Herodotus' HISTORY BOOK 1 (CLIO) Complete

Translated by G. Macaulay.

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50. After this with great sacrifices he endeavoured to win the favour of the god at Delphi: for of all the animals that are fit for sacrifice he offered three thousand of each kind, and he heaped up couches overlaid with gold and overlaid with silver, and cups of gold, and robes of purple, and tunics, making of them a great pyre, and this he burnt up, hoping by these means the more to win over the god to the side of the Lydians: and he proclaimed to all the Lydians that every one of them should make sacrifice with that which each man had. And when he had finished the sacrifice, he melted down a vast quantity of gold, and of it he wrought half-plinths [45] making them six palms [46] in length and three in breadth, and in height one palm; and their number was one hundred and seventeen. Of these four were of pure gold [47] weighing two talents and a half [48] each, and others of gold alloyed with silver [49] weighing two talents. And he caused to be made also an image of a lion of pure gold weighing ten talents; which lion, when the temple of Delphi was being burnt down, fell from off the half-plinths, for upon these it was set, [50] and is placed now in the treasury of the Corinthians, weighing six talents and a half, for three talents and a half were melted away from it.

[45] {emiplinthia}, the plinth being supposed to be square.

[46] {exapalaiota}, the palm being about three inches, cp. ii. 149.

[47] {apephthou khrusou}, "refined gold."

[48] {triton emitalanton}: the MSS. have {tria emitalanta}, which has been corrected partly on the authority of Valla's translation.

[49] "white gold."

[50] Arranged evidently in stages, of which the highest consisted of the 4 half-plinths of pure gold, the second of 15 half-plinths, the third of 35, the fourth of 63, making 117 in all: see Stein's note.

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