Like Thales, among the Seven Sages, an astute observer of stars.
His writings, according to Lobon of Argos, run to two hundred lines. His statue is said to carry the following inscription:
Ionian Miletus reared Thales and made him known,
The astronomer whose wisdom is unsurpassed.
35 To his songs belong the following verses:
Numerous words do not express a sound opinion.
Seek for one thing only: that which is wise.
Choose one thing only: that which has merit.
For you will check the tongues of men whose chatter never ceases.
And the following maxims are attributed to him:
The most ancient of beings: god, for he is uncreated.
The most beautiful thing: the universe, for it is god’s creation.
The largest thing: space, for it contains all things.
The quickest thing: mind, for it runs through everything.
The strongest thing: necessity, for it masters everything.
The wisest thing: time, for it discovers everything.
Thales of Miletus, etching by Jacob de Gheyn III, 1616.Notice the tripod to the figure’s right and various measuring instruments at his feet.
36,37 He said that there was no difference between life and death. “Why, then,” someone asked, “do you not die?” “Because,” he replied, “it makes no difference.” To the man who asked which was older, night or day, he said, “Night is older, by one day.” Someone asked him whether a man who does evil escapes the gods’ notice. “No,” he replied, “nor he who thinks evil.” To the adulterer who asked whether he should deny the charge under oath he replied, “Is perjury not worse than adultery?” When asked what is difficult, he said, “To know oneself.” “What is easy?” “To advise another.” “What is most pleasant?” “To succeed.” “What is the divine?” “That which has no beginning and no end.” “What is the strangest thing you have seen?” “An elderly tyrant.” “How could one most easily bear misfortune?” “By seeing one’s enemies faring worse.” “How could we live the best and most honest lives?” “By refraining from doing that which we censure in others.” “Who is happy?” “The man who is healthy in body, resourceful in mind, and educable in nature.” He tells us to remember our friends, whether present or absent; not to embellish our appearance, but to be beautiful by our pursuits. “Do not enrich yourself dishonorably, and let no tale prejudice you against those who have shared your confidence.” “Whatever provision you make for your parents,” he said, “expect the same from your children.” He said that the Nile floods when its waters are driven back by the etesian winds,81 which blow in the opposite direction.
38 Apollodorus in his Chronology says that Thales was born in the first year of the thirty-fifth Olympiad.82 He died at the age of seventy-eight (or, as Sosicrates says, at the age of ninety). For he died in the fifty-eighth Olympiad,83 being a contemporary of Croesus, whom he undertook to take across the Halys without a bridge, when he had diverted the course of the river.84
There have been five other men named Thales, as Demetrius of Magnesia says in his Men of the Same Name: an orator from Callatia whose style was defective; a gifted painter from Sicyon; an ancient who lived at the time of Hesiod, Homer, and Lycurgus; a fourth mentioned by Duris in his work On Painting; a fifth, more recent and little known, whom Dionysius mentions in his Critical Writings.
39 The sage died from heat and thirst and weakness, at an advanced age, while viewing an athletic competition. The inscription on his tomb reads:
The tomb is small, but the man’s renown soars to the skies;
Behold the grave of Thales, the most thoughtful of mortals.
And here is my own epigram about him from the first book of my Epigrams, also entitled Pammetros:85
One day as Thales watched the games,
You snatched the sage from the stadium.
I commend you, Zeus, Lord of the Sun, for drawing him toward you;
For he could no longer see the stars from earth.
Thales Causing the River to Flow on Both Sides of the Lydian Army, by Salvatore Rosa, c. 1663–1664.
40 He was the author of “Know thyself,” which Antisthenes, in his Successions, attributes to Phemonoe,86 and which was appropriated by Chilon.
41 Of the Seven Sages—it seems proper to discuss them in general terms at this point—the following accounts are given. Damon of Cyrene, who wrote On the Philosophers, censures all the sages, but especially the Seven. Anaximenes says that they all wrote in verse. Dicaearchus says that they were neither sages nor philosophers, but clever men with a bent for legislation. Archetimus of Syracuse has described their meeting at the court of Cypselus,87 which he himself claims to have attended. Ephorus, however, says that the meeting took place at the court of Croesus, and without Thales. Some say they met at the Pan-Ionian festival,88 at Corinth, and at Delphi. And there is disagreement about their utterances, which are attributed differently by different writers, as in the following instance:89
There was a Lacedemonian sage, Chilon by name, who said,
“Nothing in excess; to all good things their proper season.”
