ntinued Solon, "that in a
festival to the goddess Juno, at Argos, their mother wished to go in a
car. As the oxen did not return in time from the fields, the youths,
fearing to be late, yoked themselves to the car, and drew their mother
to the temple, forty-five furlongs away. This filial deed gained them
the highest praise from the people, while their mother prayed the
goddess to bestow upon them the highest blessing to which mortals can
attain. After her prayer, the youths offered sacrifices, partook of the
holy banquet, and fell asleep in the temple. They never woke again! This
was the blessing of the goddess."

"What," cried Croesus, angrily, "is my happiness, then, of so little
value to you that you put me on a level with private men like these?"

"You are very rich, Croesus," answered Solon, "and are lord of many
nations. But remember that you have many days yet to live, and that any
single day in a man's life may yield events that will change all his
fortune. As to whether you are supremely happy and fortunate, then, I
have no answer to make. I cannot speak for your happiness till I know if
your life has a happy _ending_."[1]

Solon, having completed his travels, returned to Athens to find it in
turmoil. Pisistratus, a political adventurer and a favorite with the
people, had gained despotic power by a cunning trick. He wounded
himself, and declared that he had been attacked and wounded by his
political enemies. He asked, therefore, for a body-guard for his
protection. This was granted him by the popular assembly, which was
strongly on his side. With its aid he seized the Acropolis and made
himself master of the city, while his opponents were forced to fly for
their lives.

This revolutionary movement was strenuously opposed by Solon, but in
vain. Pisistratus had made himself so popular with the people that they
treated their old law-giver like a man who had lost his senses. As a
last appeal he put on his armor and placed himself before the door of
his house, as if on guard as a sentinel over the liberties of his
country! This appeal was also in vain.

"I have done my duty!" he exclaimed; "I have sustained to the best of my
power my country and the laws."

He refused to fly, saying, when asked on what he relied for protection,
"On my old age."

Pisistratus--who proved a very mild despot--left his aged opponent
unharmed, and in the next year Solon died, being then eighty years of
age.

His laws lived aft