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On the death of Alyattes, Croesus, his son, who was thirty-five
years old, succeeded to the throne. Of the Greek cities, Ephesus
was the first that he attacked. The Ephesians, when he laid siege to
the place, made an offering of their city to Diana, by stretching a
rope from the town wall to the temple of the goddess, which was distant
from the ancient city, then besieged by Croesus, a space of seven
furlongs. They were, as I said, the first Greeks whom he
attacked. Afterwards, on some pretext or other, he made war in turn
upon every Ionian and Aeolian state, bringing forward, where he
could, a substantial ground of complaint; where such failed him,
advancing some poor excuse.
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