The Dutch have an expression –
“Clogs to clogs in three generations.”
Clogs, of course, are all-wooden safety shoes. Worn by gardeners and hard laborers, they’d stop you from stepping on something sharp or dropping a heavy weight on your foot.
The founder of a dynasty might start in clogs on a farm. Gathering resources with thrift and industry, the dynast would wind up in a pair of leather boots. The children would be wearing leather boots, and grow the family's wealth. Then, the grandchildren would neglect to grow the family's wealth, start wearing fancier-still velvet shoes with silver buckles… and lose everything, winding up back in wooden clogs.
There’s variants of this expression across European languages, and indeed, have originated in countries that never would have heard the original Dutch.
The Chinese say fu bu guo san dai – “wealth does not pass three generations.”
***
CROESUS’S TREASURY
In 1947, in the United States, an illustrator for the Walt Disney Company turned out a new character: Scrooge McDuck.
McDuck is “the richest duck in the world” in his fictional universe. Having altogether more money than he could possibly use, he builds a “Money Bin” that’s filled with “three cubic acres” of money… a vast gigantic vault, bigger than an Olympic-sized swimming pool, filled with dollar bills and coins.
And then, Mr. McDuck goes… swimming in the money.
Well, it’s a cartoon. The animators can make McDuck do what they want him to do. The rich elderly McDuck loves to dive off a diving board into his swimming-pool full of money, splash around in it, throw the money up in the air and have it rain back down upon him.
27 centuries previous, King Croesus of Lydia did similar things.
King Croesus did not have a literal money bin; or, if he did, the historians did not record it.
But he did spend his time and energies celebrating and reveling in his immense wealth.
Here is Jack Weatherford’s History of Money again –
“Commerce created the fabulous riches of Croesus, but he and the elite families of Lydia squandered their wealth. They developed a great appetite for luxury goods, and they became mired in an escalating game of conspicuous consumption. Each family sought, for ex- ample, to build a larger tomb than the families around them. They decorated these tombs with ornate ivory and marble, and they held elaborate funerals, burying their deceased relatives with golden headbands, bracelets, and rings. Rather than generating more wealth, they were destroying the wealth that their ancestors had accumulated. The elite of Sardis used their new wealth for consumption instead of investing it in production. Ultimately, Croesus poured his wealth into the two bottomless wells of conspicuous consumption so common among kings: buildings and soldiers. He conquered and he built. Croesus used his vast wealth too conquer almost all of the Greek cities of Asia Minor, including the grand Ephesus, which he then rebuilt in even grander style.”
Weatherford perhaps has his biases; I don’t not share all of them and do not perfectly agree with him.
But indeed, it’s clear from the sources that Croesus reveled in the raw splendidness of his Kingdom.
***
THE CUSTOMS THAT YOUNG CYRUS WAS BORN INTO
“Most states permit their citizens to bring up their own children at their own discretion, and allow the grown men to regulate their own lives at their own will, and then they lay down certain prohibitions, for example, not to pick and steal, not to break into another man's house, not to strike a man unjustly, not to commit adultery, not to disobey the magistrate, and so forth; and on the transgressor they impose a penalty. But the Persian laws try, as it were, to steal a march on time, to make their citizens from the beginning incapable of setting their hearts on any wickedness or shameful conduct whatsoever. And this is how they set about their object.”
-- Cyropaedia: The Education of Cyrus, Xenophon
Xenophon, a contemporary of Plato’s, and a student of Socrates, was rightfully regarded as one of the greatest writers in the ancient world. The great generals and statesmen of the Roman Republic held him in much higher regard than Plato. He was popular during the Italian Renaissance and the English Enlightenment. The Founding Fathers of America held him in high regard.
He’s taken a back seat to Plato’s mysticisms and theories for… well, no good reason as far as I can tell. Plato was genuinely the better poet; everything else about Xenophon is more favorable. More life experience, more pragmatism, genuine insight into all the good and bad in human character from his time as Greek mercenary cavalry commander in the failed Persian Civil War… Xenophon was no foolish drunken mystic. He would eventually renounce Athens and marry a Spartan woman.
Xenophon’s Cyropaedia: The Education of Cyrus stands alongside Anabasis: The Calvary Commander as two of the greatest works of the ancient world. (Anbasis, being perhaps the greatest memoir of all-time, is a little better, but they’re both terrific.)
Cyrus the Great took over the world. But more surprisingly still, his subjects from many different lands and customs seemed to truly love him. He’s the only non-Jew in the Hebrew scriptures to be listed as “an anointed one” by God; he would later unify the bands of rebellious and discontented tribes into the largest empire in the world; it was perhaps the first modern empire.
