The Portable Greek Historians: The Essence of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Polybius (Portable Library)

by M. I. Finley

  “I can count the sands, and I can measure the ocean;

  I have ears for the silent, and know what the dumb man

  meaneth;

  Lo! on my sense there striketh the smell of a shell-covered

  tortoise,

  Boiling now on a fire, with the flesh of a lamb, in a cauldron,

  —

  Bronze is the vessel below, and bronze the cover above

  it”

  48. These words the Lydians wrote down at the mouth of the Pythoness as she prophesied, and then set off on their return to Sardis. When all the messengers had come back with the answers which they had received, Croesus undid the rolls and read what was written in each. Only one approved itself to him, that of the Delphic oracle. This he had no sooner heard than he instantly made an act of adoration, and accepted it as true, declaring that the Delphic was the only really oracular shrine, the only one that had discovered in what way he was in fact employed. For on the departure of his messengers he had set himself to think what was most impossible for anyone to conceive of his doing, and then, waiting till the day agreed on came, he acted as he had determined. He took a tortoise and a lamb, and cutting them in pieces with his own hands, boiled them both together in a brazen cauldron, covered over with a lid which was also of bronze.

  49. Such then was the answer returned to Croesus from Delphi. What the answer was which the Lydians who went to the shrine of Amphiaraus and performed the customary rites obtained of the oracle there, I have it not in my power to mention, for there is no record of it. All that is known is that Croesus believed himself to have found there also an oracle which spoke the truth.

  50. After this Croesus, having resolved to propitiate the Delphic god with a magnificent sacrifice, offered up three thousand of every kind of sacrificial beast, and besides made a huge pile, and placed upon it couches coated with silver and with gold, and golden goblets, and robes and vests of purple; all which he burnt in the hope of thereby making himself more secure of the favour of the god. Further he issued his orders to all the people of the land to offer a sacrifice according to their means. When the sacrifice was ended, the king melted down a vast quantity of gold, and ran it into ingots, making them six palms long, three palms broad, and one palm in thickness. The number of ingots was a hundred and seventeen, four being of refined gold, in weight two talents and a half each; the others of white gold, and in weight two talents each. He also caused a statue of a lion to be made in refined gold, the weight of which was ten talents. At the time when the temple of Delphi was burnt to the ground [in 548 B.C.], this lion fell from the ingots on which it was placed; it now stands in the Corinthian treasury [in Delphi] and weighs only six talents and a half, having lost three talents and a half by the fire.

  51. On the completion of these works Croesus sent them away to Delphi, and with them two bowls of an enormous size, one of gold, the other of silver, which used to stand, the latter upon the right, the former upon the left, as one entered the temple. They too were moved at the time of the fire; and now the golden one is in the Clazomenian treasury, and weighs eight talents and forty-two minae; the silver one stands in the comer of the ante-chapel, and holds six hundred amphorae. This is known, because the Delphians mix wine and water in it at the time of the Theophania. It is said by the Delphians to be a work of Theodore the Samian, and I think that they say true, for assuredly it is the work of no common artist. Croesus sent also four silver casks, which stand in the Corinthian treasury, and two lustral vases, a golden and a silver one. On the former is inscribed the name of the Lacedaemonians, and they claim it as a gift of theirs, but wrongly, since it was really given by Croesus. The inscription upon it was cut by a Delphian, who wished to pleasure the Lacedaemonians. His name is known to me, but I forbear to mention it. The boy through whose hand the water runs, is (I confess) a Lacedaemonian gift, but they did not give either of the lustral vases. Besides these various offerings, Croesus sent to Delphi many others of less account, among the rest a number of round silver basins. Also he dedicated a female figure in gold, three cubits high, which is said by the Delphians to be the statue of his baking woman;11 and further, he dedicated the necklaces and the girdles of his wife.

  52. These were the offerings sent by Croesus to Delphi. To the shrine of Amphiaraus, with whose valour and misfortune he was acquainted, he sent a shield entirely of gold, and a spear, also of solid gold, both head and shaft. They were still existing in my day at Thebes, laid up in the temple of Ismenian Apollo.

