: and
whatever the Oracles severally should prophesy, this they should cause
to be written down 39 and bear it back to him. Now what the other
Oracles prophesied is not by any reported, but at Delphi, so soon as the
Lydians entered the sanctuary of the temple 40 to consult the god and
asked that which they were commanded to ask, the Pythian prophetess
spoke thus in hexameter measure:
"But the number of sand I know, 41 and the measure of drops in the ocean;
The dumb man I understand, and I hear the speech of the speechless:
And there hath come to my soul the smell of a strong-shelled tortoise
Boiling in caldron of bronze, and the flesh of a lamb mingled with it;
Under it bronze is laid, it hath bronze as a clothing upon it."
48. When the Pythian prophetess had uttered this oracle, the Lydians
caused the prophecy to be written down, and went away at once to Sardis.
And when the rest also who had been sent round were there arrived with
the answers of the Oracles, then Croesus unfolded the writings one by
one and looked upon them: and at first none of them pleased him, but
when he heard that from Delphi, forthwith he did worship to the god and
accepted the answer, 42 judging that the Oracle at Delphi was the only
true one, because it had found out what he himself had done. For when he
had sent to the several Oracles his messengers to consult the gods,
keeping well in mind the appointed day he contrived the following
device,—he thought of something which it would be impossible to discover
or to conceive of, and cutting up a tortoise and a lamb he boiled them
together himself in a caldron of bronze, laying a cover of bronze over
them.
49. This then was the answer given to Croesus from Delphi; and as
regards the answer of Amphiaraos, I cannot tell what he replied to the
Lydians after they had done the things customary in his temple, 43 for
there is no record of this any more than of the others, except only that
Croesus thought that he also 44 possessed a true Oracle.
50. After this with great sacrifices he endeavoured to win the favour of
the god at Delphi: for of all the animals that are fit for sacrifice he
offered three thousand of each kind, and he heaped up couches overlaid
with gold and overlaid with silver, and cups of gold, and robes of
purple, and tunics, making of them a great pyre, and this he burnt up,
hoping by these means the more to win over the god to the side of the
Lydians: and he proclaimed to all the Lydians that every one of them
should make sacrifice with that which each man had. And when he had
finished the sacrifice, he melted down a vast quantity of gold, and of
it he wrought half-plinths 45 making them six palms 46 in length and
three in breadth, and in height one palm; and their number was one
hundred and seventeen. Of these four were of pure gold 47 weighing two
talents and a half 48 each, and others of gold alloyed with silver 49
weighing two talents. And he caused to be made also an image of a lion
of pure gold weighing ten talents; which lion, when the temple of Delphi
was being burnt down, fell from off the half-plinths, for upon these
it was set, 50 and is placed now in the treasury of the Corinthians,
weighing six talents and a half, for three talents and a half were
melted away from it.
51. So Croesus having finished all these things sent them to Delphi, and
with them these besides:—two mixing bowls of great size, one of gold and
the other of silver, of which the golden bowl was placed on the right
hand as one enters the temple, and the silver on the left, but the
places of these also were changed after the temple was burnt down,
and the golden bowl is now placed in the treasury of the people of
Clazomenai, weighing eight and a half talents and twelve pounds over,
51 while the silver one is placed in the corner of the vestibule 52 and
holds six hundred amphors 53 (being filled with wine by the Delphians on
the feast of the Theophania): this the people of Delphi say is the work
of Theodoros the Samian, 54 and, as I think, rightly, for it is evident
to me that the workmanship is of no common kind: moreover Croesus sent
four silver wine-jars, which stand in the treasury of the Corinthians,
and two vessels for lustral water, 55 one of gold and the other of
silver, of which the gold one is inscribed "from the Lacedemonians,"
who say that it is their offering: therein however they do not speak
rightly; for this also is from Croesus, but one of the Delphians wrote
the inscription upon it, desiring to gratify the Lacedemonians; and his
name I know but will not make mention of it. The boy through whose hand
the water flows is from the Lacedemonians, but neither of the vessels
for lustral water. And many other votive offerings Croesus sent with
these, not specially distinguished, among which are certain castings 56
of silver of a round shape, and also a golden figure of a woman three
cubits high, which the Delphians say is a statue of the baker of
Croesus. Moreover Croesus dedicated the ornaments from his wife's neck
and her girdles.