The Macedonians under Alexander would eventually destroy Cyrus’s Empire, but to me, Cyrus is the more impressive – whereas Alexander’s death led to the immediate dissolution of his empire, Cyrus’s Persian Empire lasted 200 years – and laid the groundwork of a permanently thriving Persian culture.
Nor did Cyrus inherit his armies as a teenager, the way Alexander did.
No, Cyrus had a harder road to empire. Here is Xenophon on the Persian customs of the time –
“The law requires all the citizens to present themselves at certain times and seasons in their appointed places. The lads and the grown men must be there at daybreak; the elders may, as a rule, choose their own time, except on certain fixed days, when they too are expected to present themselves like the rest. Moreover, the young men are bound to sleep at night round the public buildings, with their arms at their side; only the married men among them are exempt, and need not be on duty at night unless notice has been given, though even in their case frequent absence is thought unseemly.”
“… the boys are instructed in temperance and self-restraint, and they find the utmost help towards the attainment of this virtue in the self-respecting behaviour of their elders, shown them day by day. Then they are taught to obey their rulers, and here again nothing is of greater value than the studied obedience to authority manifested by their elders everywhere. Continence in meat and drink is another branch of instruction, and they have no better aid in this than, first, the example of their elders, who never withdraw to satisfy their carnal cravings until those in authority dismiss them, and next, the rule that the boys must take their food, not with their mother but with their master, and not till the governor gives the sign. They bring from home the staple of their meal, dry bread with nasturtium for a relish, and to slake their thirst they bring a drinking-cup, to dip in the running stream. In addition, they are taught to shoot with the bow and to fling the javelin. The lads follow their studies till the age of sixteen or seventeen, and then they take their places as young men.”
After reaching early adulthood, the young men begin to go hunting with the local king or magistrate and drilling with weapons. The strict discipline of the Persian system is to be observed, hardening the young Persians into being temperate and industrious. Going on hunting parties, early adulthood reached, begin to teach the young men provisioning, camping, sanitation, and cooperation and unit cohesion.
“Moreover, these young men are also employed by the magistrates if garrison work needs to be done or if malefactors are to be tracked or robbers run down, or indeed on any errand which calls for strength of limb and fleetness of foot. Such is the life of the youth.”
The young men are promoted again, around age 30, to their roles as soldiers or magistrates. At age 50, they become city elders and serve as judges and governors.
***
CROESUS IS DELIGHTING IN HIS NEW TEMPLE
A few hundred years later, Antipater would name The Temple of Artemis the marvelous thing in the world –
“I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the Colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, 'Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand.’”
King Croesus is delighted.
Now, 2700 years later, we cannot know precisely what mix of slave labor and monetary pay they used to get the temple built. Certainly – there must have been some mix of both.
The gold, silver, and electrum from the Lydian treasury would have brought the best workmen and craftsmen to the site; the best architects, marble-workers, and finest sculptors of the day would have been employed.
Many other building projects were occurring across the Lydian sphere of power – each Lydian King, descended from that first ascendant assassin Gyges, had built greater and greater tombs for after their deaths, replete with a beautiful sarcophagus and ornaments.
King Croesus is outdoing them all – his buildings are some of the grandest and most splendid of all time. He is in near constant revelry, and rather pleased with himself.
***
CYRUS IS HARDENING
“Until he was twelve years old or more, Cyrus was brought up in the manner we have described, and showed himself to be above all his fellows in his aptitude for learning and in the noble and manly performance of every duty. But about this time, Astyages sent for his daughter and her son, desiring greatly to see him because he had heard how noble and fair he was.” – Xenophon
Persia of the day was very much a junior power in the region; nay, not really a power at all.
Media – the Medes – were more powerful than the Persians, and the Persians paid homage to the Medes. It was mostly, but not always, a friendly relationship.
The homeland of the Persians was the southern coast of modern-day Iran. Across the Persian Gulf was the Arabian peninsula, still desolate in that time. Due west was the very powerful Assyrian Babylonia, northwest was the very rich and powerful Lydia, where King Croesus was undergoing his feasting and revelry.
No, Persia was not at all a power in the region when Cyrus was born.
He was the grandson of the Median King Astyages, who had given one of his daughters to the King of Persia in friendship. Astyages hears tales that his grandson is particularly talented, and recalls him to the more-powerful Media. Xenophon –
“So it fell out that Mandane came to Astyages, bringing her son Cyrus with her. And as soon as they met, the boy, when he heard that Astyages was his mother's father, fell on his neck and kissed him without more ado, like the loving lad nature had made him, as though he had been brought up at his grandfather's side from the first and the two of them had been playmates of old. Then he looked closer and saw that the king's eyes were stencilled and his cheeks painted, and that he wore false curls after the fashion of the Medes in those days (for these adornments, and the purple robes, the tunics, the necklaces, and the bracelets, they are all Median first and last, not Persian; the Persian, as you find him at home even now-a-days, still keeps to his plainer dress and his plainer style of living.) The boy, seeing his grandfather's splendour, kept his eyes fixed on him, and cried, "Oh, mother, how beautiful my grandfather is!" Then his mother asked him which he thought the handsomer, his father or his grandfather, and he answered at once, "My father is the handsomest of all the Persians, but my grandfather much the handsomest of all the Medes I ever set eyes on, at home or abroad."”
