Herodotus

“ But at Delphi, no sooner had the Lydians entered the hall to inquire of the god and asked the question with which they were charged, than the Pythian priestess uttered the following hexameter verses:
“Grains of sand I reckon and measure the spaces of ocean, Hear when dumb men speak, and mark the speech of the silent. What is it now that I smell? ’tis a tortoise mightily armoured Sodden in vessel of bronze, with a lamb’s flesh mingled together: Bronze thereunder is laid and a mantle of bronze is upon it.” ”

“ When Tomyris heard what had befallen her army and her son, she sent a herald to Cyrus with this message:—“Bloodthirsty Cyrus, be not uplifted by this that you have done; it is no matter for pride if the fruit of the vine—that fruit whereof you Persians drink even to madness, so that the wine passing into your bodies makes evil words to rise in a flood to your lips—has served you as a drug to master my son withal, by guile and not in fair fight. ”

“ Presently he turned and said (for he saw the Persians sacking the city of the Lydians) , “O King, am I to say to you now what is in my mind, or keep silence?” Cyrus bidding him to say boldly what he would, Croesus asked, “Yonder multitude, what is this whereon they are so busily engaged?” “They are plundering,” said Cyrus, “your city and carrying off your possessions.” “Nay,” Croesus answered, “not my city, nor my possessions; for I have no longer any share of all this; it is your wealth that they are ravishing.” ”

“ The foulest Babylonian custom is that which compels every woman of the land once in her life to sit in the temple of Aphrodite and have intercourse with some stranger. Many women who are rich and proud and disdain to consort with the rest, drive to the temple in covered carriages drawn by teams, and there stand with a great retinue of attendants. But most sit down in the sacred plot of Aphrodite, with crowns of cord on their heads; there is a great multitude of women coming and going; ”

“ But Solon spoke the truth without flattery: “Such an one, O King,” he said, “I have seen—Tellus of Athens.” Croesus wondered at this, and sharply asked Solon “How do you judge Tellus to be most blest?” Solon replied: “Tellus’ city was prosperous, and he was the father of noble sons, and he saw children born to all of them and their state well stablished; moreover, having then as much wealth as a man may among us, he crowned his life with a most glorious death: for in a battle between the Athenians and their neighbours at Eleusis he attacked and routed the enemy and most nobly there died ”

“ This is the danger if we agree to suffer the enemy to enter your country: if you lose the battle you lose your empire also, for it is plain that if the Massagetae win they will not retreat back but will march against your provinces. And if you conquer them it is a lesser victory than if you crossed into their country and routed the Massagetae and pursued them; for I balance your chances against theirs, and suppose that when you have worsted your adversaries you will march for the seat of Tomyris’ power. ”

“ And to what, think you, does this tend?” “If the boy is alive,” said the Magians, “and has been made king without foreknowledge, then fear not for aught that he can do but keep a good heart: he will not be made king a second time. Know that even in our prophecies it is often but a small thing that has been foretold, and the perfect fulfilment of the dream is but a trifling matter,” “I too, ye Magians,” said Astyages, “am much of your mind—that the dream came true when the boy was called king, and that I have no more to fear from him. ”

“ So then Hystaspes answered him thus:—“Sire, the gods forbid that any Persian born should plot against you! but if such there be, may he speedily perish; for you have made the Persians freemen instead of slaves and rulers of all instead of subjects. But if your vision does indeed tell that my son is planning aught to your hurt, take him; he is yours to use as pleases you.”
211. Having so answered, Hystaspes returned across the Araxes to Persia to watch Darius for Cyrus; and Cyrus, going forward a day’s journey from the Araxes, did according to Croesus’ advice. ”

“ While Croesus thus told his story, the pyre had already been kindled and the outer parts of it were burning. Then Cyrus, when he heard from the interpreters what Croesus said, repented of his purpose. He bethought him that he, being also a man, was burning alive another man who had once been as fortunate as himself; moreover, he feared the retribution, and it came to his mind that there was no stability in human affairs; wherefore he gave command to quench the burning fire with all speed and bring Croesus and those with him down from the pyre. ”

“ But there is one building to be seen there which is more notable than any, saving those of Egypt and Babylon. There is in Lydia the tomb of Alyattes the father of Croesus, the base whereof is made of great stones and the rest of it of mounded earth. It was built by the men of the market and the artificers and the prostitutes. There remained till my time five corner-stones set on the top of the tomb, and on these was graven the record of the work done by each kind: and measurement showed that the prostitutes’ share of the work was the greatest. ”

“ And not only so, but before this they were the worst governed of well nigh all the Greeks, having little intercourse among themselves or with strangers. Thus then they changed their laws for the better:—Lycurgus, a notable Spartan, visited the oracle at Delphi, and when he entered the temple hall, straightway the priestess gave him this response:
“Dear to Zeus thou hast come to my well-stored temple, Lycurgus, Dear to Zeus and to all who dwell in the courts of Olympus. Art thou a man or a god? ’Tis a god I deem thee, Lycurgus.” ”

“ To pray for blessings for himself alone is not lawful for the sacrificer; rather he prays that it may be well with the king and all the Persians for he reckons himself among them, He then cuts the victim limb from limb into portions, and having boiled the flesh spreads the softest grass, trefoil by choice, and places all of it on this. When he has so disposed it a Magian comes near and chants over it the song of the birth of the gods, as the Persian tradition relates it; for no sacrifice can be offered without a Magian. ”

