- Mar 2014
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gap2.alexandriaarchive.org gap2.alexandriaarchive.org
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1.30. Croesus has Solon come to Sardis. Croesus expects Solon to be enthralled by what he sees and thus would tell Croesus that indeed he is the luckiest man of all. However, Solon explains to Croesus that to be the happiest man of all time, he would have to die a happy man since living jeopardizes one's potential to downfall. The story of Cleobis and Biton is then explained to Croesus and how they can be conceived as being the happiest men to ever live. There seems to a moral agenda to the Histories that explains a simple life is a good life. We see this later on how luxury and things that are associated with luxury makes a people soft. It seems the best life to live is a simple good 'ole country life and to work hard.
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- Feb 2014
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gap2.alexandriaarchive.org gap2.alexandriaarchive.org
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Solon said, “Tellus was from a prosperous city, and his children were good and noble
1.30. Solon explains why he chose Tellus.
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Croesus was amazed at what he had said and replied sharply, “In what way do you judge Tellus to be the most fortunate?”
1.30. Croesus is unhappy with Solon's answer and asks for clarification.
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Solon, offering no flattery but keeping to the truth, said, “O King, it is Tellus the Athenian.”
1.30. Solon replies by citing an unknown Athenian.
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Croesus found the opportunity to say, “My Athenian guest, we have heard a lot about you because of your wisdom and of your wanderings, how as one who loves learning you have traveled much of the world for the sake of seeing it, so now I desire to ask you who is the most fortunate man you have seen.”
1.30. Croesus asks Solon who the most fortunate man he has seen is, expecting the answer to be "You, Croesus".
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Solon went to visit Amasis in Egypt and then to Croesus in Sardis
1.30. Solon visits Amasis and Croesus, while staying away from Athens while his laws are implemented. The story is certainly apocryphal, since Solon was archon at Athens as a mature man in the early 6th c. and this meeting would have had to take place at least 40 years later.
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