state may very likely have been suggested at Delphi. At any rate the offer was made and gladly accepted by the Spartan magistrates. Thus encouraged, Croesus resolved upon the invasion of Cappadocia. At first he carried all before him, but before long he was met by an army hastily raised by Cyrus. A fierce battle gave no decided result, but Croesus did not renew the struggle. He marched back to Sardis, intending to strengthen himself by means of the alliances he had made, and to renew the war in the spring with enlarged forces. On reaching Sardis he dispersed his army into winter quarters, intending to devote the season to his preparations for the next year's campaign. But Cyrus did not wait his convenience. Croesus had scarcely completed these arrangements when news came that the Persians were advancing on Sardis. He had only time to arm some of the Sardians and secure himself in the citadel, which was believed to be impregnable. But when the open town had been occupied for a short time by the enemy, the citadel was not long in sharing the same fate, and Croesus fell into the hands of the conqueror (who treated him with humanity), and the whole kingdom of Lydia was added to the dominions of the Persian king (B.C. 546).
The subjection of the Greek cities in Asia, and of the islands close to the coast, followed, in spite of a fitful resistance offered to the two Persian commanders left or sent by Cyrus to subdue them—Pactyas and Harpagus. The conquest was gradually extended to Caria and the Dorian Hexapolis, and before
