Herodotus indeed seems to discountenance the view that Gyges was ever a merchant or banker, since he describes him as serving as a guardsman αἰχμοφόρος, δορυφόρος under his predecessor Candaules[746]. But Schubert[747] is probably right in putting only a limited confidence in this part of our account of his career, which he shows to have been derived from Delphi. He even suggests[748] that Gyges had bought up Delphi before, with a view to his accession, just as Croesus endeavoured to purchase the favour of Apollo before his attempted conquest of Persia[749]. If there is any truth in this plausible suggestion, then the guardsman part of the story may well have been a half-truth emphasized to hide Gyges’ commercial antecedents, and Gyges may have secured the throne mainly through his wealth. It is true that Gyges as tyrant fought against the Cimmerians who at this time were sweeping over Asia Minor, and that later in his reign he rebelled against Assyria[750]. From time to time he invaded the Greek cities on the coast. He may even have taken military measures to secure the throne, if, as Radet argues[751], his accession meant the overthrow of a Maeonian domination and the substitution for it of a Lydian. All this however is no proof of particular militarism. The wars against the Cimmerians were defensive. The revolt from Assyria was an indirect result of the Cimmerian wars. If Gyges took the aggressive against the Greeks[752], his motive was probably commercial. He wanted “to secure for the Lydian caravans a free and sure outlet for their goods[753].” These Greek wars were seldom carried to extremes[754]. As regards the fighting by which he is said to have seized the throne, note that his troops, in part at least, were Carian mercenaries[755]. Immediately after establishing himself by these violent means Gyges “sent for his various friends and enemies. Those whom he thought would oppose him he did away with; but to the rest he gave presents and made them mercenaries[756].” [Sidenote: The ring of Gyges] A confirmation of this same view as to the origin of Gyges’ power is possibly to be found in the story of Gyges and his ring. In this famous story, as told by Plato[757], Gyges was a shepherd who discovered in the earth a magic gold ring, which gave him the power of invisibility and enabled him to enter the palace, slay the king, and procure his own accession. As happens so often when a story of the order of the _Arabian Nights_ is applied to a historical personage, the immediate problem is to discover not the origin of the story, but the points about the historical character that caused the story in question to get attached to him. We may begin by dismissing the shepherding, since Gyges belonged to an ancient and princely family[758].