  53. The messengers who had the charge of conveying these treasures to the shrines received instructions to ask the oracles whether Croesus should go to war with the Persians, and, if so, whether he should strengthen himself by the forces of an ally. Accordingly, when they had reached their destinations and dedicated the gifts, they proceeded to consult the oracles in the following terms: “Croesus, king of Lydia and other countries, believing that these are the only real oracles in all the world, has sent you such presents as your discoveries deserved, and now inquires of you whether he shall go to war with the Persians, and, if so, whether he shall strengthen himself by the forces of a confederate.” Both the oracles agreed in the tenor of their reply, which was in each case a prophecy that if Croesus attacked the Persians he would destroy a mighty empire, and a recommendation to him to look and see who were the most powerful of the Greeks, and to make alliance with them.

  54. At the receipt of these oracular replies Croesus was overjoyed, and, feeling sure now that he would destroy the empire of the Persians, he sent once more to Pytho, and presented to the Delphians, the number of whom he had ascertained, two gold staters apiece. In return for this the Delphians granted to Croesus and the Lydians the privilege of precedency in consulting the oracle, tax exemption, the most honourable seat at the festivals, and the perpetual right of becoming at pleasure citizens of their town.

  55. After sending these presents to the Delphians, Croesus a third time consulted the oracle, for having once proved its truthfulness, he wished to make constant use of it. The question whereto he now desired an answer was whether his kingdom would be of long duration? The following was the reply of the Pythoness:

  “Wait till the time shall come when a mule is monarch of

  Media;

  Then, thou delicate Lydian, away to the pebbles of

  Hermus;

  Haste, oh haste thee away, nor blush to behave like a

  coward.”

  56. Of all the answers that had reached him, this pleased him far the best, for it seemed incredible that a mule should ever come to be king of the Medes, and so he concluded that the sovereignty would never depart from himself or his seed after him. Afterwards he turned his thoughts to the alliance which he had been recommended to contract, and sought to ascertain by inquiry which was the most powerful of the Grecian states. His inquiries pointed out to him two states as pre-eminent above the rest These were the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians, the former of Doric the latter of Ionic race....

  59. On inquiring into the condition of these two nations, Croesus found that one, the Athenian, was held down and disunited under Pisistratus, the son of Hippocrates, who was at that time tyrant of Athens. Hippocrates, when he was a private citizen, is said to have gone once upon a time to Olympia to see the games, when a wonderful prodigy happened to him. As he was employed in sacrificing, the cauldrons which stood near, full of water and of the flesh of the victims, began to boil without the help of fire, so that the water overflowed the pots. Chilon the Lacedaemonian, who happened to be there and to witness the prodigy, advised Hippocrates, if he were unmarried, never to take into his house a wife who could bear him a child; if he already had one, to send her back to her friends; if he had a son, to disown him. Chilon’s advice did not at all please Hippocrates, who disregarded it, and some time after became the father of Pisistratus. This Pisistratus, at a time when there was civil contention in Attica between the party of the Coast headed by Megacles the son of Alcmaeon, and that of the Plain
headed by Lycurgus, the son of Aristolaides, formed the project of making himself tyrant, and with this view created a third faction. Gathering together a band of partisans, and giving himself out for the protector of the highlanders, he contrived the following stratagem. He wounded himself and his mules, and then drove his chariot into the Agora, professing to have just escaped an attack of his enemies, who had attempted his life as he was on his way into the country. He besought the people to assign him a guard to protect his person, reminding them of the glory which he had gained when he led the attack upon the Megarians, and took the town of Nisaea, at the same time performing many other exploits. The Athenians, deceived by his story, appointed him a band of citizens to serve as a guard, who were to carry clubs instead of spears, and to accompany him wherever he went. Thus strengthened, Pisistratus broke into revolt and seized the Acropolis. In this way he acquired the sovereignty of Athens, which he continued to hold without disturbing the previously existing offices or altering any of the laws. He administered the state according to the established usages, and his arrangements were wise and salutary.

