herodotus

41. Having thus said Crœsus went to summon Adrastos the Phrygian; andwhen he came, he addressed him thus: "Adrastos, when thou wast struckwith a grievous misfortune (with which I reproach thee not), Icleansed thee, and I have received thee into my house supplying allthy costs. Now therefore, since having first received kindness from methou art bound to requite me with kindness, I ask of thee to be theprotector of my son who goes forth to the chase, lest any evil robberscome upon you by the way to do you harm; and besides this thou toooughtest to go where thou mayest become famous by thy deeds, for itbelongs to thee as an inheritance from thy fathers so to do, andmoreover thou hast strength for it." 42. Adrastos made answer: "Oking, but for this I should not have been going to any such contest ofvalour; for first it is not fitting that one who is suffering such agreat misfortune as mine should seek the company of his fellows whoare in prosperity, and secondly I have no desire for it; and for manyreasons I should have kept myself away. But now, since thou art urgentwith me, and I ought to gratify thee (for I am bound to requite theewith kindness), I am ready to do this: expect therefore that thy son,whom thou commandest me to protect, will return home to thee unhurt,so far as his protector may avail to keep him safe." 43. When he hadmade answer to Crœsus in words like these, they afterwards set forthprovided with chosen young men and with dogs. And when they were cometo Mount Olympos, they tracked the animal; and having found it andtaken their stand round in a circle, they were hurling against ittheir spears. Then the guest, he who had been cleansed ofmanslaughter, whose name was Adrastos, hurling a spear at it missedthe boar and struck the son of Crœsus. So he being struck by thespear-point fulfilled the saying of the dream. And one ran to reportto Crœsus that which had come to pass, and having come to Sardis hesignified to him of the combat and of the fate of his son. 44. AndCrœsus was very greatly disturbed by the death of his son, and wasmuch the more moved to complaining by this, namely that his son wasslain by the man whom he had himself cleansed of manslaughter. Andbeing grievously troubled by the misfortune he called upon Zeus theCleanser, protesting to him that which he had suffered from his guest,and he called moreover upon the Protector of Suppliants[37] and theGuardian of Friendship,[38] naming still the same god, and callingupon him as the Protector of Suppliants because when he received theguest into his house he had been fostering ignorantly the slayer ofhis son, and as the Guardian of Friendship because having sent him asa protector he had found him the worst of foes. 45. After this theLydians came bearing the corpse, and behind it followed the slayer:and he taking his stand before the corpse delivered himself up toCrœsus, holding forth his hands and bidding the king slay him over thecorpse, speaking of his former misfortune and saying that in addition