Herodotus, Histories 1.32.9 · 1.32.9
"Look to the end of everything"
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Solon — ὃς δʼ ἂν αὐτῶν πλεῖστα ἔχων διατελέῃ καὶ ἔπειτα τελευτήσῃ εὐχαρίστως τὸν βίον, οὗτος παρʼ ἐμοὶ τὸ οὔνομα τοῦτο ὦ βασιλεῦ δίκαιος ἐστὶ φέρεσθαι. σκοπέειν δὲ χρὴ παντὸς χρήματος τὴν τελευτήν, κῇ ἀποβήσεται· πολλοῖσι γὰρ δὴ ὑποδέξας ὄλβον ὁ θεὸς προρρίζους ἀνέτρεψε.
"Whoever of them goes on having the most and then ends his life with good grace, he, in my judgement, O king, deserves to carry off this name. One must look at the end of everything, how it will turn out; for to many the god has shown a glimpse of happiness, and then torn them up by the roots."
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The setting
Solon's last word to the king.
A note on this passage
Solon's last advice begins with a verb we have met before: <em>skopeein</em>, "to look at, to keep one's eyes on." In the Gyges story it was the old rule that "each man should look at his own" (1.8.4). Now it is "one must look at the end of every matter, how it will turn out." Herodotus's wise men are always telling people where to point their eyes.
The final image is violent and exact. The god <em>hypodexas olbon</em>, "having given a glimpse of happiness" (the verb is from the same showing-family as the proem's <em>apodexis</em>), then <em>prorrizous anetrepse</em>, "overturned them roots and all," like a tree pulled out whole in a storm. It is the kind of sentence a king does not want to hear at his own table, and in the next section Croesus sends the speaker away.
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Herodotus, Histories 1.32.9 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/herodotus/1.32.9/