42 There is also disagreement about their number. For Laeandrius includes, in place of Cleobulus and Myson, Leophantus, son of Gorgidas, of Lebedus or Ephesus, and Epimenides of Crete. Plato in his Protagoras includes Myson in place of Periander. Ephorus includes Anacharsis in place of Myson. And some also include Protagoras. Dicaearchus gives us four who are generally accepted: Thales, Bias, Pittacus, and Solon. He names six others, from whom he selects three: Aristodemus, Pamphylus, Chilon the Lacedemonian, Cleobulus, Anacharsis, and Periander. Some add Acusilaus of Argos, the son of Cabas or Scabras. Hermippus in his work On the Sages counts seventeen, from which various selections of seven are made: they are Solon, Thales, Pittacus, Bias, Chilon, Myson, Cleobulus, Periander, Anacharsis, Acusilaus, Epimenides, Leophantus, Pherecydes, Aristodemus, Pythagoras, Lasos son of Charantides or Sisymbrinus (or, according to Aristoxenus, of Chabrinus), a native of Hermione, and Anaxagoras. Hippobotus in his List of Philosophers includes Orpheus, Linus, Solon, Periander, Anacharsis, Cleobulus, Myson, Thales, Bias, Pittacus, Epicharmus, and Pythagoras.90
The following letters are attributed to Thales.
43,44 Thales to Pherecydes
I hear that you intend to be the first Ionian to address the Greeks about divine matters. And perhaps it was a sound decision to publish your book rather than entrust it to anyone, no matter who, which is of no use. If it would give you pleasure, I would like to correspond with you about what you have written. And if you invite me to Syros,91 I will pay you a visit. Would Solon of Athens and I be of sound mind if after sailing to Crete to pursue our inquiries there, and to Egypt to confer with the priests and astronomers there, we would not sail to you? For Solon will come too, with your leave. Fond of home as you are, you rarely visit Ionia and have no desire to meet strangers; instead you apply yourself, as I expect, solely to writing. We, on the other hand, who write nothing, make the circuit of Greece and Asia.
The Muse Urania and Thales, tempera painting by Antonio Canova, c. 1800.
Thales to Solon
If you leave Athens, it seems to me that you could most comfortably take up residence in Miletus, among colonists from your own country.92 For here you are in no danger. If you are distressed at the thought that we Milesians are ruled by a tyrant—for you abhor all dictators—you would at least enjoy the society of your friends. Bias wrote inviting you to Priene. If the city of Priene suits you better, settle there, and I myself will come and live near you.
Solon
45 Solon, son of Execestides, was a native of Salamis.93 It was he who first introduced the “shaking off of burdens”94 at Athens. This was a ransoming of persons and property. For men used to borrow money by pledging their bodies as security, and many, owing to their poverty, were serfs. He was the first to forgive a debt (of seven talents owed to his father
), and he encouraged others to do likewise. This law was called a “shaking off of burdens” for obvious reasons.
He then framed the rest of his laws, which would take too long to enumerate, and had them inscribed on revolving wooden tablets.95
46,47 But his greatest accomplishment must be recounted. Athens and Megara both laid claim to Salamis, his birthplace. And when the Athenians had suffered many defeats, they voted that anyone who again advised them to fight over Salamis should be condemned to die. Solon, feigning madness and donning a garland, rushed into the agora. There he had his elegiac poem about Salamis read to the Athenians by a herald and succeeded in rousing them. They again went to war with the Megarians and won a victory thanks to Solon. The verses that follow did most to fan the Athenians’ fury:
Would that, exchanging countries,
I were from Pholegandros or Sicinos,
Rather than from Athens. For this rumor will soon reach men’s ears:
This fellow’s from Attica; he’s one of those who betrayed Salamis.
and
Let us to Salamis, to fight for a fair isle
And shake off wretched shame.
