. History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria . Alyattes ? . . The ancientcitadel of Sardes has fallen, the Pactolus of golden wavesruns red with blood; ignominiously are the women drivenfrom their well-decked chambers ! That which was oncemy hated foe is now my friend, and the sweetest thing isto die! Thus he spoke, and ordered the softly movingeunuch ^ to set fire to the wooden structure. The maidensshrieked and threw their arms around their mother, for ^ The word translated softly moving eunuch is here perhaps aproper name: the slave whose duty it was to kindle the pyre wascalle
. History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria . Alyattes ? . . The ancientcitadel of Sardes has fallen, the Pactolus of golden wavesruns red with blood; ignominiously are the women drivenfrom their well-decked chambers ! That which was oncemy hated foe is now my friend, and the sweetest thing isto die! Thus he spoke, and ordered the softly movingeunuch ^ to set fire to the wooden structure. The maidensshrieked and threw their arms around their mother, for ^ The word translated softly moving eunuch is here perhaps aproper name: the slave whose duty it was to kindle the pyre wascalled Abrobatas in the version of the story chosen by Bacchylides,while that adopted by the potter whose work is reproduced on the oppositepage, calls him Euthymos. THE LEGEND OP THE PYRE 75 the death before them was that most hated by just when the sparkling fury of the cruel fire hadspread around, Zeus, calling up a black-flanked cloud,extinguished the yellow flame. Nothing is incredible ofthat which the will of the gods has decreed: Apollo of. CECESUS ON HIS PTKE. Delos, seizing the old man, bore him, together with hisdaughters of tender feet, into the Hyperborean land asa reward for his piety, for no mortal had sent richerofferings to the illustrious Pytho! This miraculousending delighted the poets and inspired many fine lines,but history could with difficulty accommodate itself tosuch a materialistic intervention of a divine being, and 1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph of the original in theMuseum of the Louvre, 76 THE IRANIAN CONQUEST sought a less fabulous solution. The legend whichappeared most probable to the worthy Herodotus did noteven admit that the Lydian king took his own Ufe; itwas Cyrus who condemned him, either with a view ofdevoting the first-fruits of his victory to the immortals,or to test whether the immortals would save the rivalwhose piety had been so frequently held up to his admira-tion. The edges of the pyre had already taken hght, wh
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjecthistoryancient, booky
