this prince, that the Cimmerians, driven out of their country by the Scythæ Nomades, went into Asia, and took the city of Sardis, with the exception of the citadel.
Sadyattes. A.M. 3373. Ant. J.C. 631.
Sadyattes reigned twelve years.[1096] This prince declared war against the Milesians, and laid siege to their city. In those days the sieges, which were generally nothing more than blockades, were carried on very slowly, and lasted many years. This king died before he had finished that of Miletus, and was succeeded by his son.
Halyattes. A.M. 3385. Ant. J.C. 619.
Halyattes reigned fifty-seven years.[1097] This is the prince who made war against Cyaxares, king of Media. He likewise drove the Cimmerians out of Asia. He attacked and took the cities of Smyrna and Clazomenæ. He vigorously prosecuted the war against the Milesians, begun by his father; and continued the siege of their city, which had lasted six years under his father, and continued as many under him. It ended at length in the following manner: Halyattes, upon an answer he received from the Delphic oracle, had sent an ambassador into the city, to propose a truce for some months. Thrasybulus, Tyrant of Miletus, having notice of his coming, ordered all the corn, and other provisions, assembled by him and his subjects for their support, to be brought into the public market; and commanded the citizens, at the sight of a signal that should be given, to be all in a general humour of feasting and jollity. The thing was executed according to his orders. The Lydian ambassador at his arrival was in the utmost surprise to see such plenty in the market, and such cheerfulness in the city. His master, to whom he gave an account of what he had seen, concluding that his project of reducing the place by famine would never succeed, preferred peace to so apparently fruitless a war, and immediately raised the siege.
Crœsus. A.M. 3442. Ant. J.C. 562.
Crœsus. His very name, which is become a proverb, conveys an idea of immense riches. The wealth of this prince, to judge of it only by the presents he made to the temple of Delphi, must have been excessively great. Most of those presents were still to be seen in the time [pg 367] of Herodotus, and were worth several millions. We may partly account for the treasures of this prince, from certain mines that he had, situate, according to Strabo, between Pergamus and Atarna;[1098] as also from the little river Pactolus, the sand of which was gold. But in Strabo's time this river had no longer the same advantage.
What is very extraordinary, this affluence did not enervate or soften the courage of Crœsus.[1099] He thought it unworthy of a prince to spend his time in idleness and pleasure. For his part, he was perpetually in arms, made several conquests, and enlarged his dominions by the addition of all the contiguous provinces, as Phrygia, Mysia, Paphlagonia, Bithynia, Pamphylia, and all the country of the Carians, Ionians, Dorians, and Æolians. Herodotus observes, that he was the first conqueror of the Greeks, who till then had never been subject to a foreign power. Doubtless he must mean the Greeks settled in Asia Minor.
But what is still more extraordinary in this prince, though he was so immensely rich, and so great a warrior, yet his chief delight was in literature and the sciences. His court was the ordinary residence of those famous learned men, so revered by antiquity, and distinguished by the name of the Seven Wise Men of Greece.
Solon, one of the most celebrated amongst them, after having established new laws at Athens, thought he might absent himself for some years, and improve that time by travelling.[1100] He went to Sardis, where he was received in a manner suitable to the reputation of so great a man. The king, attended with a numerous court, appeared in all his regal pomp and splendour, dressed in the most magnificent apparel, which was all over enriched with gold, and glittered with diamonds. Notwithstanding the novelty of this spectacle to Solon, it did not appear that he was the least moved at it, nor did he utter a word which discovered the least surprise or admiration; on the contrary, people of sense might sufficiently discern from his behaviour, that he looked upon all this outward pomp, as an indication of a little mind, which knows not in what true [pg 368] greatness and dignity consist. This coldness and indifference in Solon's first approach, gave the king no favourable opinion of his new guest.