48 He also persuaded them to acquire the Thracian Chersonese.96 And lest he be thought to have acquired Salamis merely by force and not by right, he dug up certain graves and showed that the corpses were turned eastward (in conformity with burial customs at Athens), that the tombs themselves faced eastward, and that their inscriptions bore the names of the demes of the deceased, a practice peculiar to the Athenians.97 And some say that in Homer’s Catalogue,98 after the line
Ajax brought twelve ships from Salamis,
Engraving of Solon, by Pierre-Michel Alix, after Jean-François Garnerey, 1793–1795.
Solon inserted the line
And posted them next to the Athenian phalanxes.
49 From then on the people paid heed to him and would gladly have had him rule them as a tyrant. But he declined. And perceiving beforehand the ambitions of Pisistratus99 his kinsman (according to Sosicrates), he did all he could to hinder him. Dashing into the Assembly100 with spear and shield, he warned the people of Pisistratus’ imposture; and what’s more, he declared, in these words, that he was ready to help them: “Men of Athens, I am wiser than some of you and braver than others. Wiser than those who fail to discern Pisistratus’ deception, and braver than those who, though aware of it, keep silent out of fear.” The Council, which was composed of Pisistratus’ partisans, declared that he was mad, to which he replied,
A little time will show the people my madness.
It will show it indeed, when the truth comes out.
50 These elegiac verses prove that he foretold the tyranny of Pisistratus:
From a cloud issues the force of snow and hail;
And thunder follows upon brilliant lightning;
And by mighty men a city is destroyed, and a people
Plunge unknowingly into enslavement by a tyrant.
When Pisistratus had seized power, Solon, unable to persuade the people, placed his weapons in front of the generals’ quarters. Saying, “My country, I have aided you by word and deed,” he sailed away to Egypt and to Cyprus, and reached the court of Croesus.101 And when asked by him, “Whom do you consider happy?” Solon replied, “Tellus of Athens, and Cleobis and Biton.”102 His remarks on that occasion have been repeated again and again.
51 Some say that Croesus, after arraying himself in all his finery and seating himself on his throne, asked Solon whether he had ever seen a more beautiful sight. “Yes,” Solon replied, “roosters and pheasants and peacocks, since they have been adorned with a natural brilliancy and are ten thousand times more beautiful.” After leaving that place he lived in Cilicia and founded a city that he named Soli, after himself. In it he settled some few Athenians, who in the course of time were no longer fluent in their native dialect and were said to “solecize.”103 The inhabitants of that town call themselves Solenses, those from Soli in Cyprus Solii. When he learned that Pisistratus was already reigning as tyrant, he wrote as follows to the Athenians:
Solon Before Croesus, by Nikolaus Knüpfer, c. 1650–1652.
52 If you have suffered badly through your own baseness,
Do not attribute your troubles to the gods, as if they were fated.
For you yourselves exalted these men and gave them pledges.
And that is why you endure evil servitude.
Each of you follows in the footsteps of a fox,
Yet you are all devoid of sense.
For you look to the wily words of a man,
And pay no regard to the consequences.
So spoke Solon. After he had gone into exile, Pisistratus wrote to him as follows:
53,54 Pisistratus to Solon
I was not the only man to aim at a tyranny in Greece, nor, as a descendant of Codrus,104 am I unsuited for the office. For I merely regained the privileges the Athenians swore to confer on Codrus and his family, though they later revoked them. In everything else I do no wrong in the sight of gods or men, and I permit the Athenians to manage public affairs according to the laws you framed for them. And they fare better than they would under a democracy, for I allow no one to run riot. And though I am tyrant I accord myself no undue rank or honor, but simply the privileges said to have belonged to the kings in former times. Each Athenian pays one tenth of his income, not to me but to a fund for defraying the costs of public sacrifices or any other charges the city incurs, or in the event we are faced with a war.
