244 HISTORY OF ART IN ANTIQUITY. Milesians to found the colony of Abydos, on the Hellespont? 1 Were not soldiers of fortune, whether Carians or lonians, bent on adventure and plunder, sure to get both while serving under his banner? 2 The good understanding was of short duration. In- tercourse with the Greeks, mayhap friendly visits to their flourishing cities, roused in the breast of a prince already master of a vast territory, and the head of a brave and well-equipped FIG. 154. View of Acropolis at Sardes, taken from the left bank of the Paclolus, opposite the temple of Cybele, CURTIUS, Beitrage, Plate VI. nation, the ambitious design of subjecting these inventive minds and energetic characters, of confiscating for his own benefit so brisk an industry and maritime commerce, along with multitudinous work- shops and harbours, all their power and riches. He first attacked, but failed to carry, the fortified cities of Smyrna and Miletus ; he was more successful before Colophon, 3 and possession of the place gave him the control of the Cayster and cut up Ionia into two halves. Gyges was indeed defeated and slain by the Cimmerians 1 Strabo, loc. cit. 2 Mention is made by Herodotus (i. 77) of the mercenaries the Mermnadae kept in their pay. 8 Herodotus, i. 15, 22, 26.
