elated to me by
fortune, for hast thou not also passed through all the extremes of good
and evil that this life can offer?"

"With this difference," said Amasis smiling, "that we started from
opposite points; in thy lot the good came first, the evil later; whereas
in my own this order has been reversed. In saying this, however," he
added, "I am supposing that my present fortune is a good for me, and that
I enjoy it."

"And I, in that case," answered Croesus, "must be assuming that I am
unhappy in what men call my present ill-fortune."

"How can it possibly be otherwise after the loss of such enormous
possessions?"

"Does happiness consist then in possession?" asked Croesus. "Is happiness
itself a thing to be possessed? Nay, by no means! It is nothing but a
feeling, a sensation, which the envious gods vouchsafe more often to the
needy than to the mighty. The clear sight of the latter becomes dazzled
by the glittering treasure, and they cannot but suffer continual
humiliation, because, conscious of possessing power to obtain much, they
wage an eager war for all, and therein are continually defeated."

Amasis sighed, and answered: "I would I could prove thee in the wrong;
but in looking back on my past life I am fain to confess that its cares
began with that very hour which brought me what men call my good
fortune."--"And I," interrupted Croesus, "can assure thee that I am
thankful thou delayedst to come to my help, inasmuch as the hour of my
overthrow was the beginning of true, unsullied happiness. When I beheld
the first Persians scale the walls of Sardis, I execrated myself and the
gods, life appeared odious to me, existence a curse. Fighting on, but in
heart despairing, I and my people were forced to yield. A Persian raised
his sword to cleave my skull--in an instant my poor dumb son had thrown
himself between his father and the murderer, and for the first time after
long years of silence, I heard him speak. Terror had loosened his tongue;
in that dreadful hour Gyges learnt once more to speak, and I, who but the
moment before had been cursing the gods, bowed down before their power. I
had commanded a slave to kill me the moment I should be taken prisoner by
the Persians, but now I deprived him of his sword. I was a changed man,
and by degrees learnt ever more and more to subdue the rage and
indignation which yet from time to time would boil up again within my
soul, rebellious against my fate and my noble enemies.