  60. However, after a little time, the partisans of Megacles and those of Lycurgus agreed to forget their differences, and united to drive him out. So Pisistratus, having by the means described first made himself master of Athens, lost his power again before it had time to take root. No sooner, however, was he departed than the factions which had driven him out quarrelled anew, and at last Megacles, wearied with the struggle, sent a herald to Pisistratus, with an offer to re-establish him as tyrant if he would marry his daughter. Pisistratus consented, and on these terms an agreement was concluded between the two, after which they proceeded to devise the mode of his restoration. And here the device on which they hit was the silliest that I find on record, more especially considering that the Greeks have been from very ancient times distinguished from the barbarians by superior sagacity and freedom from foolish simpleness, and remembering that the persons on whom this trick was played were not only Greeks but Athenians, who are said to surpass all other Greeks in judgement. There was in the Paeanian district a woman named Phya, whose height fell short of four cubits by only three fingers’ breadth, and who was altogether comely to look upon. This woman they clothed in complete armour, and, instructing her as to the carriage which she was to maintain in order to beseem her part, they placed her in a chariot and drove to the city. Heralds had been sent forward to precede her, and to make proclamation to this effect: ”Citizens of Athens, receive again Pisistratus with friendly minds. Athena, who of all men honours him the most, herself conducts him back to her own citadel.” This they proclaimed in all directions, and immediately the rumour spread throughout the country districts that Athena was bringing back Pisistratus. They of the city also, fully persuaded that the woman was the veritable goddess, offered prayers to her, and received Pisistratus back.

  61. Pisistratus, having thus recovered the tyranny, married, according to agreement, the daughter of Megacles. As, however, he already had adolescent sons, and the Alcmaeonids were supposed to be under a curse, he determined that there should be no offspring of his new wife, and he had only unnatural intercourse with her. His wife at first kept this matter to herself, but after a time either her mother questioned her, or it may be that she told it of her own accord. At any rate, she informed her mother, who told her father. Megacles, indignant at this affront from Pisistratus, in his anger instantly made up his differences with the opposite faction, on which Pisistratus, aware of what was planning against him, took himself out of the country. Arrived at Eretria [on the island of Euboea], he held a council with his sons to decide what was to be done. The opinion of Hippias [the elder] prevailed, and it was agreed to aim at regaining the tyranny. The first step was to obtain gifts from such cities as were under obligation to them. By these means they collected large sums from several cities, especially from the Thebans, who gave them far more than any of the rest. To be brief, time passed, and all was at length got ready for their return. A band of Argive mercenaries arrived from the Peloponnesus, and a certain Naxian named Lygdamis, who volunteered his services, was particularly zealous in the cause, supplying both men and money.

  62. In the eleventh year of their exile the family of Pisistratus set sail from Eretria on their return home. They made the coast of Attica, near Marathon, where they encamped, and were joined by their partisans from the city and by numbers from the country districts, who loved tyranny better than freedom. At Athens, while Pisistratus was obtaining funds, and even after he landed at Marathon, no one paid any attention to his proceedings. When, however, it became known that he had left Marathon, and was marching upon the city, preparations were made for resistance, the whole force of the state was levied, and led against the returning exiles. Meantime the army of Pisistratus, which had broken up from Marathon, meeting their adversaries near the temple of the Pallenian Athena, pitched their camp opposite them. Here a certain soothsayer, Amphilytus by name, an Acarnanian, moved by a divine impulse, came into the presence of Pisistratus, and approaching him uttered this prophecy in the hexameter measure:

  “Now has the cast been made, the net is out-spread in the

  water,

  Through the moonshiny night the tunnies will enter the

  meshes.”

