When the divine answers had been brought back and
 Croesus learned of them, he was very pleased
 with the oracles. So, altogether expecting that he would destroy the kingdom
 of Cyrus , he sent once again to Delphi [22.5,38.483] (inhabited
 place), Phocis, Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Pytho and endowed the Delphians , whose number
 he had learned, with two gold staters The
 stater was the common gold coin of the Greek 
 world. The value of Croesus ' stater was probably
 about twenty-three shillings of our money. apiece. The Delphians , in return, gave Croesus and all Lydians the right of
 first consulting the oracle, exemption from all charges, the chief seats at
 festivals, and perpetual right of Delphian 
 citizenship to whoever should wish it. After his gifts to the Delphians , Croesus made a third inquiry
 of the oracle, for he wanted to use it to the full, having received true
 answers from it; and the question which he asked was whether his sovereignty
 would be of long duration. To this the Pythian 
 priestess answered as follows: “When the Medes have a mule as
 king, Just then, tender-footed Lydian , by the
 stone-strewn Hermus 
 Flee and do not stay, and do not be ashamed to be a coward.” When he heard these verses, Croesus was pleased with them above all, for he thought that a
 mule would never be king of the Medes instead of
 a man, and therefore that he and his posterity would never lose his empire.
 Then he sought very carefully to discover who the mightiest of the Greeks were, whom he should make his friends.