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[1]
This was how Croesus reasoned. Meanwhile, snakes began to swarm in the outer part of the city; and when they appeared the horses, leaving their accustomed pasture, devoured them. When Croesus saw this he thought it a portent, and so it was.
This was how Croesus reasoned. Meanwhile, snakes began to swarm in the outer part of the city; and when they appeared the horses, leaving their accustomed pasture, devoured them. When Croesus saw this he thought it a portent, and so it was.
[2] He at once sent to the homes of the
Telmessian interpreters,
1
to inquire concerning it; but though his messengers came and learned from the
Telmessians what the portent meant, they could not bring back word to
Croesus, for he was a prisoner before they could make their voyage back to
Sardis [28.0167,38.475] (Perseus)
Sardis
.
[3] Nonetheless, this was the judgment of the
Telmessians: that
Croesus must expect a foreign army to attack his country, and that when it came, it would subjugate the inhabitants of the land: for the snake, they said, was the offspring of the land, but the horse was an enemy and a foreigner. This was the answer which the
Telmessians gave
Croesus, knowing as yet nothing of the fate of
Sardis [28.0167,38.475] (Perseus)
Sardis
and of the king himself; but when they gave it,
Croesus was already taken.
Histories. Herodotus. ed. A.D. Godley. Cambridge. 1920-1925.
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