an energy and steadfastness of purpose quite unusual; he proceeded
slowly but surely in his undertakings, and if he did not succeed in
extending his domains as far as he had hoped at the beginning of his
campaigns against the Medes, he at all events never lost any of the
provinces he had acquired. Under his auspices agriculture flourished,
and manufactures attained a degree of perfection hitherto unknown.

[Illustration: 053.jpg A LYDIAN FUNERY COUCH]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Choisy.

None of the vases in gold, silver, or wrought-iron, which he dedicated
and placed among the treasures of the Greek temples, has come down to
us, but at rare intervals ornaments of admirable workmanship are found
in the Lydian tombs. Those now in the Louvre exhibit, in addition to
human figures somewhat awkwardly treated, heads of rams, bulls, and
griffins of a singular delicacy and faithfulness to nature. These
examples reveal a blending of Grecian types and methods of production
with those of Egypt or Chaldæa, the Hellenic being predominant,* and
the same combination of heterogeneous elements must have existed in the
other domains of industrial art---in the dyed and embroidered stuffs,**
the vases,*** and the furniture.****

* The ornaments, of which we have now no specimens, but only
the original moulds cut in serpentine, betray imitation of
Assyria and Chaldæa.


** The custom of clothing themselves in dyed and embroidered
stuffs was one of the effeminate habits with which the poet