Herodotus

Solon and Croesus

from The Histories

c. 430 BC

This part of Herodotus’s History tells a famous story
of the encounter between the Lydian King Croesus, reckoned as one of the richest
men in the world, and Solon, the wise Athenian.

When all these conquests had been added to the Lydian empire, and the prosperity
of Sardis 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 pretence
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, and also came
on 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
addressed 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 heard, Croesus demanded sharply, “And wherefore dost thou deem Tellus
happiest?” To which 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 neighbours
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 honours.”

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 honour 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 stopped before the
temple. This deed of theirs was witnessed by the whole assembly of worshippers,
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, who stood around the car, extolled the vast strength of the youths; and the
Argive women extolled the mother who was blessed 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 honoured 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 more, 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 nought
by thee, that thou dost not even put me on a level with private men?”

“Oh! 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, oh! 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 unfavoured 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 end 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 behoves 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 addressed to Croesus, a speech which brought
him neither largess nor honour. The king saw him depart with much indifference,
since he 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.

After Solon had gone away a dreadful vengeance, sent of God, came upon Croesus,
to punish him, it is likely, for deeming himself the happiest of men. First he
had a dream in the night, which foreshowed him truly the evils that were about
to befall him in the person of his son. For Croesus had two sons, one blasted
by a natural defect, being deaf and dumb; the other, distinguished far above all
his co-mates in every pursuit. The name of the last was Atys. It was this son
concerning whom he dreamt a dream that he would die by the blow of an iron weapon.
When he woke, he considered earnestly with himself, and, greatly alarmed at the
dream, instantly made his son take a wife, and whereas in former years the youth
had been wont to command the Lydian forces in the field, he now would not suffer
him to accompany them. All the spears and javelins, and weapons used in the wars,
he removed out of the male apartments, and laid them in heaps in the chambers
of the women, fearing lest perhaps one of the weapons that hung against the wall
might fall and strike him.

Now it chanced that while he was making arrangements for the wedding, there
came to Sardis a man under a misfortune, who had upon him the stain of blood.
He was by race a Phrygian, and belonged to the family of the king. Presenting
himself at the palace of Croesus, he prayed to be admitted to purification according
to the customs of the country. Now the Lydian method of purifying is very nearly
the same as the Greek. Croesus granted the request, and went through all the customary
rites, after which he asked the suppliant of his birth and country, addressing
him as follows:- “Who art thou, stranger, and from what part of Phrygia fleddest
thou to take refuge at my hearth? And whom, moreover, what man or what woman,
hast thou slain?” “Oh! king,” replied the Phrygian, “I am the son of Gordias,
son of Midas. I am named Adrastus. The man I unintentionally slew was my own brother.
For this my father drove me from the land, and I lost all. Then fled I here to
thee.” “Thou art the offspring,” Croesus rejoined, “of a house friendly to mine,
and thou art come to friends. Thou shalt want for nothing so long as thou abidest
in my dominions. Bear thy misfortune as easily as thou mayest, so will it go best
with thee.” Thenceforth Adrastus lived in the palace of the king.

It chanced that at this very same time there was in the Mysian Olympus a huge
monster of a boar, which went forth often from this mountain country, and wasted
the corn-fields of the Mysians. Many a time had the Mysians collected to hunt
the beast, but instead of doing him any hurt, they came off always with some loss
to themselves. At length they sent ambassadors to Croesus, who delivered their
message to him in these words: “Oh! king, a mighty monster of a boar has appeared
in our parts, and destroys the labour of our hands. We do our best to take him,
but in vain. Now therefore we beseech thee to let thy son accompany us back, with
some chosen youths and hounds, that we may rid our country of the animal.” Such
was the tenor of their prayer.

But Croesus bethought him of his dream, and answered, “Say no more of my son
going with you; that may not be in any wise. He is but just joined in wedlock,
and is busy enough with that. I will grant you a picked band of Lydians, and all
my huntsmen and hounds; and I will charge those whom I send to use all zeal in
aiding you to rid your country of the brute.”

