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Afterwards, on the refusal of Alyattes to give up his suppliants when
Cyaxares sent to demand them of him, war broke out between the
Lydians and the Medes, and continued for five years, with various
success. In the course of it the Medes gained many victories over the
Lydians, and the Lydians also gained many victories over the Medes.
Among their other battles there was one night engagement. As,
however, the balance had not inclined in favour of either nation,
another combat took place in the sixth year, in the course of which,
just as the battle was growing warm, day was on a sudden changed into
night. This event had been foretold by Thales, the Milesian, who
forewarned the Ionians of it, fixing for it the very year in which it
actually took place. The Medes and Lydians, when they observed the
change, ceased fighting, and were alike anxious to have terms of peace
agreed on. Syennesis of Cilicia, and Labynetus of Babylon, were
the persons who mediated between the parties, who hastened the taking
of the oaths, and brought about the exchange of espousals. It was
they who advised that Alyattes should give his daughter Aryenis in
marriage to Astyages, the son of Cyaxares, knowing, as they did,
that without some sure bond of strong necessity, there is wont to be
but little security in men's covenants. Oaths are taken by these
people in the same way as by the Greeks, except that they make a
slight flesh wound in their arms, from which each sucks a portion of
the other's blood.
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