Great Books Ep 106. Herodotus - The History - Book 1 (Clio), Part 1. On the Fragility of Success

One can truly assess whether a person was happy or successful only after their death, not by the peaks of their glory.

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“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.”

~ ‘The History’ by Herodotus (George Rawlinson translation. GB6 - p. 8)

Brief Summary (Section 1 - 91)

The book starts with Herodotus stating his purpose - that he is recording great deeds done by the Greeks and the Barbarians (non-Greeks) after doing a lot of research. He also says that he is recording things as a neutral party by presenting views from both sides.

1 - The Beginning of the East-West Conflict

It all began as a tit-for-tat kidnapping of beautiful women. The first was the abduction of Io by the Phoenicians, who then took her to Egypt. Then, at a later period, Greeks seized Europa, the then Phoenician King’s daughter. Later, the Greeks kidnapped Medea from Colchis. When Paris abducted Helen, the Greeks launched a major battle and destroyed Troy. The Easterners blamed the Greeks for escalating a minor thing into a major issue and thus became their mortal enemies. Here is a direct quote -

The Asiatics, when the Greeks ran off with their women, never troubled themselves about the matter; but the Greeks, for the sake of a single Lacedaemonian girl, collected a vast armament, invaded Asia, and destroyed the kingdom of Priam. Henceforth they ever looked upon the Greeks as their open enemies.

Also, the Phoenicians always denied that they started the enmity by kidnapping Io. Io had voluntarily gone since she got pregnant. Herodotus refuses to take sides and decide which account is true.

2 - Gyges - The Rise of Lydia

Herodotus then talks about the rise of the Lydian empire. Lydia was ruled by the descendants of Heracles for a long time (22 generations, 500 years), but the kingdom passed to the Mermnad dynasty during the time of Candaules. Candaules was in love with his wife and besotted by her beauty (Herodotus says this as though it was a strange thing), and he forces his bodyguard Gyges to stealthily look at her naked body to show him how pretty she is. But she finds out when Gyges slips out and is outraged. The next day, she calls Gyges and gives him an ultimatum, die or kill her husband and become the King. Gyges murders Candaules and becomes the King. When people revolt, Gyges consults the oracle at Delphi, who says this was meant to be. Gyges gives a huge reward to the temple at Delphi. Gyges and his descendants expand the Lydian territory and by the time Croesus becomes the King, Lydia is the largest power in Asia.

3 - Croesus at Lydia’s peak - Solon’s visit

After Croesus becomes the King, he expands Lydia further by conquering all Greek cities except the islands. When he is at his peak, having a large kingdom and the richest man in the known world, Solon, an Athenian wise man, visits him. Croesus asks Solon who he considers as the happiest man from all his travels. Solon names a few ordinary people which upsets Croesus since he thought Solon would name him. Solon says unless a man is dead, one can never say anything definitively since fortunes change. Soon after Solon leaves, misfortune strikes, and Croesus loses his able son Atys (the other son is deaf and mute) in an accident. Croesus, in fact, sees a dream that his son will die with a metal weapon and tries to prevent it by removing all weapons and not allowing Atys to go on battles. But during a boar hunt, Atys gets killed by a spear aimed at the boar by Adrastus, whom his father has sent to protect him.

When Croesus hears about the expansion of the Persian rule, he wonders if he should attack them or not. He wants to find out which oracle is the best to enquire and does a test. The oracle at Delphi passes the test. When he asks whether he should attack Persia or not, he gets a message that if he attacks, he would destroy a mighty empire and that he should get help from his neighboring rulers. He mistakenly thinks that Persia is the mighty empire referred to when actually it was the Lydian empire.

4 - Athens and Sparta

When Croesus is seeking to reach out for support to the island states of Greece, Athens and Sparta are the most powerful. Pisistratus has risen to power in Athens, using trickery and deception multiple times, and Athens is in constant turmoil and internal conflicts overall. But Sparta has evolved from the worst-governed state to the best due to Lycurgus’ discipline and order. So he chooses Sparta to help him.