With this reply the Mysians were content; but the king’s son, hearing what
the prayer of the Mysians was, came suddenly in, and on the refusal of Croesus
to let him go with them, thus addressed his father: “Formerly, my father, it was
deemed the noblest and most suitable thing for me to frequent the wars and hunting-parties,
and win myself glory in them; but now thou keepest me away from both, although
thou hast never beheld in me either cowardice or lack of spirit. What face meanwhile
must I wear as I walk to the forum or return from it? What must the citizens,
what must my young bride think of me? What sort of man will she suppose her husband
to be? Either, therefore, let me go to the chase of this boar, or give me a reason
why it is best for me to do according to thy wishes.”

Then Croesus answered, “My son, it is not because I have seen in thee either
cowardice or aught else which has displeased me that I keep thee back; but because
a vision which came before me in a dream as I slept, warned me that thou wert
doomed to die young, pierced by an iron weapon. It was this which first led me
to hasten on thy wedding, and now it hinders me from sending thee upon this enterprise.
Fain would I keep watch over thee, if by any means I may cheat fate of thee during
my own lifetime. For thou art the one and only son that I possess; the other,
whose hearing is destroyed, I regard as if he were not.”

“Ah! father,” returned the youth, “I blame thee not for keeping watch over
me after a dream so terrible; but if thou mistakest, if thou dost not apprehend
the dream aright, ’tis no blame for me to show thee wherein thou errest. Now the
dream, thou saidst thyself, foretold that I should die stricken by an iron weapon.
But what hands has a boar to strike with? What iron weapon does he wield? Yet
this is what thou fearest for me. Had the dream said that I should die pierced
by a tusk, then thou hadst done well to keep me away; but it said a weapon. Now
here we do not combat men, but a wild animal. I pray thee, therefore, let me go
with them.”

“There thou hast me, my son,” said Croesus, “thy interpretation is better than
mine. I yield to it, and change my mind, and consent to let thee go.”

Then the king sent for Adrastus, the Phrygian, and said to him, “Adrastus,
when thou wert smitten with the rod of affliction- no reproach, my friend- I purified
thee, and have taken thee to live with me in my palace, and have been at every
charge. Now, therefore, it behoves thee to requite the good offices which thou
hast received at my hands by consenting to go with my son on this hunting party,
and to watch over him, if perchance you should be attacked upon the road by some
band of daring robbers. Even apart from this, it were right for thee to go where
thou mayest make thyself famous by noble deeds. They are the heritage of thy family,
and thou too art so stalwart and strong.”

Adrastus answered, “Except for thy request, Oh! king, I would rather have kept
away from this hunt; for methinks it ill beseems a man under a misfortune such
as mine to consort with his happier compeers; and besides, I have no heart to
it. On many grounds I had stayed behind; but, as thou urgest it, and I am bound
to pleasure thee (for truly it does behove me to requite thy good offices), I
am content to do as thou wishest. For thy son, whom thou givest into my charge,
be sure thou shalt receive him back safe and sound, so far as depends upon a guardian’s
carefulness.”

Thus assured, Croesus let them depart, accompanied by a band of picked youths,
and well provided with dogs of chase. When they reached Olympus, they scattered
in quest of the animal; he was soon found, and the hunters, drawing round him
in a circle, hurled their weapons at him. Then the stranger, the man who had been
purified of blood, whose name was Adrastus, he also hurled his spear at the boar,
but missed his aim, and struck Atys. Thus was the son of Croesus slain by the
point of an iron weapon, and the warning of the vision was fulfilled. Then one
ran to Sardis to bear the tidings to the king, and he came and informed him of
the combat and of the fate that had befallen his son.

If it was a heavy blow to the father to learn that his child was dead, it yet
more strongly affected him to think that the very man whom he himself once purified
had done the deed. In the violence of his grief he called aloud on Jupiter Catharsius
to be a witness of what he had suffered at the stranger’s hands. Afterwards he
invoked the same god as Jupiter Ephistius and Hetaereus- using the one term because
he had unwittingly harboured in his house the man who had now slain his son; and
the other, because the stranger, who had been sent as his child’s guardian, had
turned out his most cruel enemy.

