Herodotus, Histories 1.47.1 · 1.47.1
On the hundredth day
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Ἐντειλάμενος δὲ τοῖσι Λυδοῖσι τάδε ἀπέπεμπε ἐς τὴν διάπειραν τῶν χρηστηρίων, ἀπʼ ἧς ἂν ἡμέρης ὁρμηθέωσι ἐκ Σαρδίων, ἀπὸ ταύτης ἡμερολογέοντας τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον ἑκατοστῇ ἡμέρῃ χρᾶσθαι τοῖσι χρηστηρίοισι, ἐπειρωτῶντας ὅ τι ποιέων τυγχάνοι ὁ Λυδῶν βασιλεὺς Κροῖσος ὁ Ἀλυάττεω· ἅσσα δʼ ἂν ἕκαστα τῶν χρηστηρίων θεσπίσῃ, συγγραψαμένους ἀναφέρειν παρʼ ἑωυτόν.
He sent the Lydians off for the test of the oracles with these instructions: from the day they set out from Sardis, they were to count the days from then on, and on the hundredth day consult the oracles, asking what Croesus son of Alyattes, king of the Lydians, happened to be doing; and whatever each oracle should prophesy, they were to write it down and bring it back to him.
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The instructions Croesus gave his messengers.
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The test is simple and clever. Every messenger counts days (<em>hēmerologeontas</em>) from leaving Sardis, and on the hundredth day, wherever they are, they all ask the same question at the same moment: what is Croesus doing right now? No messenger knows the answer, because Croesus has not told anyone. The only way to pass is to see what cannot be seen.
And they must write the answers down, <em>syngrapsamenous</em>, so that nothing can be adjusted on the road home. Herodotus the inquirer would have approved of every step: a single question, a fixed date, written records, independent witnesses. It is the most careful experiment in the book, and it is designed by the man who will misread the one answer that matters.
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