ojects were blown into fresh
activity by the desire for private revenge. Misled by his own
interpretation of the oracle he consulted as to the likelihood of
success in an expedition against the Persians, he advanced to
withstand the conquering march of Cyrus; and his first success was
against the Syrians of Cappadocia, a people subject to Cyrus, as
having formed a part of the Median Kingdom. Cyrus, with a powerful
army, came at once to the assistance of his new subjects, and meeting
the forces of Croesus on the plain of Cappadocia, a fiercely fought,
but indecisive battle took place, which resulted in the retreat of
Croesus to his capital, Sardis, to seek the assistance of his allies
and prepare to meet Cyrus with a larger force. In overweening
confidence in his own success, he dismissed his mercenary troops, and
sent messengers to Babylon, to Egypt, and to Sparta, calling on them
to come with troops to his assistance within five months. No sooner
had he shut himself up in Sardis, and dismissed his mercenaries,
depending upon his own forces until assistance should come from his
allies, than Cyrus advanced against him so swiftly that there was no
escape from a battle. Croesus, believing in his fortune, and trusting
to the excellence of his cavalry, boldly took the field; but Cyrus,
using stratagem where perhaps courage would not have availed, put his
camels in front of his line, and massed his own horsemen behind them.
The horses of Croesus, maddened by the unaccustomed smell of the
camels, refused to advance; but the Lydians, dismounting, fought so
bravely on foot with their spears, that it was not until after a long
and fierce combat that they were forced to retreat and seek safety
within the walls of Sardis. The army of Cyrus invested the city, but
it was so strongly fortified on all sides but one as to be impregnable
by assault and the side left unprotected by art was supposed to be
amply protected by nature, since it abutted on the very edge of a
steep precipice. But, after the siege had lasted fourteen days, a
Persian sentinel saw one of the garrison descend the precipice to
recover his helmet that had rolled down; and no sooner had he thus
unwittingly showed the way, than the sentinel followed with a number
of his fellow-soldiers and, reaching the top of the cliff in safety,
attacked the guards, all unsuspicious, and gained an entrance to the
city. The gates were opened to the Persians, and Croesus with all his
va