Herodotus 1.53.1-2: What were Croesus’ Instructions?

Abstract

This paper discusses Croesus’s unusual consultation of Delphi (asking a question to which he knows the answer) and his follow-up question. Because of grammatical irregularities in the latter, it is proposed to emend transmitted εἴ τινα στρατὸν ἀνδρῶν προσθέοιτο φίλον to [εἴ] τίνα <ἂν> στρατὸν ἀνδρῶν προσθέοιτο φίλον. This means that Croesus assumes (his first question) that he is to wage war against the Persians and also that he is to make an alliance. The first consultation had been crafty, the second by contrast was hasty and careless. It should be noted that Nigel Wilson’s OCT prints my conjecture in the text.