s gold from the Pactolus.

Besides these articles, there were others made, far more magnificent
and costly, for the temple itself. There was a silver cistern or tank,
large enough to hold three thousand gallons of wine. This tank was to
be used by the inhabitants of Delphi in their great festivals. There
was also a smaller cistern, or immense goblet, as it might, perhaps,
more properly be called, which was made of gold. There were also many
other smaller presents, such as basins, vases, and statues, all of
silver and gold, and of the most costly workmanship. The gold, too,
which had been taken from the fire, was cast again, a part of it being
formed into the image of a lion, and the rest into large plates of
metal for the lion to stand upon. The image was then set up upon the
plates, within the precincts of the temple.

There was one piece of statuary which Croesus presented to the
oracle at Delphi, which was, in some respects, more extraordinary than
any of the rest. It was called the bread-maker. It was an image
representing a woman, a servant in the household of Croesus, whose
business it was to bake the bread. The reason that induced Croesus
to honor this bread-maker with a statue of gold was, that on one
occasion during his childhood she had saved his life. The mother of
Croesus died when he was young, and his father married a second
time. The second wife wished to have some one of her children, instead
of Croesus, succeed to her husband's throne. In order, therefore, to
remove Croesus out of the way, she prepared some poison and gave it
to the bread-maker, instructing her to put it into the bread which
Croesus was to eat. The bread-maker received the poison and promised
to obey. But, instead of doing so, she revealed the intended murder to
Croesus, and gave the poison to the queen's own children. In
gratitude for this fidelity to him, Croesus, when he came to the
throne, caused this statue to be made, and now he placed it at Delphi,
where he supposed it would forever remain. The memory of his faithful
servant was indeed immortalized by the measure, though the statue
itself, as well as all these other treasures, in process of time
disappeared. In fact, statues of brass or of marble generally make far
more durable monuments than statues of gold; and no structure or
object of art is likely to be very permanent among mankind unless the
workmanship is worth more than the material.

Croesus did not proceed himself to