could do, according to the current religion, to
conciliate the gods and escape ill fortune. He was very pious and
lived by the rules of religion. The story is told in different
forms. "The people could not make up their minds that a prince
who had been so liberal to the gods during his prosperity had
been abandoned by them at the moment when he had the greatest
need of their aid."[8] They said that he expiated the crime of
his ancestor Gyges, who usurped the throne; that is, they found
it necessary to adduce some guilt to account for the facts, and
they introduced the notion of hereditary responsibility. Another
story was that he determined to sacrifice all his wealth to the
gods. He built a funeral pyre of it all and mounted it himself,
but rain extinguished it. The gods were satisfied. Croesus
afterwards enjoyed the friendship of Cyros, which was good
fortune. Still others rejected the doctrines of correlation
between goodness and happiness on account of the fate of
Croesus. In ancient religion "the benefits which were expected
from the gods were of a public character, affecting the whole
community, especially fruitful seasons, increase of flocks and
herds, and success in war. So long as the community flourished,
the fact that an individual was miserable reflected no discredit
on divine providence, but was rather taken to prove that the
sufferer was an evil-doer, justly hateful to the gods."[9] Jehu
and his house were blamed for the blood spilt at Israel, although
Jehu was commissioned by Elisha to destroy the house of Ahab.[10]
This is like the case of OEdipus, who obeyed an oracle, but
suffered for his act as for a crime. Jehovah caused the ruin of
those who had displeased him, by putting false oracles in the
mouths of prophets.[11] Hezekiah expostulated with God because,
although he had walked before God with a perfect heart and had
done what was right in His sight, he suffered calamity.[12] In
the seventy-third Psalm, the author is perplexed by the
prosperity of the wicked, and the contrast of his own fortunes.
"Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart and washed my hands in
innocency, for all day long have I been plagued, and chastened
every morning." He says that at last the wicked were cast down.
He was brutish and ignorant not to see the solution. It is that
the wicked prosper for a time only. He will