When all these conquests had been added to the Lydian empire, and the
prosperity of Sardis[3] was now at its height, there came thither, one
after another, all the sages of Greece living at the time, and among
them Solon, the Athenian. He was on his travels, having left Athens to
be absent ten years, under the pretense of wishing to see the world,
but really to avoid being forced to repeal any of the laws which at
the request of the Athenians he had made for them. Without his
sanction the Athenians could not repeal them, as they had bound
themselves under a heavy curse to be governed for ten years by the
laws which should be imposed on them by Solon.
On this account, as well as to see the world, Solon set out upon his
travels, in the course of which he went to Egypt to the court of
Amasis,[4] and also paid a visit to Croesus at Sardis. Croesus
received him as his guest, and lodged him in the royal palace. On the
third or fourth day after, he bade his servants conduct Solon over his
treasuries and show him all their greatness and magnificence. When he
had seen them all, and so far as time allowed inspected them,
Croesus addrest this question to him: "Stranger of Athens, we have
heard much of thy wisdom and of thy travels through many lands, from
love of knowledge and a wish to see the world. I am curious therefore
to inquire of thee, whom of all the men that thou hast seen thou
deemest the most happy?"
This he asked because he thought himself the happiest of mortals; but
Solon answered him without flattery, according to his true sentiments,
"Tellus of Athens, sire." Full of astonishment at what he had heard
Croesus demanded sharply, "And wherefore dost thou deem Tellus
happiest?" To this the other replied: "First, because his country was
flourishing in his days, and he himself had sons both beautiful and
good, and he lived to see children born to each of them, and these
children all grew up; and further, because after a life spent in what
our people look upon as comfort, his end was surpassingly glorious. In
a battle between the Athenians and their neighbors near Eleusis, he
came to the assistance of his countrymen, routed the foe, and died
upon the field most gallantly. The Athenians gave him a public funeral
on the spot where he fell, and paid him the highest honors."
Thus did Solon admonish Croesus by the example of Tellus,
enumerating the manifold particulars of his happiness. When he had
ended, Croesus inquired a second time, who after Tellus seemed to
him the happiest, expecting that at any rate he would be given the
second place. "Cleobis and Bito," Solon answered: "they were of Argive
race; their fortune was enough for their wants, and they were besides
endowed with so much bodily strength that they had both gained prizes
at the games. Also, this tale is told of them: There was a great
festival in honor of the goddess Juno at Argos, to which their mother
must needs be taken in a car. Now, the oxen did not come home from the
field in time; so the youths, fearful of being too late, put the yoke
on their own necks, and themselves drew the car in which their mother
rode. Five and forty furlongs did they draw her, and stopt before the
temple. This deed of theirs was witnessed by the whole assembly of
worshipers, and then their life closed in the best possible way.
Herein, too, God showed forth most evidently how much better a thing
for man death is than life. For the Argive men stood thick around the
car and extolled the vast strength of the youths; and the Argive women
extolled the mother who was blest with such a pair of sons; and the
mother herself, overjoyed at the deed and at the praises it had won,
standing straight before the image, besought the goddess to bestow on
Cleobis and Bito, the sons who had so mightily honored her, the
highest blessing to which mortals can attain. Her prayer ended, they
offered sacrifice and partook of the holy banquet, after which the two
youths fell asleep in the temple. They never woke again, but so passed
from the earth. The Argives, looking on them as among the best of men,
caused statues of them to be made, which they gave to the shrine at
Delphi."
When Solon had thus assigned these youths the second place Croesus
broke in angrily, "What, stranger of Athens! is my happiness then so
utterly set at naught by thee that thou dost not even put me on a
level with private men?"
"O Croesus," replied the other, "thou askedst a question concerning
the condition of man, of one who knows that the Power above us is
full of jealousy, and fond of troubling our lot. A long life gives
one to witness much, and experience much oneself, that one would not
choose. Seventy years I regard as the limit of the life of man. In
these seventy years are contained, without reckoning intercalary
months, twenty-five thousand and two hundred days. Add an intercalary
month to every other year, that the seasons may come round at the
right time, and there will be, besides the seventy years, thirty-five
such months, making an addition of one thousand and fifty days. The
whole number of the days contained in the seventy years will thus be
twenty-six thousand two hundred and fifty, whereof not one but will
produce events unlike the rest. Hence man is wholly accident.
"For thyself, O Croesus, I see that thou art wonderfully rich, and
art the lord of many nations; but with respect to that whereon thou
questionest me, I have no answer to give, until I hear that thou hast
closed thy life happily. For assuredly he who possesses great store of
riches is no nearer happiness than he who has what suffices for his
daily needs, unless it so hap that luck attend upon him, and so he
continue in the enjoyment of all his good things to the end of life.
For many of the wealthiest men have been unfavored of fortune, and
many whose means were moderate have had excellent luck. Men of the
former class excel those of the latter but in two respects; these last
excel the former in many. The wealthy man is better able to content
his desires, and to bear up against a sudden buffet of calamity. The
other has less ability to withstand these evils (from which, however,
his good luck keeps him clear), but he enjoys all these following
blessings: he is whole of limb, a stranger to disease, free from
misfortune, happy in his children, and comely to look upon.
"If in addition to all this he ends his life well, he is of a truth
the man of whom thou art in search, the man who may rightly be termed
happy. Call him, however, until he die, not happy but fortunate.
Scarcely indeed can any man unite all these advantages: as there is no
country which contains within it all that it needs, but each while it
possesses some things lacks others, and the best country is that which
contains the most, so no single human being is complete in every
respect--something is always lacking. He who unites the greatest
number of advantages, and retaining them to the day of his death, then
dies peaceably--that man alone, sire, is in my judgment entitled to
bear the name of 'happy.' But in every matter it behooves us to mark
well the end: for oftentimes God gives men a gleam of happiness, and
then plunges them into ruin."
Such was the speech which Solon addrest to Croesus, a speech which
brought him neither largess nor honor. The king with much indifference
saw Solon depart, since the former thought that a man must be an
arrant fool who made no account of present good, but bade men always
wait and mark the end.