I do not blame you for revealing my intention; for you did so out of goodwill to the city rather than through enmity to me, and in ignorance, too, of the kind of rule I was going to establish. For had you known, you might perhaps have tolerated it and not gone into exile. Return home, then, trusting my word, though it is not given under oath, that Solon will suffer no harm from Pisistratus. Be aware that no other enemy of mine has suffered any harm. If you think fit to be one of my friends, you will be among the foremost. For I see in you nothing deceitful or untrustworthy. And if you wish to live in Athens on other terms, you will have my permission. But do not on my account deprive yourself of your country.
So wrote Pisistratus. Solon says that seventy years is the limit of man’s life.
55 He is thought to have framed excellent laws: “If a man does not support his parents, let him be disenfranchised; and likewise the man who consumes his patrimony. Let the idle man be held accountable to anyone who wishes to indict him.” Lysias, however, in his speech against Nicidas,105 says that Draco106 wrote this law; to Solon he attributes the law that bars courtesans from the tribune.107 Solon also curtailed the honors of athletes who competed in the games, setting the allowance of an Olympic victor at five hundred drachmas,108 of an Isthmian victor at one hundred, and proportionally for the others. For he thought it vulgar to increase the rewards of those men; such increases should instead be awarded only to those who had died in battle, whose sons, moreover, should be maintained and educated at public expense.
56 As a result, many citizens strove to prove themselves valiant in battle, like Polyzelus, Cynegirus, Callimachus, and all who fought at Marathon;109 or again like Harmodius and Aristogeiton,110 Miltiades, and thousands more. Athletes, on the other hand, incur great expense while training, and as victors cause trouble; they are crowned for being victorious over their country rather than over their adversaries. And when they have grown old, according to the passage of Euripides,
They go about like cloaks that have grown threadbare.111
57 Perceiving this, Solon received them without undue favor. Excellent also is the following law: the guardian of orphans may not marry their mother; and the man who comes into the estate on the death of the orphans may not be their guardian. And this one as well: an engraver of seals is not permitted to retain the imprint of a seal ring he has fashioned.112 And: if someone knocks out the eye of a man who only has one, he should have both his eyes knocked out. That which you did not
deposit, do not remove, on pain of death. A magistrate found intoxicated should be punished with death.
He decreed that at public readings of Homer the works should be recited in their proper order, so that wherever the first reader left off, there the second should begin. Solon therefore did more than Pisistratus to shed light on Homer,113 <…> as Dieuchidas says in the fifth book of his Megarian History. This rule mainly concerned the passage that begins, “Those who dwelled in Athens….”114
58 Solon was the first to name the thirtieth day of the month the Old-and-New Day.115 He was the first to institute a meeting of the nine archons116 so that they might confer among themselves, as Apollodorus says in the second book of his work On Legislators. When civil strife broke out, he sided not with those in the city, or with those of the plain, or with those of the coast.117
59,60 He used to say that speech is a reflection of action; and that the man whose power is strongest is king; and that laws are like spiderwebs: for if something light and weak falls on them they bear up against it; but under the weight of something larger they break up and are gone. He used to say that silence is the seal of speech, the opportune moment the seal of silence. He used to say that those who had influence with tyrants were like the pebbles used for calculations; for just as each pebble at times represents a larger number, at other times a smaller, so the tyrant treats each of his advisers at times as great and illustrious, at other times as worthless. When asked why he had not framed a law against parricide, he said, “In the hope that it will not happen.” Asked how the number of crimes men commit could be kept to a minimum, he said, “If the uninjured were as incensed by wrongdoing as the injured.” He also said, “Wealth breeds satiety, satiety insolence.” He required the Athenians to adopt a lunar calendar. He prohibited Thespis from producing tragedies,118 arguing that falsehood was pernicious. Thus when Pisistratus wounded himself,119 Solon said that this was what came of tragic drama. He gave men the following advice, as Apollodorus says in his work On the Philosophical Schools: Trust good character more than an oath. Do not lie. Pursue worthy goals. Be in no hurry to make friends; but once they are made, do not discard them. Command only when you have learned to be ruled. Give the best advice, not the most pleasant. Make reason your guide. Have no dealings with base men. Honor the gods. Respect your parents. They say that when Mimnermus120 had written:
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