This raises an interesting question – was Cyrus’s nature so truly loving and expansive that this was just a purehearted expression of loving sentiment… or was the boy already a masterful diplomat?
Perhaps both.
What an incredibly tactful answer to a perhaps dangerous question, no? He is asked if his father or grandfather is the more beautiful, and he answers: “My father is the most handsome of the Persians, and my grandfather is the most handsome of the Medes.”
Regardless if such sentiments came from merely his heart, or from a diplomatic sense, we can say clearly that even as a young boy, Cyrus’s mind was sharp and his thought was quick.
Cyrus thoroughly charms everyone as the Median court, and is invited by his grandfather to stay with the Medes instead of returning to Persia. Xenophon –
“Then his mother questioned the boy and asked him whether he would rather stay with his grandfather in Media, or go back home with her: and he said at once that he would rather stay. And when she went on to ask him the reason, he answered, so the story says, "Because at home I am thought to be the best of the lads at shooting and hurling the javelin, and so I think I am: but here I know I am the worst at riding, and that you may be sure, mother, annoys me exceedingly. Now if you leave me here and I learn to ride, when I am back in Persia you shall see, I promise you, that I will outdo all our gallant fellows on foot, and when I come to Media again I will try and show my grandfather that, for all his splendid cavalry, he will not have a stouter horseman than his grandson to fight his battles for him."”
It was persuasive.
“… at last his mother went home, and Cyrus stayed behind and was brought up in Media. He soon made friends with his companions and found his way to their hearts, and soon won their parents by the charm of his address and the true affection he bore their sons, so much so that when they wanted a favour from the king they bade their children ask Cyrus to arrange the matter for them. And whatever it might be, the kindliness of the lad's heart and the eagerness of his ambition made him set the greatest store on getting it done.”
***
THE ARCHON’S VISIT IS DISPLEASING TO CROESUS
King Croesus was at first delighted at the news.
“The Athenian Archon? I have heard such nice things about him!”
Solon of Athens had departed his home city after putting many of his legal reforms in place. He said some high-minded things about it, but the pragmatist viewing things from a distance must at least consider that Solon was trying to depart while his faction was in power and before things turned in the chaotic Athens.
“Archon,” of course, is the Greek word for “Ruler” – it’s the root word in democracy (“demos” = people; “-archy” = rule), as well as monarchy, aristocracy, etc.
Solon was known then for four things: for his rule as Archon, as a lawmaker, as a diplomat, and as a philosopher.
Solon had spent 10 years traveling away of Athens, visiting Egypt, Sais, and Cyprus before coming to Croesus’s capital.
Croesus is delighted. Solon is a veritable celebrity of the age.
Croesus prepares a large banquet and a tour of all the splendid things from his reign, showing the craftsmanship and wealth and luxury he has accumulated.
And, with an odd touch of insecurity and grandiosity mixed together, Croesus asks,
“Truly, Solon, am I not the happiest man in the world?”
The Athenian frowns, and says – well, he does not think so.
“Who, then, is the happiest man in the world?”
And Solon tells him about an unknown Athenian named Tellus. Tellus came from Athens, which was prosperous enough that he could fulfill his potential as a man and come into some prosperity himself. He raised a fine family, and fortune was with him – all of his children survived. His children had grandchildren, all of whom survived. Finally, when Athens was at war, Tellus took to defending Athens and died on the field of battle. A perfect life – the happiest life imaginable.
Croesus frowns.
“Well,
then, who is the second happiest man in the world?” – so asks the Lydian King, fully expecting to be named second.
But Solon, this time, tells the story of the two sons of an Athenian priestess who was to do ceremonial honors at a festival. When the oxen to pull her chariot did not arrive, the two brothers yoked themselves to her chariot and pulled her to the festival grounds.
The people of Athens celebrated this piety, this feat of strength, and the men went into the Temple and fell asleep, dying – presumably of exertion – never waking again, but having died as a model of piety and in the throes of celebration of family and nation.
Croesus is getting annoyed at all of this, and starts making points about his wealth and splendor and what not.
And Solon says –
“Count no man happy until he is dead.”
Croesus is verily annoyed at all of this Athenian nonsense, and dismisses Solon, thoroughly displeased with his time with the Archon. Solon, Croesus figures, is vastly overrated; this man is no wise philosopher.
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