Divine justice
...py until he is dead. "But mark this: until he is dead, keep the word 'happy' in reserve."(Histories Bk 1 Ch 32) In Solon's opinion, man cannot be truly happy until he is dead because "…God is envious of human prosperity and likes to trouble us"(Histories Bk 1 Ch 32) In other words, God strikes down those who are too rich and successful. That is why Croesus did not get the response that he wanted to hear - that he, Croesus was the happiest person Solon had ever seen. Solon expounds upon his views when he says, "Great wealth can make a man no happier than moderate means, unless he has the luck to continue in prosperity to the end."(Histories Bk 1 Ch 32) In a nutshell, Herodotus, through the character of Solon, is saying that divine justice strikes those that are too lucky. Therefore, until he is dead, no man can be called happy. Solon's views are confirmed a few pages later. "After Solon's departure nemesis fell upon Croesus, presumably because God was angry with him for supposing himself the happiest of men."(Histories Bk 1 Ch 34) Why did Croesus consider himself the happiest of men? Because he was rich and powerful, exactly the combination that God hates. Here the reader can see divine justice in action, as God strikes down Atys, the son of Croesus. Croesus himself can see the reason why Atys was killed, as he tells Adrastus, the actual murderer of his son, "Some god is to blame - some god who long ago warned me of what was to happen."(Histories Bk 1 Ch 45) Croesus, however, has not learned his lesson. He remains as greedy and ambitious as before. He first attempts to placate the gods with a huge sacrifice. However, he is merely trying to influence them so he can invade Persia. He receives favorable answers to his questions of the oracle, or so he thinks. In reality, because Croesus has not repented, the gods still have evil in store for him. He fails to recognize the ambiguous nature of the oracle's answers. Thus, he foolishly invades Persia, and is defeated. Croesus did indeed destroy a mighty empire when he invaded Persia - he destroyed his own. Thus Solon's views on divine justice are fulfilled, as Croesus; the gods destroy the powerful King of Lydia. Contrasting with Herodotus's views on divine justice are those views expressed by Aeschylus in The Oresteia. The justice presented by Aeschylus is not the justice of Solon, where God strikes down the powerful. Rather, it a sort of retributive justice, as the gods attempt to close the circle of violence that has engulfed the House of Atreus. At its heart, The Oresteia is about the inadequacy of the old system of justice, which called for kin to avenge their relatives. The trilogy shows the transformation of justice, as it moves from the old system under old deities to the new system, the Court of the Areopagus, under a new deity, Athene. At the beginning of The Oresteia the old system of justice is firmly in place. Murder still demands blood vengeance, and there is a murder that has not been avenged, Atreus's murder of the children of Thyestes. In the view of Aegisthus, it is his duty to avenge that murder. He does so by plotting the death of the son of Atreus, Agamemnon. When Agamemnon finally dies at the hand of Clytaemestra, the sin of Atreus is apparently avenged. However, the murder of Agamemnon is merely another step in the cycle of violence. The murder of Agamemnon, justified or not, calls out for vengeance. Revenge falls on the shoulders of the son of Agamemnon, Orestes. However, now the current system of justice begins to become inadequate. Is it justifiable to murder one's kin to avenge one's kin? Orestes is faced with this dilemma, one to which the current system of justice has no answer. ...