5 - Croesus’ Defeat - The Fall of Sardis

In spite of the warnings not to go and attack the Persians, Croesus decides to go attack the Persians after they took Cappadocia, mainly to avenge his brother-in-law Astyages. The battle is indecisive, and since Cyrus doesn’t attack back the next day, Croesus goes back to Sardis and disbands the army, thinking that they will resume the war in Spring. But Cyrus comes back to fight and lays a siege on Sardis. They find a weak spot in the wall near a mountain and breach the walls. They sack the city and take Croesus hostage. Cyrus sets up a fire to burn Croesus alive. On the verge of his death, Croesus remembers what Solon had said and cries out, “Solon! Solon!”. When asked to explain, Croesus tells the story, and impressed by this, Cyrus sets him free, and he becomes an advisor to Cyrus.

My Thoughts

One of my friends who is also reading the Great Books told me about the story of Croesus and Solon sometime last year. Incidentally, when he was reading Herodotus, I was reading Sophocles’ Trachiniae, and I mentioned that the play started with a similar quote - that one cannot judge someone whether they are good until they are dead.

There is a saying among men, put forth of old, that thou canst not rightly judge whether a mortal’s lot is good or evil, ere he die.

~ ‘Trachiniae’ by Sophocles (Richard. C. Jebb translation. GB5 - p170)

Though I knew the story, reading up to this particular moment was exciting. I’ve just read 20 pages so far, but it is quite well-written, I must say. One gets a ‘Game of Thrones - Fire and Blood’ history retelling kind of vibe. But there is so much information that I doubt I can cover even the most important things in a few paragraphs. I just realized that I didn’t talk about Arion, the musician who escapes on top of a dolphin.

The book doesn’t start with the beginning of beginnings like the Adam and Eve story or the emergence of Gaia and Uranus from Chaos. It starts with a simple question of who is to blame for the enmity between the East and the West? The Greeks say that it was the kidnapping of Io, a princess of Argos, by the Phoenicians. But the Phoenicians say that Io went of her own will and that Greeks actually kidnapped princesses from the East a couple times - Europa and Medea. They didn’t make a big deal out of it. But when Paris abducted Helen, the Greeks used that as a pretext and destroyed the kingdom of Troy. So, the real cause, as per the Phoenicians, was the Greek aggression.

I liked the fact that Herodotus separates myth from reality. Io’s mythology is that she wanders into Egypt after Zeus transforms her into a heifer, and Hera sends a gadfly to annoy her (Mentioned in Aeschylus’ The Suppliant Maidens). Medea’s mythology is that she was in love with Jason, fled from her parents, and killed her brother to elope (Mentioned in Euripides’ Medea). However, everyone seems to agree that the conflict escalated multiple-fold after the Trojan War.

Back to Solon and Croesus, when he sees that the King is unhappy with what he said, Solon explains with probability how things could go wrong on any one of the days in a human’s life. He says a human life spans roughly 70 years, which he says amounts to 25,200 days without adding the intercalary months and 26,250 days after adding them (They had 360 days years and added a month every other year to keep it aligned with the seasons). You need good fortune every single day to maintain happiness, but misfortune only needs one day to destroy it. So, the probability is against a person who is living.

It is a very thought-provoking and humbling idea. Even if you are at the peak of your success today, there is no guarantee what tomorrow brings. On the other hand, if you’re down and out today, tomorrow might be better. A single day could bring the possibility of life-changing events. Think of big companies like Blockbuster, Kodak, Nokia, etc., which went bust due to technological advances that they didn’t prepare for, much like the Lydians with horses were not prepared for Persians with camels. The horses ran away when the camels came near. Also, Croesus didn’t expect Cyrus to march in winter, but he did.

So, what is the takeaway? I guess, for individuals, corporations and big countries, it is a lesson to remember that success is not permanent. Countless daily variables can impact success. One way to prepare is to acknowledge this and be more resilient to failures. That would make us more adaptable and pivot when needed. If success makes us feel invincible, it could blind us to misinterpret the dangers of the future, much like Croesus misinterpreted what the oracle said.