Justice In Herodotus And Aesch

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around the world when he paid a visit to Croesus, the King of Lydia. Croesus gave Solon a tour of the palace, and then asked Solon a question. "Well, my Athenian friend, I have heard a great deal about your wisdom, and how widely you have traveled in the pursuit of knowledge. I cannot resist the desire to ask you a question: who is the happiest man you have ever seen?"(Histories Bk 1 Ch 30) Solon's response to this question speaks volumes about Herodotus's opinions on divine justice. The two examples that he presents of people having true happiness have one thing in common - all of the people in them are dead. Why is this significant? It is significant because in Solon's opinion, no man can be called truly happy until he is dead. "But mark this: until he is dead, keep the word 'happy' in reserve."(Histories Bk 1 Ch 32) In Solon's opinion, man cannot be truly happy until he is dead because "…God is envious of human prosperity and likes to trouble us"(Histories Bk 1 Ch 32) In ...

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as before. He first attempts to placate the gods with a huge sacrifice. However, he is merely trying to influence them so he can invade Persia. He receives favorable answers to his questions of the oracle, or so he thinks. In reality, because Croesus has not repented, the gods still have evil in store for him. He fails to recognize the ambiguous nature of the oracle's answers. Thus, he foolishly invades Persia, and is defeated. Croesus did indeed destroy a mighty empire when he invaded Persia - he destroyed his own. Thus Solon's views on divine justice are fulfilled, as Croesus; the gods destroy the powerful King of Lydia.
Contrasting with Herodotus's views on divine justice ...

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