Herodotus, Histories 1.55.2 · 1.55.2

Hēmionos, "mule," is the oracle's word for a king who should be impossible, and Herodotus keeps its full meaning for later: readers will eventually learn why a king of mixed descent could be called by that name. For now the line works as prophecy in deliberately impossible clothing, since no one in the sixth century BC expected a mule to rule anybody. The verb genētai, "becomes," is subjunctive, grammatically open, which is exactly how an oracle likes to leave the future: true the moment it happens, unreadable before.

The advice that follows is blunt and oddly tender. Podabros, "soft of foot," addresses Croesus directly, and the god tells a king to run, by the polypsēphis, "pebbly," Hermus, the river that ran past Sardis itself. Two negative commands in a row, mēde menein, "do not stay," mēd' aideisthai, "do not be ashamed," strip away the values a Lydian king is supposed to have: courage, standing your ground, pride. The oracle is telling Croesus it will be fine to be a coward, which could be read as mercy or as mockery, and Herodotus leaves that choice to the reader, the same way he left the tortoise riddle open before it.

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