52. These are the things which he sent to Delphi; and to Amphiaraos,
having heard of his valour and of his evil fate, he dedicated a shield
made altogether of gold throughout, and a spear all of solid gold, the
shaft being of gold also as well as the two points, which offerings
were both remaining even to my time at Thebes in the temple of Ismenian
Apollo.
53. To the Lydians who were to carry these gifts to the temples Croesus
gave charge that they should ask the Oracles this question also,—whether
Croesus should march against the Persians, and if so, whether he should
join with himself any army of men as his friends. And when the Lydians
had arrived at the places to which they had been sent and had dedicated
the votive offerings, they inquired of the Oracles and said: "Croesus,
king of the Lydians and of other nations, considering that these are
the only true Oracles among men, presents to you 57 gifts such as your
revelations deserve, and asks you again now whether he shall march
against the Persians, and if so, whether he shall join with himself any
army of men as allies." They inquired thus, and the answers of both
the Oracles agreed in one, declaring to Croesus that if he should
march against the Persians he should destroy a great empire: and they
counselled him to find out the most powerful of the Hellenes and join
these with himself as friends.
54. So when the answers were brought back and Croesus heard them, he
was delighted with the oracles, and expecting that he would certainly
destroy the kingdom of Cyrus, he sent again to Pytho, 58 and presented
to the men of Delphi, having ascertained the number of them, two staters
of gold for each man: and in for this the Delphians gave to Croesus and
to the Lydians precedence in consulting the Oracle and freedom from all
payments, and the right to front seats at the games, with this privilege
also for all time, that any one of them who wished should be allowed to
become a citizen of Delphi.
55. And having made presents to the men of Delphi, Croesus consulted the
Oracle the third time; for from the time when he learnt the truth of
the Oracle, he made abundant use of it. 59 And consulting the Oracle
he inquired whether his monarchy would endure for a long time. And the
Pythian prophetess answered him thus:
"But when it cometh to pass that a mule of the Medes shall be monarch
Then by the pebbly Hermos, O Lydian delicate-footed,
Flee and stay not, and be not ashamed to be callèd a coward."
56. By these lines when they came to him Croesus was pleased more than
by all the rest, for he supposed that a mule would never be ruler of the
Medes instead of a man, and accordingly that he himself and his heirs
would never cease from their rule. Then after this he gave thought to
inquire which people of the Hellenes he should esteem the most powerful
and gain over to himself as friends. And inquiring he found that the
Lacedemonians and the Athenians had the pre-eminence, the first of the
Dorian and the others of the Ionian race. For these were the most
eminent races in ancient time, the second being a Pelasgian and the
first a Hellenic race: and the one never migrated from its place in any
direction, while the other was very exceedingly given to wanderings; for
in the reign of Deucalion this race dwelt in Pthiotis, and in the time
of Doros the son of Hellen in the land lying below Ossa and Olympos,
which is called Histiaiotis; and when it was driven from Histiaiotis by
the sons of Cadmos, it dwelt in Pindos and was called Makednian; and
thence it moved afterwards to Dryopis, and from Dryopis it came finally
to Peloponnesus, and began to be called Dorian.
57. What language however the Pelasgians used to speak I am not able
with certainty to say. But if one must pronounce judging by those that
still remain of the Pelasgians who dwelt in the city of Creston 60 above
the Tyrsenians, and who were once neighbours of the race now called
Dorian, dwelling then in the land which is now called Thessaliotis, and
also by those that remain of the Pelasgians who settled at Plakia
and Skylake in the region of the Hellespont, who before that had been
settlers with the Athenians, 61 and of the natives of the various other
towns which are really Pelasgian, though they have lost the name,—if
one must pronounce judging by these, the Pelasgians used to speak a
Barbarian language. If therefore all the Pelasgian race was such as
these, then the Attic race, being Pelasgian, at the same time when it
changed and became Hellenic, unlearnt also its language. For the people
of Creston do not speak the same language with any of those who dwell
about them, nor yet do the people of Phakia, but they speak the same
language one as the other: and by this it is proved that they still keep
unchanged the form of language which they brought with them when they
migrated to these places.
