s to be anointed and washed. Then he drank a certain magical water,
called the water of forgetfulness, which made him forget all previous
sorrows and cares. Afterward he drank of another enchanted cup, which
contained the water of remembrance; this was to make him remember all
that should be communicated to him in the cave. He then descended the
ladder, and received within the cave the responses of the oracle.

At another of these oracles, which was situated in Attica, the magic
virtue was supposed to reside in a certain marble statue, carved in
honor of an ancient and celebrated prophet, and placed in a temple.
Whoever wished to consult this oracle must abstain from wine for three
days, and from food of every kind for twenty-four hours preceding the
application. He was then to offer a ram as a sacrifice; and afterward,
taking the skin of the ram from the carcass, he was to spread it out
before the statue and lie down upon it to sleep. The answers of the
oracle came to him in his dreams.

But to return to Croesus. He wished to ascertain, by consulting some
of these oracles, what the result of his proposed invasion of the
dominions of Cyrus would be, in case he should undertake it; and in
order to determine which of the various oracles were most worthy of
reliance, he conceived the plan of putting them all to a preliminary
test. He effected this object in the following manner:

He dispatched a number of messengers from Sardis, his capital, sending
one to each of the various oracles. He directed these messengers to
make their several journeys with all convenient dispatch; but, in
order to provide for any cases of accidental detention or delay, he
allowed them all one hundred days to reach their several places of
destination. On the hundredth day from the time of their leaving
Sardis, they were all to make applications to the oracles, and inquire
what Croesus, king of Lydia, was doing at that time. Of course he
did not tell them what he should be doing; and as the oracles
themselves could not possibly know how he was employed by any human
powers, their answers would seem to test the validity of their claims
to powers divine.

Croesus kept the reckoning of the days himself with great care, and
at the hour appointed on the hundredth day, he employed himself in
boiling the flesh of a turtle and of a lamb together in a brazen
vessel. The vessel was covered with a lid, which was also of brass. He
then awaited the return of