When the cities of the Greeks had recognised his supremacy, Crœsus is said to have been occupied with the thought how to draw into the circle of his kingdom the rich islands on the coasts—Samos, Chios, and Lesbos. Herodotus tells us that Crœsus asked Bias of Priene, who was in Sardis soon after the subjugation of the Greek cities, what was the news among the Hellenes? Bias answered that the Greeks of the islands were getting together a great army of cavalry in order to march against Sardis. When Crœsus said that he should rejoice to hear that the gods had put such thoughts in the minds of the islanders, Bias replied that the inhabitants of the islands were no less anxious to measure themselves against him in a battle by sea. At this Crœsus is said to have abandoned the preparations he was making against the islands. As a fact, Crœsus could not hide from himself that an attack upon the islands was only possible by means of the naval power of the cities on the coast. Even if these supplied ships against their countrymen in the islands, was it to be expected that they would fight vigorously against them?—was there not rather a fear that they would unite their arms with those of the islands against Lydia?
By a happy combination of war and negotiation, by vigorous attack and far-sighted concession, Crœsus had put an end to the long struggle, had subjugated the cities to his supremacy, and raised Lydia to the summit of her fame and power. If the Lydians were the sovereign nation, the Greeks were not to be a servile nation. They possessed complete municipal freedom, they had not to render service in war, they had only to pay tribute and give the Lydians and the Lydian trade as good a position in their gates and harbours as was enjoyed by their own people and their own trade. Crœsus was at pains in everything to show a favourable inclination to the Greeks. It was not merely that he worshipped their gods, and made presents to their shrines. As he had made the most costly presents to Apollo of Miletus, and Artemis of Ephesus, so he presented a golden tripod to Ismenian Apollo at Thebes. To Apollo of Delphi he gave presents as costly as those given to Apollo of Miletus; to Athene of Delphi he gave a large shield of gold; to the shrine of Amphiaraus at Thebes he gave a golden shield and a golden lance. At other times also he showed himself favourable in every way to the Greeks. When the Spartans wished to erect a golden statue to Apollo on the summit of Mount Thornax, they sent to Sardis in order to purchase the necessary gold. Crœsus gave them as much as they required.[816] A Greek merchant of Ephesus, who lent him money before his accession, Crœsus is said to have brought into the citadel, and given him permission to carry away a cart-load of gold. Alcmæon, an Athenian noble, who led the Athenians in the "sacred war" against Crissa, and conquered at Olympia with his four-horse chariot, in the year 572 B.C., supported an embassy which Crœsus sent to Delphi. In gratitude Crœsus invited him to Sardis, led him into the treasure-chamber, and allowed him to take as much gold as he pleased. Though Alcmæon was now advanced in years, and his son Megacles was in possession of the rich inheritance of Cleisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon, he is said to have placed a very free interpretation on this permission of the king. He put on a loose coat and loose half-boots; these he crammed with gold, put gold-dust in his hair, and filled his mouth with it, so that Crœsus when he saw the old man thus burdened and gilded, burst into laughter and gave him as much again as he carried.[817] In addition to this unbounded liberality Crœsus engaged Greek artists, and bestowed his favour on eminent men in the Greek cities. Miltiades of Athens, who had emigrated to the Chersonese from the tyranny of the Pisistratids, and had been taken in war against Lampsacus by the Lampsacenes, was set at liberty by the powerful interposition of Crœsus. The Greeks were not insensible to the court paid to them by Crœsus and his gold; they were grateful for his liberality to their temples. Pindar in one of his odes exclaims: "The friendly virtue of Crœsus will not be forgotten."[818]
The greatest of the Greeks, whom Crœsus saw at Sardis, was Solon of Athens.[819] Herodotus tells us, that Crœsus entertained Solon for several days in his palace, and by his servants showed him the splendour of it, the riches and the treasure-chambers, all that he possessed in precious stones, splendid robes, and treasures of art. Then in the pride of the greatness of his dominion, the splendour of his throne, the successes which he had obtained, Crœsus asked Solon, whom he, who had travelled so much in the world, considered the most fortunate of men? Solon answered, Tellus the Athenian. Tellus lived a happy life, according to human calculation; he had worthy sons and grandsons, not one of whom died in his lifetime. In his day the commonwealth was prosperous, and after a happy life he found a fortunate death; he fell in battle for his father-land, when turning the enemy to flight, and the Athenians buried him at the cost of the city, and paid him great honour. Tellus had fallen, under Solon's eye, at Eleusis against the Megarians (about 580 B.C.). Crœsus further inquired, whom Solon considered the happiest man after Tellus? Cleobis and Bito, two brothers of Argos, Solon replied. These had possessions equal to their needs, and were strong of body, so that both won the victory in the games, at one and the same time. And once at the festival of Hera, when the mother of the two young men had to go to the temple, and the oxen had not arrived, the sons placed the yoke upon their necks, and drew their mother a distance of 45 stades to the temple. The Argives assembled at the festival commended the strength of the young men; the Argive women commended the mother who had such sons. But the mother stepped before the statue of the goddess and prayed that she would give to the sons who had done their mother such