58. As for the Hellenic race, it has used ever the same language, as I
clearly perceive, since it first took its rise; but since the time when
it parted off feeble at first from the Pelasgian race, setting forth
from a small beginning it has increased to that great number of races
which we see, 62 and chiefly because many Barbarian races have been
added to it besides. Moreover it is true, as I think, 6201 of the
Pelasgian race also, 63 that so far as it remained Barbarian it never
made any great increase.
59. Of these races then Croesus was informed that the Athenian was held
subject and torn with faction by Peisistratos 64 the son of Hippocrates,
who then was despot of the Athenians. For to Hippocrates, when as a
private citizen he went to view the Olympic games, a great marvel had
occurred. After he had offered the sacrifice, the caldrons which were
standing upon the hearth, full of pieces of flesh and of water, boiled
without fire under them and ran over. And Chilon the Lacedemonian,
who chanced to have been present and to have seen the marvel, advised
Hippocrates first not to bring into his house a wife to bear him
children, and secondly, if he happened to have one already, to dismiss
her, and if he chanced to have a son, to disown him. When Chilon
had thus recommended, Hippocrates, they say, was not willing to be
persuaded, and so there was born to him afterwards this Peisistratos;
who, when the Athenians of the shore 65 were at feud with those of the
plain, Megacles the son of Alcmaion being leader of the first faction,
and Lycurgos the son of Aristolaïdes of that of the plain, aimed at the
despotism for himself and gathered a third party. So then, after
having collected supporters and called himself leader of the men of the
mountain-lands, 66 he contrived a device as follows:—he inflicted
wounds upon himself and upon his mules, and then drove his car into the
market-place, as if he had just escaped from his opponents, who, as he
alleged, had desired to kill him when he was driving into the country:
and he asked the commons that he might obtain some protection from them,
for before this he had gained reputation in his command against the
Megarians, during which he took Nisaia and performed other signal
service. And the commons of the Athenians being deceived gave him those
67 men chosen from the dwellers in the city who became not indeed the
spear-men 68 of Peisistratos but his club-men; for they followed behind
him bearing wooden clubs. And these made insurrection with Peisistratos
and obtained possession of the Acropolis. Then Peisistratos was ruler of
the Athenians, not having disturbed the existing magistrates nor changed
the ancient laws; but he administered the State under that constitution
of things which was already established, ordering it fairly and well.
60. However, no long time after this the followers of Megacles and those
of Lycurgos joined together and drove him forth. Thus Peisistratos had
obtained possession of Athens for the first time, and thus he lost
the power before he had it firmly rooted. But those who had driven
out Peisistratos became afterwards at feud with one another again.
And Megacles, harassed by the party strife, 69 sent a message to
Peisistratos asking whether he was willing to have his daughter to wife
on condition of becoming despot. And Peisistratos having accepted the
proposal and made an agreement on these terms, they contrived with a
view to his a device the most simple by far, as I think, that ever was
practised, considering at least that it was devised at a time when
the Hellenic race had been long marked off from the Barbarian as more
skilful and further removed from foolish simplicity, and among the
Athenians who are accounted the first of the Hellenes in ability. 70
In the deme of Paiania there was a woman whose name was Phya, in height
four cubits all but three fingers, 71 and also fair of form. This woman
they dressed in full armour and caused her to ascend a chariot and
showed her the bearing in which she might best beseem her part, 72 and
so they drove to the city, having sent on heralds to run before them,
who, when they arrived at the city, spoke that which had been commanded
them, saying as follows: "O Athenians, receive with favour Peisistratos,
whom Athene herself, honouring him most of all men, brings back to her
Acropolis." So the heralds went about hither and thither saying this,
and straightway there came to the demes in the country round a report
that Athene was bringing Peisistratos back, while at the same time the
men of the city, persuaded that the woman was the very goddess herself,
were paying worship to the human creature and receiving Peisistratos.
