ver the countries around them. The name of Croesus's
father, who was the monarch that immediately preceded him, was
Alyattes. Alyattes waged war toward the southward, into the
territories of the city of Miletus. He made annual incursions into the
country of the Milesians for plunder, always taking care, however,
while he seized all the movable property that he could find, to leave
the villages and towns, and all the hamlets of the laborers without
injury. The reason for this was, that he did not wish to drive away
the population, but to encourage them to remain and cultivate their
lands, so that there might be new flocks and herds, and new stores of
corn, and fruit, and wine, for him to plunder from in succeeding
years. At last, on one of these marauding excursions, some fires which
were accidentally set in a field spread into a neighboring town, and
destroyed, among other buildings, a temple consecrated to Minerva.
After this, Alyattes found himself quite unsuccessful in all his
expeditions and campaigns. He sent to a famous oracle to ask the
reason.

"You can expect no more success," replied the oracle, "until you
rebuild the temple that you have destroyed."

But how could he rebuild the temple? The site was in the enemy's
country. His men could not build an edifice and defend themselves, at
the same time, from the attacks of their foes. He concluded to demand
a truce of the Milesians until the reconstruction should be completed,
and he sent embassadors to Miletus, accordingly, to make the proposal.

The proposition for a truce resulted in a permanent peace, by means
of a very singular stratagem which Thrasybulus, the king of Miletus,
practiced upon Alyattes. It seems that Alyattes supposed that
Thrasybulus had been reduced to great distress by the loss and
destruction of provisions and stores in various parts of the country,
and that he would soon be forced to yield up his kingdom. This was,
in fact, the case; but Thrasybulus determined to disguise his real
condition, and to destroy, by an artifice, all the hopes which
Alyattes had formed from the supposed scarcity in the city. When the
herald whom Alyattes sent to Miletus was about to arrive, Thrasybulus
collected all the corn, and grain, and other provisions which he could
command, and had them heaped up in a public part of the city, where
the herald was to be received, so as to present indications of the
most ample abundance of food. He collected a large body o