for wisdom among the Lydians, had advised Crœsus as follows (the name
of the man was Sandanis):--"O king, thou art preparing to march
against men who wear breeches of leather, and the rest of their
clothing is of leather also; and they eat food not such as they desire
but such as they can obtain, dwelling in a land which is rugged; and
moreover they make no use of wine but drink water; and no figs have
they for dessert, nor any other good thing. On the one hand, if thou
shalt overcome them, what wilt thou take away from them, seeing they
have nothing? and on the other hand, if thou shalt be overcome,
consider how many good things thou wilt lose; for once having tasted
our good things, they will cling to them fast and it will not be
possible to drive them away. I for my own part feel gratitude to the
gods that they do not put it into the minds of the Persians to march
against the Lydians." Thus he spoke not persuading Crœsus: for it is
true indeed that the Persians before they subdued the Lydians had no
luxury nor any good thing.

72. Now the Cappadokians are called by the Hellenes Syrians;[85] and
these Syrians, before the Persians had rule, were subjects of the
Medes, but at this time they were subjects of Cyrus. For the boundary
between the Median empire and the Lydian was the river Halys; and this
flows from the mountain-land of Armenia through the Kilikians, and
afterwards, as it flows, it has the Matienians on the right hand and
the Phrygians on the other side; then passing by these and flowing up
towards the North Wind, it bounds on the one side the Cappadokian
Syrians and on the left hand the Paphlagonians. Thus the river Halys
cuts off from the rest almost all the lower parts of Asia by a line
extending from the sea that is opposite Cyprus to the Euxine. And this
tract is the neck of the whole peninsula, the distance of the journey
being such that five days are spent on the way by a man without