61. So having received back the despotism in the manner which has been
said, Peisistratos according to the agreement made with Megacles married
the daughter of Megacles; but as he had already sons who were young men,
and as the descendants of Alcmaion were said to be under a curse, 73
therefore not desiring that children should be born to him from his
newly-married wife, he had commerce with her not in the accustomed
manner. And at first the woman kept this secret, but afterwards she told
her mother, whether in answer to her inquiry or not I cannot tell; and
the mother told her husband Megacles. He then was very indignant that he
should be dishonoured by Peisistratos; and in his anger straightway he
proceeded to compose his quarrel with the men of his faction. And when
Peisistratos heard of that which was being done against himself, he
departed wholly from the land and came to Eretria, where he took counsel
together with his sons: and the advice of Hippias having prevailed, that
they should endeavour to win back the despotism, they began to gather
gifts of money from those States which owed them obligations for favours
received: and many contributed great sums, but the Thebans surpassed
the rest in the giving of money. Then, not to make the story long, time
elapsed and at last everything was prepared for their . For certain
Argives came as mercenaries from the Peloponnesus, and a man of Naxos
had come to them of his own motion, whose name was Lygdamis, and showed
very great zeal in providing both money and men.
62. So starting from Eretria after the lapse of ten years 74 they ed
back; and in Attica the first place of which they took possession was
Marathon. While they were encamping here, their partisans from the city
came to them, and also others flowed in from the various demes, to whom
despotic rule was more welcome than freedom. So these were gathering
themselves together; but the Athenians in the city, so long as
Peisistratos was collecting the money, and afterwards when he took
possession of Marathon, made no account of it; but when they heard that
he was marching from Marathon towards the city, then they went to the
rescue against him. These then were going in full force to fight against
the ing exiles, and the forces of Peisistratos, as they went towards the
city starting from Marathon, met them just when they came to the temple
of Athene Pallenis, and there encamped opposite to them. Then moved
by divine guidance 75 there came into the presence of Peisistratos
Amphilytos the Arcarnanian, 76 a soothsayer, who approaching him uttered
an oracle in hexameter verse, saying thus:
"But now the cast hath been made and the net hath been widely extended,
And in the night the tunnies will dart through the moon-lighted waters."
63. This oracle he uttered to him being divinely inspired, and
Peisistratos, having understood the oracle and having said that he
accepted the prophecy which was uttered, led his army against the enemy.
Now the Athenians from the city were just at that time occupied with the
morning meal, and some of them after their meal with games of dice or
with sleep; and the forces of Peisistratos fell upon the Athenians and
put them to flight. Then as they fled, Peisistratos devised a very
skilful counsel, to the end that the Athenians might not gather again
into one body but might remain scattered abroad. He mounted his sons on
horseback and sent them before him; and overtaking the fugitives they
said that which was commanded them by Peisistratos, bidding them be of
good cheer and that each man should depart to his own home.
64. Thus then the Athenians did, and so Peisistratos for the third time
obtained possession of Athens, and he firmly rooted his despotism by
many foreign mercenaries and by much revenue of money, coming partly
from the land itself and partly from about the river Strymon, and also
by taking as hostages the sons of those Athenians who had remained in
the land and had not at once fled, and placing them in the hands of
Naxos; for this also Peisistratos conquered by war and delivered into
the charge of Lygdamis. Moreover besides this he cleansed the island
of Delos in obedience to the oracles; and his cleansing was of the
following kind:—so far as the view from the temple extended 77 he dug up
all the dead bodies which were buried in this part and removed them to
another part of Delos. So Peisistratos was despot of the Athenians; but
of the Athenians some had fallen in the battle, and others of them with
the sons of Alcmaion were exiles from their native land.