Lydians

As time went on, Croesus subjugated almost all the nations west of the Halys;

since among the Lydians and most of the foreign peoples it is felt as a great shame that even a man be seen naked.

For when the Lydians took exception to what was done to Candaules, and took up arms, the faction of Gyges came to an agreement with the rest of the people that if the oracle should ordain him king of the Lydians, then he would reign;

It would be much work to go through all who have perished through luxury — the Lydians of old, the Medes, the Assyrians before them, last of all the Macedonians;

Who would ever have hoped that a barber would rule the Indians, that a shepherd would be king of the Lydians, that a woman would lead Asia?

For instance, both the Indian and the Spartan feel pain when wounded or burned, and so do the Phrygian and the Lydian;

and they no longer had any fear of either the Assyrians or the Lydians or their allies, but they feared only lest he should think that it was not of the slightest moment whether they joined him or not.

When it became known that the citadel was taken, all the Lydians immediately fled from the walls to whatever part of the city they could.

Well said Croesus on hearing these words, permit me to say to any Lydians that I meet that I have secured from you the promise not to permit any pillaging nor to allow the women and children to be carried off, and that I, in return for that, have given you my solemn promise that you should get from the Lydians of their own free will everything there is of beauty or value in Sardis.

So much was permitted to the secret Lydian woman, that Hercules was prostituted in Omphale, and Omphale in Hercules.

Ah, how far it has travelled round, from the Pelasgians to the Lydians, from the Lydians to the Romans, that from the shoulders of a loftier people it might embrace the Carthaginians!

For that matter, this fellow has nothing to do either with Boeotia or with any part of Greece at all, for I have noticed that he has both his ears bored, like a Lydian’s.