Herodotus, Histories 1.30.5 · 1.30.5
The death at Eleusis
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Solon — γενομένης γὰρ Ἀθηναίοισι μάχης πρὸς τοὺς ἀστυγείτονας ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι, βοηθήσας καὶ τροπὴν ποιήσας τῶν πολεμίων ἀπέθανε κάλλιστα, καί μιν Ἀθηναῖοι δημοσίῃ τε ἔθαψαν αὐτοῦ τῇ περ ἔπεσε καὶ ἐτίμησαν μεγάλως.
"For when the Athenians fought a battle against their neighbours at Eleusis, he came to help, put the enemy to flight, and died most nobly; and the Athenians buried him at public cost right where he fell and honoured him greatly."
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The setting
Solon describes Tellus's end.
A note on this passage
Tellus's death is a citizen's death. There is a border fight with the neighbours at Eleusis, a few miles from Athens; he comes to help, turns the enemy (<em>tropē</em>, the "turning" of a rout, the word behind "trophy," the marker set up where the enemy turned), and dies <em>kallista</em>, "most beautifully." The city buries him at public expense on the spot where he fell.
For Solon that is the finished shape of a blessed life: a good life, ended well, and honoured by the community afterwards. None of it could be bought. The contrast with the man listening is left unspoken. Croesus has everything except the one thing Solon counts most, and it is the one thing no one can know about a man until he is dead.
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