spear-point fulfilled the saying of the dream. And one ran to report
to Crœsus that which had come to pass, and having come to Sardis he
signified to him of the combat and of the fate of his son. 44. And
Crœsus was very greatly disturbed by the death of his son, and was
much the more moved to complaining by this, namely that his son was
slain by the man whom he had himself cleansed of manslaughter. And
being grievously troubled by the misfortune he called upon Zeus the
Cleanser, protesting to him that which he had suffered from his guest,
and he called moreover upon the Protector of Suppliants[37] and the
Guardian of Friendship,[38] naming still the same god, and calling
upon him as the Protector of Suppliants because when he received the
guest into his house he had been fostering ignorantly the slayer of
his son, and as the Guardian of Friendship because having sent him as
a protector he had found him the worst of foes. 45. After this the
Lydians came bearing the corpse, and behind it followed the slayer:
and he taking his stand before the corpse delivered himself up to
Crœsus, holding forth his hands and bidding the king slay him over the
corpse, speaking of his former misfortune and saying that in addition
to this he had now been the destroyer of the man who had cleansed him
of it; and that life for him was no more worth living. But Crœsus
hearing this pitied Adrastos, although he was himself suffering so
great an evil of his own, and said to him: "Guest, I have already
received from thee all the satisfaction that is due, seeing that thou
dost condemn thyself to suffer death; and not thou alone art the cause
of this evil, except in so far as thou wert the instrument of it
against thine own will, but some one, as I suppose, of the gods, who
also long ago signified to me that which was about to be." So Crœsus
buried his son as was fitting: but Adrastos the son of Gordias, the
son of Midas, he who had been the slayer of his own brother and the
slayer also of the man who had cleansed him, when silence came of all