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[2]

We are told that Croesus, on the eve of his war with Cyrus, dispatched ambassadors to Delphi to inquire by what means it would be possible for his son1 to speak; and that the Pythian priestess replied:“ O thou of Lydian stock, o'er many king,
Thou great fool Croesus, never wish to hear
Within thy halls the much-desired sound
Of thy son speaking. Better far for thee
That he remain apart; for the first words
He speaks shall be upon a luckless day.
”2

1 He was dumb from birth.

2 Hdt. 1.85 recounts that the boy first spoke on the day the Persians took Sardis.

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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