Presently the Lydians arrived, bearing the body of the youth, and behind them
followed the homicide. He took his stand in front of the corse, and, stretching
forth his hands to Croesus, delivered himself into his power with earnest entreaties
that he would sacrifice him upon the body of his son- “his former misfortune was
burthen enough; now that he had added to it a second, and had brought ruin on
the man who purified him, he could not bear to live.” Then Croesus, when he heard
these words, was moved with pity towards Adrastus, notwithstanding the bitterness
of his own calamity; and so he answered, “Enough, my friend; I have all the revenge
that I require, since thou givest sentence of death against thyself. But in sooth
it is not thou who hast injured me, except so far as thou hast unwittingly dealt
the blow. Some god is the author of my misfortune, and I was forewarned of it
a long time ago.” Croesus after this buried the body of his son, with such honours
as befitted the occasion. Adrastus, son of Gordias, son of Midas, the destroyer
of his brother in time past, the destroyer now of his purifier, regarding himself
as the most unfortunate wretch whom he had ever known, so soon as all was quiet
about the place, slew himself upon the tomb. Croesus, bereft of his son, gave
himself up to mourning for two full years.

At the end of this time the grief of Croesus was interrupted by intelligence
from abroad. He learnt that Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, had destroyed the empire
of Astyages, the son of Cyaxares; and that the Persians were becoming daily more
powerful. This led him to consider with himself whether it were possible to check
the growing power of that people before it came to a head. With this design he
resolved to make instant trial of the several oracles in Greece, and of the one
in Libya. So he sent his messengers in different directions, some to Delphi, some
to Abae in Phocis, and some to Dodona; others to the oracle of Amphiaraus; others
to that of Trophonius; others, again, to Branchidae in Milesia. These were the
Greek oracles which he consulted. To Libya he sent another embassy, to consult
the oracle of Ammon. These messengers were sent to test the knowledge of the oracles,
that, if they were found really to return true answers, he might send a second
time, and inquire if he ought to attack the Persians.

The messengers who were despatched to make trial of the oracles were given
the following instructions: they were to keep count of the days from the time
of their leaving Sardis, and, reckoning from that date, on the hundredth day they
were to consult the oracles, and to inquire of them what Croesus the son of Alyattes,
king of Lydia, was doing at that moment. The answers given them were to be taken
down in writing, and brought back to him. None of the replies remain on record
except that of the oracle at Delphi. There, the moment that the Lydians entered
the sanctuary, and before they put their questions, the Pythoness thus answered
them in hexameter verse:-

I can count the sands, and I can measure the ocean;
I have ears for the silent, and know what the dumb man meaneth;
Lo! on my sense there striketh the smell of a shell-covered tortoise,
Boiling now on a fire, with the flesh of a lamb, in a cauldron–
Brass is the vessel below, and brass the cover above it.

These words the Lydians wrote down at the mouth of the Pythoness as she prophesied,
and then set off on their return to Sardis. When all the messengers had come back
with the answers which they had received, Croesus undid the rolls, and read what
was written in each. Only one approved itself to him, that of the Delphic oracle.
This he had no sooner heard than he instantly made an act of adoration, and accepted
it as true, declaring that the Delphic was the only really oracular shrine, the
only one that had discovered in what way he was in fact employed. For on the departure
of his messengers he had set himself to think what was most impossible for any
one to conceive of his doing, and then, waiting till the day agreed on came, he
acted as he had determined. He took a tortoise and a lamb, and cutting them in
pieces with his own hands, boiled them both together in a brazen cauldron, covered
over with a lid which was also of brass.

Such then was the answer returned to Croesus from Delphi. What the answer was
which the Lydians who went to the shrine of Amphiarans and performed the customary
rites obtained of the oracle there, I have it not in my power to mention, for
there is no record of it. All that is known is that Croesus believed himself to
have found there also an oracle which spoke the truth.

