THE FORTUNE OF CRG@SUS. 85

As Croesus lay in fetters on the already kindled
pile and thought of this terrible ending to his
boasted happiness, he groaned bitterly, and cried in
tones of anguish, “Solon! Solon! Solon!”

“What does he mean?” asked Cyrus of the in-
terpreters. They questioned Creesus, and learned
from him what Solon had said. Cyrus heard this
story not without alarm. His own life was yet to
end; might not a like fate come to him? He
ordered that the fire should be extinguished, but
would have been too late had not a timely down-
pour of rain just then come to the aid of the captive
king,—sent by Apollo, in gratitude for the gifts to
his temple, suggests Herodotus. Crcesus was after-
wards made the confidential friend and adviser of
the Persian king, whose dominions, through this
victory, had been extended over the whole Lydian
empire, and now reached to the ocean outposts of
Greece.