les to a temple,
in a car to be drawn by oxen. There happened to be some delay in
bringing the oxen, while the mother was waiting in the car. As the
oxen did not come, the young men took hold of the pole of the car
themselves, and walked off at their ease with the load, amid the
acclamations of the spectators, while their mother's heart was filled
with exultation and pride.

Croesus here interrupted the philosopher again, and expressed his
surprise that he should place private men, like those whom he had
named, who possessed no wealth, or prominence, or power, before a
monarch like him, occupying a station of such high authority and
renown, and possessing such boundless treasures.

"Croesus," replied Solon, "I see you now, indeed, at the height of
human power and grandeur. You reign supreme over many nations, and
you are in the enjoyment of unbounded affluence, and every species
of luxury and splendor. I can not, however, decide whether I am to
consider you a fortunate and happy man, until I know how all this is
to end. If we consider seventy years as the allotted period of life,
you have a large portion of your existence yet to come, and we can not
with certainty pronounce any man happy till his life is ended."

This conversation with Solon made a deep impression upon Croesus's
mind, as was afterward proved in a remarkable manner; but the
impression was not a pleasant or a salutary one. The king, however,
suppressed for the time the resentment which the presentation of
these unwelcome truths awakened within him, though he treated Solon
afterward with indifference and neglect, so that the philosopher soon
found it best to withdraw.

Croesus had two sons. One was deaf and dumb. The other was a young
man of uncommon promise, and, of course, as he only could succeed his
father in the government of the kingdom, he was naturally an object of
the king's particular attention and care. His name was Atys. He was
unmarried. He was, however, old enough to have the command of a
considerable body of troops, and he had often distinguished himself
in the Lydian campaigns. One night the king had a dream about Atys
which greatly alarmed him. He dreamed that his son was destined to die
of a wound received from the point of an iron spear. The king was made
very uneasy by this ominous dream. He determined at once to take every
precaution in his power to avert the threatened danger. He immediately
detached Atys from his command in the