honour the best reward that could be given to men. When the sacrifice had been offered and the banquet held, the young men went to sleep in the temple, and never woke again. The deed of the two sons of Cydippe was highly praised among the Greeks. Their mother was priestess of the ancient shrine of Hera near Argos. Each year the Argives celebrated a great festival in honour of their goddess, to which they marched in procession from the city to the temple, which lay in the road to Mycenæ on the height of Eubœa, at a distance of more than 40 stades from Argos. They offered a hecatomb to the goddess. The hundred victims were crowned and led in the front of the procession; the young men followed in their armour, and last of all the priestess of the temple in a car drawn by two cows; the sacrifice was followed by a banquet and games. The place of these animals was taken by Cleobis and Bito. In remembrance of the noble deed the Argives caused statues to be set up for the brothers at Delphi, and even at a later date a marble group at Argos exhibited the two youths before the chariot of their mother.[820]
Astonished at the answer of Solon, Crœsus inquired of the Greek, whether he considered the prosperity which had fallen to his (Crœsus') lot to be nothing, that he did not even place him on a level with common men. Then Solon answered: You are asking a man about the fortune of men, one who knows well that the deity is envious and destructive. In a long life a man may see much that he would fain not see, and endure much. I put the limit of man's life at 70 years. These 70 years make 25,200 days, if the intercalary months are not reckoned in. If every other year receives a month in order that the seasons, as is necessary, correspond, the seventy years allow 35 intercalary months, which make up 1050 days. Of all these 26,250 days each brings something new. Hence man is pure chance. You seem to me to be rich and the king of many men, but the question you ask I can only answer when you have brought your life to a happy end. He who has great possessions is no happier than the man who has sufficient for the day, if he do not keep his wealth till the end of life. Many wealthy men are unfortunate, and many men of moderate possessions are fortunate. Only in two respects is the wealthy but unfortunate man in advance of the man who is prosperous with less wealth. The first can satisfy his desires more and bear misfortune better; the second cannot satisfy his desires to the same degree or resist misfortune so well; but his prosperity defends him from misfortune. He is healthy, has worthy children, and is fair to look upon. If in addition to all this he ends his life well, he is worthy to be called happy. Before the end we may call no man happy; we can only say, it is well with him. That a man should attain complete prosperity is impossible; just as a country does not possess everything, but brings forth one product and is in want of another, and the land which possesses the most has the advantage, so it is with man. He does not possess everything: one thing he has, another he has not. He who possesses most to the end of life, and then brings his life to a noble end, he may with justice bear the name of happy. In everything a man must look to the issue, and many to whom the god has shown happiness he has then cast to the ground.
In the bloom and vigour of his years, conqueror of the Greek cities, victorious over the land of the coast, after bringing to completion the political aims of his forefathers, in possession of an inexhaustible treasure, at the head of a state carried to the limit of its natural frontiers, and flourishing in trade, commanding an excellent army, respected by his subjects, and lord of Asia Minor—Crœsus, in the year 560 B.C., had many reasons for counting himself a happy man, a ruler specially favoured by the gods. Like all Oriental princes he was not without a haughty confidence in his power and his success; he was in a high degree self-conscious. Solon, when he saw Sardis, was close upon his eightieth year. Grown up amid violent commotions in his city, amid the fierce strife of parties, with a deed of blood before his eyes, Solon had early had occasion to reflect on the plans and aspirations of men, on their lust of possessions and power, on the fortune allotted to them, on the punishments which though often late the gods awarded to unjust deeds. Beyond other men he had devoted his life to his fatherland, a canton of moderate extent. He had refused the position of tyrant in order to serve his country in a much more difficult position with unwearied devotion and perseverance. If by such fidelity he had succeeded in turning destruction aside from his community, and establishing a constitution which ensured order and freedom to it, this constitution, and with it the work of his life, which he had defended with the dedication of all his powers, was wrecked. If the form given by Herodotus to the conversation of Solon and Crœsus is a part of his mode of narration, and the observation on the envy of the deity a part of his view of life, Solon had nevertheless reason in his own bitter experience to tell the sovereign of Asia Minor that no one could be accounted happy before the end of life. Compared with his own fortune the lot of Cleobis and Bito, who died immediately after their glorious deed, the death of Tellus, who ended a good life by dying in victory for his country, must have appeared a fortune to be envied.
FOOTNOTES:
[778] Strabo, p. 590.
[779] Strabo, p. 620. Nicol. Damas. fragm. 62, ed. Müller. Which Magnesia is meant is not clear; Magnesia on Sipylus is more probable than the other.
[780] Herod. 1, 14. Paus. 4, 21, 3; 9, 29, 4.
[781] According to Herodotus, loc. cit. Gyges takes the city but not the citadel of Colophon; according to Athenæus (p. 256) he concluded a friendly treaty with Colophon. In Polyænus also the Colophonians remained for a long time in league with the Lydians, before Alyattes deprived them of their country by treachery; 7, 2, 2.