CROESUS. B.C. 718-545 The wealth of Croesus.--The Mermnadae.--Origin of the Mermnadean dynasty.--Candaules and Gyges.--Infamous proposal of Candaules.--Remonstrance of Gyges.--Nyssia's suppressed indignation.--She sends for Gyges.--Candaules is assassinated.--Gyges succeeds.--The Lydian power extended.--The wars of Alyattes.--Destruction of Minerva's temple.--Stratagem of Thrasybulus--Success of the stratagem.--A treaty of peace concluded.--Story of Arion and the dolphin.--The alternative.--Arion leaps into the sea.--He is preserved by a dolphin.--Death of Alyattes.--Succession of Croesus.--Plans of Croesus for subjugating the islands.--The golden sands of the Pactolus.--The story of Midas.--Wealth and renown of Croesus.--Visit of Solon.--Croesus and Solon.--What constitutes happiness.--Cleobis and Bito.--Croesus displeased with Solon.--Solon treated with neglect.--The two sons of Croesus.--The king's dream.--Arrival of Adrastus.--The wild boar.--Precautions of Croesus.--Remonstrance of Atys.--Explanation of Croesus.--Atys joins the expedition.--He is killed by Adrastus.--Anguish of Adrastus.--Burial of Atys.--Adrastus kills himself.--Grief of Croesus. The scene of our narrative must now be changed, for a time, from Persia and Media, in the East, to Asia Minor, in the West, where the great Croesus, originally King of Lydia, was at this time gradually extending his empire along the shores of the AEgean Sea. The name of Croesus is associated in the minds of men with the idea of boundless wealth, the phrase "as rich as Croesus" having been a common proverb in all the modern languages of Europe for many centuries. It was to this Croesus, king of Lydia, whose story we are about to relate, that the proverb alludes. The country of Lydia, over which this famous sovereign originally ruled, was in the western part of Asia Minor, bordering on the AEgean Sea. Croesus himself belonged to a dynasty, or race of kings, called the Mermnadae. The founder of this line was Gyges, who displaced the dynasty which preceded him and established his own by a revolution effected in a very remarkable manner. The circumstances were as follows: