he did not comprehend that which was uttered and did not ask again,
let him pronounce himself to be the cause of that which followed. To
him also[103] when he consulted the Oracle for the last time Loxias
said that which he said concerning a mule; but this also he failed to
comprehend: for Cyrus was in fact this mule, seeing that he was born
of parents who were of two different races, his mother being of nobler
descent and his father of less noble: for she was a Median woman,
daughter of Astyages and king of the Medes, but he was a Persian, one
of a race subject to the Medes, and being inferior in all respects he
was the husband of one who was his royal mistress." Thus the Pythian
prophetess replied to the Lydians, and they brought the answer back to
Sardis and repeated it to Crœsus; and he, when he heard it,
acknowledged that the fault was his own and not that of the god. With
regard then to the empire of Crœsus and the first conquest of Ionia,
it happened thus.

92. Now there are in Hellas many other votive offerings made by Crœsus
and not only those which have been mentioned: for first at Thebes of
the Bœotians there is a tripod of gold, which he dedicated to the
Ismenian Apollo; then at Ephesos there are the golden cows and the
greater number of the pillars of the temple; and in the temple of
Athene Pronaia at Delphi a large golden shield. These were still
remaining down to my own time, but others of his votive offerings have
perished: and the votive offerings of Crœsus at Branchidai of the
Milesians were, as I am told, equal in weight and similar to those at
Delphi. Now those which he sent to Delphi and to the temple of
Amphiaraos he dedicated of his own goods and as first-fruits of the
wealth inherited from his father; but the other offerings were made of
the substance of a man who was his foe, who before Crœsus became king
had been factious against him and had joined in endeavouring to make