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messian priests 15 concerning it. The answer which his messengers received, explaining the prodigy, they had no opportunity of communicating to Croesus, for before they could possibly return to Sardis, he was defeated and a captive. The Telmessians had thus interpreted the incident :that a foreign army was about to attack Croesus, on whose arrival the natives would be certainly subdued; for as the serpent was produced from the earth, the horse might be considered both as a foreigner and an enemy. When the ministers of the oracle reported this answer to Croesus, he was already in captivity, of which, and of the events which accompanied it, they were at that time ignorant.

LXXIX. Cyrus was well-informed that it was the intention of Croesus, after the battle of Pteria, to dismiss his forces; he conceived it therefore advisable, to advance with all imaginable expedi

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the example of some mice eating the gold consecrated to the use of a divinity, and deposited in his temple, is not less remarkable than the instance before us. This with other prodigies was made to refer to the destruction of Carthage.

115 Telmessian priests.]-Telmessus was a son of Apollo, by one of the daughters of Antenor. The god had commerce with her under the form of a little dog; and to make her compensation, endowed her with the faculty of interpreting prodigies. Telmessus, her son, had the same gift. He was interred under the altar of Apollo, in the city of Telmessa, of which he was probably the founder.-Larcher.

tion to Sardis, before the Lydian forces could again be collected. The measure was no sooner concerted than executed; and conducting his army instantly into Lydia, he was himself the messenger of his arrival. Croesus, although distressed by an event so contrary to his foresight and expectation, lost no time in preparing the Lydians for battle. At that period no nation of Asia was more hardy or more valiant than the Lydians. They fought principally on horseback, armed with long spears, and were very expert in the management of the horse.

LXXX. The field of battle was a spacious and open plain in the vicinity of Sardis, intersected by many streams, and by the Hyllus in particular, all of which united with one larger than the rest, called the Hermus. This, rising in the mountain, which is sacred to Cybele, finally empties itself into the sea, near the city Phocæa. Here Cyrus found the Lydians prepared for the encounter; and as he greatly feared the impression of their cavalry, by the advice of Harpagus the Mede, he took the following means to obviate the danger. He collected all the camels which followed his camp, carrying the provisions and other baggage; taking their burdens from these, he placed on them men accoutred as horsemen. Thus prepared, he ordered them to advance against the Lydian horse; his infantry were to follow in the rear of

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the camels, and his own cavalry* closed the order of the attack. Having thus arranged his forces, he commanded that no quarter should be granted to the Lydians, but that whoever resisted should be put to death, Croesus himself excepted, who, whatever opposition he might make, was at all events to be taken alive. He placed his camels in the van, knowing the hatred which a horse has to this animal 116, being neither able to support the smell nor the sight of it. He was satisfied that the principal dependance of Croesus was on his cavalry, which he hoped by this stratagem to render ineffective. The engagement had no sooner commenced, than the horses seeing and smelling the camels, threw their own ranks into disorder, to the total discomfiture of Croesus. Nevertheless the Lydians did not immediately surrender the day: they discovered the stratagem, and quitting

* His own cavalry.]-Xenophon remarks, book the seventh of the Cyropædia, at the beginning, that the cavalry with which Cyrus proceeded on his march against Croesus, were covered on their heads and breasts with mails of brass. This may serve perhaps as an explanatory comment on Jer. li. 27. "Cause the horses to come up as a rough caterpillar;” that is, perhaps, with mails of brass on their heads and necks.

Locusts are compared to horses and horsemen, in the book of Joel, chap. ii. verse 4.-" The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and like horsemen shall they run."

116 Horse has to this animal.]-This natural antipathy of the horse for the camel, is affirmed by the ancients; but it is disproved by daily experience, and derided by the best. judges, the Orientals.-Gibbon. It should however be ob served that the horses of Croesus had never seen a camel.

ting their horses, engaged the Persians on foot; a great number of men fell on both sides; but the Lydians were finally compelled to fly, and, retreating within their walls, were there closely besieged.

LXXXI. Croesus, believing the siege would be considerably protracted, sent other emissaries to his different confederates. The tendency of his former mission was to require their presence at Sardis within five months. He now entreated the immediate assistance of his other allies, in common with the Lacedæmonians.

LXXXII. At this crisis the Spartans themselves were engaged in dispute with the Argives, concerning the possession of a place called Thyrea"; of which, although it really constituted a part of the Argive territories, the Lacedæmonians had taken violent possession. All that tract of country which extends from Argos, westward, to Malea, as well the continent as Cythera, and the other islands, belonged to the Argives. They prepared to defend the part of the territories which had been attacked; but the parties coming to a conference, it was agreed that three hundred men

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117 Called Thyrea.]-Thyrea was, from its situation, a place of infinite importance to the Argives, as they obtained by it a communication with all their other possessions on that side.--Larcher,

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on each side should decide the dispute, and that Thyrea should be the reward of victory. Both the armies, by agreement, were to retire to their respective homes, lest remaining on the field of battle, either should be induced to render assistance to their party. After their departure, the men who had been selected for the purpose, came to an engagement, and fought with so little inequality, that out of six hundred but three remained, when night had terminated the contest. Of the Argives two survived, whose names were Alcenor and Chromius; they hastened to Argos, and claimed the victory. The Lacedæmonian was called Othryades, who, plundering the bodies of the slaughtered Argives, removed their arms to the camp of his countrymen, and then resumed his post in the field. On the second day after the event, the parties met, and both claimed the victory, the Argives, because the greater number of their men survived; the Lacedæmonians because the Argives who remained had fled, but their single man had continued in the field, and plundered the bodies of his adversaries. Their altercations terminated in a battle 18, in which, after considerable loss on both sides, the Lacedæ

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118 Terminated in a battle.]-Plutarch, on the contrary, affirms, that the Amphictyons coming to the spot, and bearing testimony of the valour of Othryades, adjudged the victory to the Lacedæmonians. He makes no mention of a second battle.-Larcher.

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