After this Croesus, having resolved to propitiate the Delphic god with a magnificent
sacrifice, offered up three thousand of every kind of sacrificial beast, and besides
made a huge pile, and placed upon it couches coated with silver and with gold,
and golden goblets, and robes and vests of purple; all which he burnt in the hope
of thereby making himself more secure of the favour of the god. Further he issued
his orders to all the people of the land to offer a sacrifice according to their
means. When the sacrifice was ended, the king melted down a vast quantity of gold,
and ran it into ingots, making them six palms long, three palms broad, and one
palm in thickness. The number of ingots was a hundred and seventeen, four being
of refined gold, in weight two talents and a half; the others of pale gold, and
in weight two talents. He also caused a statue of a lion to be made in refined
gold, the weight of which was ten talents. At the time when the temple of Delphi
was burnt to the ground, this lion fell from the ingots on which it was placed;
it now stands in the Corinthian treasury, and weighs only six talents and a half,
having lost three talents and a half by the fire.

On the completion of these works Croesus sent them away to Delphi, and with
them two bowls of an enormous size, one of gold, the other of silver, which used
to stand, the latter upon the right, the former upon the left, as one entered
the temple. They too were moved at the time of the fire; and now the golden one
is in the Clazomenian treasury, and weighs eight talents and forty-two minae;
the silver one stands in the corner of the ante-chapel, and holds six hundred
amphorae. This is known because the Delphians fill it at the time of the Theophania.
It is said by the Delphians to be a work of Theodore the Samian, and I think that
they say true, for assuredly it is the work of no common artist. Croesus sent
also four silver casks, which are in the Corinthian treasury, and two lustral
vases, a golden and a silver one. On the former is inscribed the name of the Lacedaemonians,
and they claim it as a gift of theirs, but wrongly, since it was really given
by Croesus. The inscription upon it was cut by a Delphian, who wished to pleasure
the Lacedaemonians. His name is known to me, but I forbear to mention it. The
boy, through whose hand the water runs, is (I confess) a Lacedaemonian gift, but
they did not give either of the lustral vases. Besides these various offerings,
Croesus sent to Delphi many others of less account, among the rest a number of
round silver basins. Also he dedicated a female figure in gold, three cubits high,
which is said by the Delphians to be the statue of his baking-woman; and further,
he presented the necklace and the girdles of his wife.

These were the offerings sent by Croesus to Delphi. To the shrine of Amphiaraus,
with whose valour and misfortune he was acquainted, he sent a shield entirely
of gold, and a spear, also of solid gold, both head and shaft. They were still
existing in my day at Thebes, laid up in the temple of Ismenian Apollo.

The messengers who had the charge of conveying these treasures to the shrines,
received instructions to ask the oracles whether Croesus should go to war with
the Persians and if so, whether he should strengthen himself by the forces of
an ally. Accordingly, when they had reached their destinations and presented the
gifts, they proceeded to consult the oracles in the following terms:- “Croesus,
of Lydia and other countries, believing that these are the only real oracles in
all the world, has sent you such presents as your discoveries deserved, and now
inquires of you whether he shall go to war with the Persians, and if so, whether
he shall strengthen himself by the forces of a confederate.” Both the oracles
agreed in the tenor of their reply, which was in each case a prophecy that if
Croesus attacked the Persians, he would destroy a mighty empire, and a recommendation
to him to look and see who were the most powerful of the Greeks, and to make alliance
with them.

At the receipt of these oracular replies Croesus was overjoyed, and feeling
sure now that he would destroy the empire of the Persians, he sent once more to
Pytho, and presented to the Delphians, the number of whom he had ascertained,
two gold staters apiece. In return for this the Delphians granted to Croesus and
the Lydians the privilege of precedency in consulting the oracle, exemption from
all charges, the most honourable seat at the festivals, and the perpetual right
of becoming at pleasure citizens of their town.

After sending these presents to the Delphians, Croesus a third time consulted
the oracle, for having once proved its truthfulness, he wished to make constant
use of it. The question whereto he now desired an answer was- “Whether his kingdom
would be of long duration?” The following was the reply of the Pythoness:–

Wait till the time shall come when a mule is monarch of Media;
Then, thou delicate Lydian, away to the pebbles of Hermus;
Haste, oh! haste thee away, nor blush to behave like a coward.

Of all the answers that had reached him, this pleased him far the best, for
it seemed incredible that a mule should ever come to be king of the Medes, and
so he concluded that the sovereignty would never depart from himself or his seed
after him. Afterwards he turned his thoughts to the alliance which he had been
recommended to contract, and sought to ascertain by inquiry which was the most
powerful of the Grecian states.