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The Lydians went to Delphi and delivered their message, on which the
Pythoness is said to have replied - "It is not possible even for a
god to escape the decree of destiny. Croesus has been punished for the
sin of his fifth ancestor, who, when he was one of the bodyguard of
the Heraclides, joined in a woman's fraud, and, slaying his
master, wrongfully seized the throne. Apollo was anxious that the
fall of Sardis should not happen in the lifetime of Croesus, but be
delayed to his son's days; he could not, however, persuade the
Fates. All that they were willing to allow he took and gave to
Croesus. Let Croesus know that Apollo delayed the taking of Sardis
three full years, and that he is thus a prisoner three years later than
was his destiny. Moreover it was Apollo who saved him from the
burning pile. Nor has Croesus any right to complain with respect to
the oracular answer which he received. For when the god told him
that, if he attacked the Persians, he would destroy a mighty empire,
he ought, if he had been wise, to have sent again and inquired which
empire was meant, that of Cyrus or his own; but if he neither
understood what was said, nor took the trouble to seek for
enlightenment, he has only himself to blame for the result. Besides,
he had misunderstood the last answer which had been given him about the
mule. Cyrus was that mule. For the parents of Cyrus were of
different races, and of different conditions - his mother a Median
princess, daughter of King Astyages, and his father a Persian and a
subject, who, though so far beneath her in all respects, had married
his royal mistress."
Such was the answer of the Pythoness. The Lydians returned to
Sardis and communicated it to Croesus, who confessed, on hearing
it, that the fault was his, not the god's. Such was the way in
which Ionia was first conquered, and so was the empire of Croesus
brought to a close.
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