OFFERING AT THE TEMPLE OF DELPHI.
OFFERING AT THE TEMPLE OF DELPHI.
OFFERING AT THE TEMPLE OF DELPHI.
He endeavored to propitiate the god at Delphi by magnificent sacrifices; for he offered three thousand head of cattle of every kind fit for sacrifice, and having heaped up a great pile, he burned on it beds of gold and silver, vials of gold, and robes of purple and garments; hoping by that means more completely to conciliate the god. When the sacrifice was ended, having melted down a vast quantity of gold, he cast half-bricks from it; of which thelongest were six palms in length, the shortest three, and in thickness one palm: their number was one hundred and seventeen: four of these, of pure gold, weighed each two talents and a half; the other half-bricks of pale gold, weighed two talents each. He made also the figure of a lion of fine gold, weighing ten talents. This lion, when the temple of Delphi was burned down, fell from the half-bricks, for it had been placed on them; and it now lies in the treasury of the Corinthians, weighing six talents and a half; for three talents and a half were melted from it. Crœsus, having finished these things sent them to Delphi, and with them these following: two large bowls, one of gold, the other of silver; that of gold was placed on the right hand as you enter the temple, and that of silver on the left; but these also were removed when the temple was burnt down; and the golden one weighing eight talents and a half and twelve minæ, is placed in the treasury of Clazomenæ; the silver one, containing six hundred amphoræ, lies in a corner of the vestibule, and is used by the Delphians for mixing the wine on the Theophanian festival. The Delphians say itwas the workmanship of Theodorus the Samian; and I think so too, for it appears to be no common work. He also sent four casks of silver, which stand in the treasury of the Corinthians; and he dedicated two lustral vases, one of gold, the other of silver: on the golden one is an inscription, OF THE LACEDÆMONIANS, who say that it was their offering, but wrongfully, for it was given by Crœsus: a certain Delphian made the inscription, in order to please the Lacedæmonians; I know his name, but forbear to mention it. The boy, indeed, through whose hand the water flows, is their gift; but neither of the lustral vases. At the same time Crœsus sent many other offerings without an inscription: amongst them some round silver covers; and a statue of a woman in gold three cubits high, which the Delphians say is the image of Crœsus's baking woman; and to all these things he added the necklaces and girdles of his wife.
These were the offerings he sent to Delphi; and to Amphiaraus, having ascertained his virtue and sufferings, he dedicated a shield all of gold, and a lance of solid gold, the shaft as well as the points being of gold. These are now at Thebes in the temple of Ismenian Apollo.
To the Lydians appointed to convey these presents to the temples, Crœsus gave it in charge to inquire of the oracles, whether he should make war on the Persians, and if he should invite any other nation as an ally. Accordingly, when the Lydians arrived at the places to which they were sent, and had dedicated the offerings, they consulted the oracles, saying: "Crœsus, king of the Lydians and of other Nations, esteeming these to be the only oracles among men, sends these presents in acknowledgment of your discoveries; and now asks whether he should lead an army against the Persians, and whether he should join any auxiliary forces with his own?" Such were their questions; and the opinions of both oracles concurred, foretelling: "That if Crœsus should make war on the Persians, he would destroy a mighty empire;" and they advised him to engage the most powerful of the Greeks in his alliance. When Crœsus heard the answers thatwere brought back, he was beyond measure delighted with the oracles; and fully expecting that he should destroy the kingdom of Cyrus, he again sent to Delphi, and having ascertained the number of the inhabitants, presented each of them with two staters of gold. In return for this, the Delphians gave Crœsus and the Lydians the right to consult the oracle before any others, and exemption from tribute, and the first seats in the temple, and the privilege of being made citizens of Delphi, to as many as should desire it in all future time. Crœsus, having made these presents to the Delphians, sent a third time to consult the oracle. For after he had ascertained the veracity of the oracle, he had frequent recourse to it. His demand now was whether he should long enjoy the kingdom? to which the Pythian gave this answer: "When a mule shall become king of the Medes, then, tender-footed Lydian, flee over pebbly Hermus, nor tarry, nor blush to be a coward." With this answer, when reported to him, Crœsus was more than ever delighted, thinking that a mule should never be king of the Medes instead of a man, and consequently that neither he nor his posterity should ever be deprived of the kingdom. In the next place he began to enquire carefully who were the most powerful of the Greeks whom he might gain over as allies; and on inquiry found that the Lacedæmonians and Athenians excelled the rest, the former being of Dorian, the latter of Ionic descent: for these were in ancient time the most distinguished, the latter being a Pelasgian, the other an Hellenic nation.
Whatlanguage the Pelasgians used I cannot with certainty affirm; but if I may form a conjecture from those Pelasgians who now exist, and inhabit the town of Crestona above the Tyrrhenians, and from those Pelasgians settled at Placia and Scylace on the Hellespont, they spoke a barbarous language. And if the whole Pelasgian body did so, the Attic race, being Pelasgic, must at the time they changed into Hellenes have altered their language. The Hellenic race, however, appears to have used the same language from the time they became a people. At first insignificant, yet from a small beginning they have increased to a multitude of nations, chiefly by a union with many other barbarous nations. But the Pelasgic race, being barbarous, never increased to any great extent.
Of these nations Crœsus learnt that the Attic was oppressed and distracted by Pisistratus, then reigning in Athens. When a quarrel happened between those who dwelt on the sea-coast and the Athenians, the former headed by Megacles, the latter by Lycurgus, Pisistratus aiming at the sovereign power, formed a third party; and having assembled his partisans under color of protecting those of the mountains, he contrived this stratagem. He wounded himself and his mules, drove his chariot into the public square, as if he had escaped from enemies that designed to murder him in his way to the country, and besought the people to grant him a guard, having before acquired renown in the expedition against Megara, by taking its port, Nisæa, and displaying other illustrious deeds. The people of Athens, deceived by this, gave him such of the citizens as he selected, who were not to behis javelin men, but club-bearers, for they attended him with clubs of wood. These men, joining in revolt with Pisistratus seized the Acropolis, and Pisistratus assumed the government of the Athenians, neither disturbing the existing magistracies, nor altering the laws; but he administered the government according to the established institutions, liberally and well. Not long after, the partisans of Megacles and Lycurgus became reconciled and drove him out. In this manner Pisistratus first made himself master of Athens, and, his power not being firmly rooted, lost it. But those who expelled Pisistratus quarrelled anew with one another; and Megacles, harassed by the sedition, sent a herald to Pisistratus to ask if he was willing to marry his daughter, on condition of having the sovereignty. Pisistratus having accepted the proposal and agreed to his terms, in order to his restitution, they contrive the most ridiculous project that, I think, was ever imagined; especially if we consider, that the Greeks have from old been distinguished from the barbarians as being more acute and free from all foolish simplicity, and more particularly as they played this trick upon the Athenians, who are esteemed among the wisest of the Greeks. In the Pæanean tribe was a woman named Phya, four cubits high, wanting three fingers, and in other respects handsome; this woman they dressed in a complete suit of armor, placed her on a chariot, and having shown her beforehand how to assume the most becoming demeanor, they drove her to the city, with heralds before, who, on their arrival in the city, proclaimed what was ordered in these terms: "O Athenians, receive with kind wishes Pisistratus whom Minerva herself honoring above all men now conducts back to her own citadel." The report was presently spread among the people that Minerva was bringing back Pisistratus; and the people in the city believing this woman to be the goddess, both adored a human being, and received Pisistratus.