  63. Such was the prophecy uttered under a divine inspiration. Pisistratus, apprehending its meaning, declared that he accepted the oracle, and instantly led on his army. The Athenians from the city had just finished their midday meal, after which they had betaken themselves, some to dice, others to sleep, when Pisistratus with his troops fell upon them and put them to the rout. As soon as the flight began, Pisistratus bethought himself of a most wise contrivance, whereby the Athenians might be induced to disperse and not unite in a body any more. He mounted his sons on horseback and sent them on in front to overtake the fugitives, and exhort them to be of good cheer, and return each man to his home.

  64. The Athenians took the advice, and Pisistratus became for the third time master of Athens. Upon this he set himself to root his power more firmly, by the aid of a numerous body of mercenaries, and by keeping up a full exchequer, partly supplied from native sources, partly from the countries about the river Strymon [in Thrace]. He also demanded hostages from many of the Athenians who had stood firm and not fled at his approach; and these he sent to Naxos, which he had conquered by force of arms, and given over into the charge of Lygdamis. Further, he purified the island of Delos, according to the injunctions of an oracle, after the following fashion. All the dead bodies which had been interred within sight of the temple he dug up, and removed to another part of the isle. Thus was the tyranny of Pisistratus established at Athens, some of the Athenians having fallen in the battle, and others having fled the country together with the Alcmaeonids.

  65. Such was the condition of the Athenians when Croesus made inquiry concerning them. Proceeding to seek information concerning the Lacedaemonians, he learnt that, after passing through a period of great reversals, they had been victorious in a war with the people of Tegea; for, during the joint reign of Leon and Agasicles, kings of Sparta, the Lacedaemonians, successful in all their other wars, sufvered continual defeat at the hands of the Tegeans. At a still earlier period they had been the very worst governed people in Greece, as well in matters of internal management as in their relations towards foreigners, from whom they kept entirely aloof.

  The circumstances which led to their being well governed were the following. Lycurgus, a man of distinction among the Spartans, had gone to Delphi to consult the oracle. Scarcely had he entered into the inner sanctuary, when the Pythoness said,

  “Oh! thou great Lycurgus, that com’st to my beautiful

  dwelling,

  Dear to Zeus, and to all who sit in the halls of Olympus,

  Whether to hail thee a god I know not, or only a mortal,

  But my hope is strong that a god thou wilt prove, Lycurgus.”

  Some report, besides, that the Pythoness d
elivered to him the entire system of laws which are still observed by the Spartans. The Lacedaemonians, however, themselves assert that Lycurgus, when he was guardian of his nephew, Leobotas, king of Sparta, introduced them from Crete; for as soon as he became regent, he altered the whole of the existing laws, substituting new ones, which he took care should be observed by all. After this he arranged whatever appertained to war, establishing the enomotiae, triacades, and syssitia, besides which he instituted the council of elders and the ephorate.

  66. Such was the way in which the Lacedaemonians became a well-governed people. On the death of Lycurgus they built him a temple, and ever since they have worshipped him with the utmost reverence. Their soil being good and the population numerous, they sprang up rapidly to power, and became a flourishing people. In consequence they soon ceased to be satisfied to stay quiet; and, regarding the Arcadians as very much their inferiors, they sent to consult the oracle about conquering the whole of Arcadia. The Pythoness thus answered them:

  “Cravest thou Arcady? Bold is thy craving. I shall not content

  it.

  Many the men that in Arcady dwell, whose food is the

  acorn—

  They will never allow thee. It is not I that am niggard.

  I will give thee to dance in Tegea, with noisy foot-fall,

  And with the measuring line mete out the glorious

  champaign.”

  When the Lacedaemonians received this reply, leaving the rest of Arcadia untouched, they marched against the Tegeans, carrying with them fetters, so confident had this oracle (which was, in truth, but of base metal) made them that they would enslave the Tegeans. The battle, however, went against them, and many fell into the enemy’s hands. Then these persons, wearing the fetters which they had themselves brought, measured out the Tegean plain as they executed their labours. The fetters in which they worked were still, in my day, preserved at Tegea where they hung round the walls of the temple of Athena Alea.