gave permission to any who could find them to kill them; he then returned to his palace, where he died a few years later, about 730 B.C.  Adyattes took the name of Meles on ascending the throne, and at first reigned happily, but his father’s curse weighed upon him, and before long began to take effect.  Lydia having been laid waste by a famine, the oracle declared that, before appeasing the gods, the king must expiate the murder of the Mermnad noble, by making every atonement in his power, if need be by an exile of three years’ duration.  Meles submitted to the divine decree.  He sought out the widow of his victim, and learning that during her flight she had given birth to a son, called, like his father, Daskylos, he sent to entreat the young man to repair immediately to Sardes, that he might make amends for the murder; the youth, however, alleged that he was as yet unborn at the hour of his father’s death, and therefore not entitled to be a party to an arrangement which did not personally affect him, and refused to return to his own country.  Having failed in this attempt, Meles entrusted the regency of his kingdom to Sadyattes, son of Kadys, one of the Tylonidas, who probably had already filled the post of companion to the king for some time past, and set out for Babylon.  When the three years had elapsed, Sadyattes faithfully handed over to him the reins of government and resumed the second place.  Myrsos succeeded Meles about 716,* and his accession immediately became the cause of uneasiness to the younger Daskylos, who felt that he was no longer safe from the intrigues of the Heraclidai; he therefore quitted Phrygia and settled beyond the Italys among the White Syrians, one of whom he took in marriage, and had by her a son, whom he called Gyges, after his ancestor.  The Lydian chronicles which have come down to us make no mention of him, after the birth of this child, for nearly a quarter of a century.  We know, however, from other sources, that the country in which he took refuge had for some time past been ravaged by enemies coming from the Caucasus, known to us as the Cimmerians.**

* The lists of Eusebius give 36 years to Ardys, 14 years to Meles or Adyattes, 12 years to Myrsos, and 17 years to Candaules; that is to say, if we place the accession of Gyges in 687, the dates of the reign of Candaules are 704- 687, of that of Mysros 716-704, of that of Meles 730-716, of that of Ardys I. 766-730.  Oelzer thinks that the double names each represent a different Icing; Radet adheres to the four generations of Eusebius.

** I would gladly have treated at length the subject of the Cimmerians with its accompanying developments, but lack of space prevents me from doing more than summing up here the position I have taken.  Most modern critics have rejected that part of the tradition preserved by Herodotus which refers to the itinerary of the Cimmerians, and have confused the Cimmerian invasion with that of the Thracian tribes.  I think that