“ Cyrus had a great pyre built, on which he set Croesus, bound in chains, and twice seven Lydian boys beside him: either his intent was to sacrifice these firstfruits to some one of his gods, or he desired to fulfil a vow, or it may be that, learning that Croesus was a god-fearing man, he set him for this cause on the pyre, because he would fain know if any deity would save him from being burnt alive. It is related then that he did this; but Croesus, as he stood on the pyre, remembered even in his evil plight how divinely inspired was that saying of Solon, that no living man was blest. ”

“ For the men of Argos came round and gave the youths joy of their strength, and so likewise did the women to their mother, for the excellence of her sons. She then in her joy at what was done and said, came before the image of the goddess and prayed that her sons Cleobis and Biton, who had done such great honour to the goddess, should be given the best boon that a man may receive. After the prayer the young men sacrificed and ate of the feast; then they lay down to sleep in the temple itself and never rose up more, but here ended their lives. ”

“ Now the very rich man who is yet unblest has but two advantages over the fortunate man, but the fortunate man has many advantages over the rich but unblest: for this latter is the stronger to accomplish his desire and to bear the stroke of great calamity; but these are the advantages of the fortunate man, that though he be not so strong as the other to deal with calamity and desire, yet these are kept far from him by his good fortune, and he is free from deformity, sickness, and all evil, and happy in his children and his comeliness. ”

“ Croesus, mistaking the meaning of the oracle, invaded Cappadocia, thinking to destroy Cyrus and the Persian power. But while he was preparing to march against the Persians, a certain Lydian, who was already held to be a wise man, and from the advice which he now gave won great renown among the Lydians, thus counselled him (his name was Sandanis) : “O King, you are making ready to march against men who wear breeches of leather and their other garments of the same, and whose fare is not what they desire but what they have; for their land is stony. ”

“ For these men, therefore, Cyrus awoke he considered his vision, and because it seemed to him to be of great import, he sent for Hystaspes and said to him privately, “I find, Hystaspes, that your son is guilty of plotting against me and my sovereignty; and I will tell you how I know this for a certainty. I am a man for whom the gods take thought, and show me beforehand all that is coming. Now this being so, I have seen in a dream in the past night your eldest son with wings on his shoulders, overshadowing Asia with the one and Europe with the other ”

“ They ever use gold and bronze; all their spear-points and arrow-heads and battle-axes are of bronze, and gold is the adornment of their headgear and belts and girdles. They treat their horses in like manner, arming their forehands with bronze breastplates and putting gold on reins, bits, and cheekplates. But iron and silver they never use; for there is none at all in their country, but gold and bronze abounds.
216. Now, for their customs: each man marries a wife, but the wives are common to all. The Greeks say this is a Scythian custom; it is not so, but a custom of the Massagetae. ”

“ The rest of the Ionians, except the Milesians, though they faced Harpagus in battle as did the exiles, and bore themselves gallantly, each fighting for his own country, yet, when they were worsted and their cities taken, remained each where he was and did as they were commanded. The Milesians, as I have already said, made a treaty with Cyrus himself and struck no blow. Thus was Ionia for the second time enslaved: and when Harpagus had conquered the Ionians of the mainland, the Ionians of the islands, fearing the same fate, surrendered themselves to Cyrus. ”

“ When he heard these verses Croesus was pleased with them above all, for he thought that a mule would never be king of the Medians in place of a man, and so that he and his posterity would never lose his empire. Then he sought very carefully to discover who were the mightiest of the Greeks whom he should make his friends. He found by inquiry that the chief peoples were the Lacedaemonians among those of Doric, and the Athenians among those of Ionic stock. These races, Ionian and Dorian, were the foremost in ancient time, the first a Pelasgian and the second an Hellenic people. ”

“ Now no one (who is but man) can have all these good things together, just as no land is altogether self-sufficing in what it produces: one thing it has, another it lacks, and the best land is that which has most; so too no single person is sufficient for himself: one thing he has, another he lacks; but whoever continues in the possession of most things, and at last makes a gracious end of his life, such a man, O King, I deem worthy of this title. ”

“ The day which every man most honours is his own birthday. On this he thinks it right to serve a more abundant meal than on other days; before the rich are set oxen or horses or camels or asses, roasted whole in ovens; the poorer serve up the lesser kinds of cattle. Their courses are few, the dainties that follow are many and not all served together. This is why the Persians say of the Greeks, that they rise from table still hungry, because not much dessert is set before them: were this too given to the Greek (say the Persians) he would never cease eating. They are greatly given to wine ”

“ Son of Cambyses, seeing that the gods watch over you (for else you had not so prospered) do you now avenge yourself on Astyages, your murderer; for according to his intent you are dead; it is by the gods’ doing, and mine, that you live. Methinks you have long ago heard the story of what was done concerning yourself and how Astyages entreated me because I slew you not but gave you to the cowherd. If then you will be counselled by me, you shall rule all the country which is now ruled by Astyages. Persuade the Persians to rebel, and lead their army against the Medes ”

“ For the whole land of Babylon, like Egypt, is cut across by canals. The greatest of these is navigable: it runs towards where the sun rises in winter, from the Euphrates to another river, the Tigris, by which stood the city of Ninus. This land is of all known to us by far the most fertile in corn. Trees it does not even essay to grow, fig, vine, or olive, but its corn is so abundant that it yields for the most part two hundred fold, and even three hundred fold when the harvest is best. The blades of the wheat and barley there are easily four fingers broad ”

“ There are many proofs of the wealth of Babylon, but this in especial. All the land ruled by the great King is parcelled out for the provisioning of himself and his army, besides that it pays tribute: now the territory of Babylon feeds him for four out of the twelve months in the year, the whole of the rest of Asia providing for the other eight. Thus the wealth of Assyria is one third of the whole wealth of Asia. The governorship, which the Persians call “satrapy,” of this land is by far the greatest of all the governorships ”