|
Then, the Lydians say that Croesus, perceiving by the efforts made
to quench the fire that Cyrus had relented, and seeing also that all
was in vain, and that the men could not get the fire under, called
with a loud voice upon the god Apollo, and prayed him, if he ever
received at his hands any acceptable gift, to come to his aid, and
deliver him from his present danger. As thus with tears he besought
the god, suddenly, though up to that time the sky had been clear and
the day without a breath of wind, dark clouds gathered, and the storm
burst over their heads with rain of such violence, that the flames were
speedily extinguished. Cyrus, convinced by this that Croesus was a
good man and a favourite of heaven, asked him after he was taken off
the pile, "Who it was that had persuaded him to lead an army into his
country, and so become his foe rather than continue his friend?" to
which Croesus made answer as follows: "What I did, oh! king, was
to thy advantage and to my own loss. If there be blame, it rests with
the god of the Greeks, who encouraged me to begin the war. No one is
so foolish as to prefer war to peace, in which, instead of sons
burying their fathers, fathers bury their sons. But the gods willed
it so."
|
|