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The story goes that Solon at Croesus's desire came to Sardis, and there felt much like a continental when he goes down to the seaside for the first time; for he thinks each river he comes to must be the sea, and so Solon, as he walked through the court and saw many of the courtiers richly attired and each of them swaggering about with a train of attendants and body-guards, thought that each one must be the king, until he was brought before the king himself, who, as far as precious stones, richly dyed clothes, and cunningly worked gold could adorn him, was splendid and admirable, indeed a grand and gorgeous spectacle to behold.
After this, he was dismissed, having given Croesus some pain, but no instruction. Aesop, who wrote the fables, being then at Sardis upon Croesus's invitation, and very much esteemed, was concerned that Solon was so ill-received, and gave him this advice: "Solon, let your converse with kings be either short or seasonable." "Nay, rather," replied Solon, "either short or reasonable."
Return of the messengers. The replies. Croesus decides in favor of Delphi. His costly gifts. The silver tank. The golden lion. The bread-maker. Her history. The oracle questioned. The response. Delight of Croesus. Supplementary inquiry. Croesus's feeling of security. Nature of the oracles. Means by which the credit of the oracles was sustained. Whether the priests were impostors.
I am perfectly aware that there is no more difference between my house and Croesus's, than there is in two ten dollar bills of the same bank. He might live in my house and I in his, without any confusion. He has the same curtains, carpets, chairs, tables, Venuses, Apollos, busts, vases, etc. And he goes into his room, and thinks it's all a devilish bore, just as I do.
Here, too, on the frontier, was a monument which had been erected by Croesus, the great king of Lydia, who lived in Cyrus's day, to mark the eastern boundaries of his kingdom. The Persians were, of course, much interested in looking upon this ancient landmark, which designated not only the eastern limit of Croesus's empire, but also what was, in ancient times, the western limit of their own.
About oracles, friend, the less said the better; I shall ask you to choose your instances, you see. Will Apollo's answer to the Lydian suit you? That was as symmetrical as a double-edged knife; or say, it faced both ways, like those Hermae which are made double, alike whether you look at front or back. Consider; will Croesus's passage of the Halys destroy his own realm, or Cyrus's?
After this, he was dismissed, having given Croesus some pain, but no instruction. Aesop, who wrote the fables, being then at Sardis upon Croesus's invitation, and very much esteemed, was concerned that Solon was so ill- received, and gave him this advice: "Solon, let your converse with kings be either short or seasonable." "Nay, rather," replied Solon, "either short or reasonable."
"What do you mean, my dear?" "Why, everybody is building above us, and there are actually shops in the next street. Singe, the pastry-cook, has hired Mrs. Croesus's old house." "I know it. Old Croesus told me so some time ago; and he said how sorry he was to go.
By a thousand tangible and visible associations they are still, with a peculiar sense of actuality, near to all they love." Polly would call it a sentimental whim if she could take Mrs. Croesus's advice before she spoke of it but what then? When I was fifteen, I fell desperately in love with Lucy Lamb. "Pooh, pooh," said my father, "you are romantic, it's til a whim of yours."
Qui facit per alium facit per se, and when the back-kitchen fire is lighted on Croesus's behalf, it is Croesus who lights it, though he is all the time fast asleep in bed. Sometimes things do not go smoothly. Suppose the kitchen-maid to be taken with fits just before dinner-time; there will be a reverberating echo of disturbance throughout the whole organisation of the palace.
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