The downfall of Croesus, on the contrary, marked a decisive era in the
world's history. His army was the only one, from the point of numbers
and organisation, which was a match for that of Cyrus, and from the day
of its dispersion it was evident that neither Egypt nor Chaldæa had any
chance of victory on the battle-field. The subjection of Babylon and
Harrân, of Hamath, Damascus, Tyre and Sidon, of Memphis and Thebes, now
became merely a question of time, and that not far distant; the whole of
Asia, and that part of Africa which had been the oldest cradle of human
civilisation, were now to pass into the hands of one man and form a
single empire, for the benefit of the new race which was issuing forth
in irresistible strength from the recesses of the Iranian table-land. It
was destined, from the very outset, to come into conflict with an
older, but no less vigorous race than itself, that of the Greeks, whose
colonists, after having swarmed along the coasts of the Mediterranean,
were now beginning to quit the seaboard and penetrate wherever they
could into the interior.

[Illustration: 078.jpg A PERSIAN KING FIGHTING WITH GREEKS]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from an intaglio reproduced in the
_Antiquités du Bosphore cimmérien._

They had been on friendly terms with that dynasty of the Meramadæ
who had shown reverence for the Hellenic gods; they had, as a whole,
disdained to betray Croesus, or to turn upon him when he was in
difficulties beyond the Halys; and now that he had succumbed to his
fate, they considered that the ties which had bound them to Sardes were
broken, and they were determined to preserve their independence at all
costs. This spirit of insubordination would have to be promptly dealt