1.4
Still further, what Solon says to Mimnermus,Fragment 21 (Bergk). in arguing with him on the proper duration of human life, May not an unlamented death be mine, but unto friends Let me be cause, when dead, for sorrow and for sighing, argues Publicola a happy man. For when he died, his loss filled not only friends and kindred, but the entire city, numbering many tens of thousands, with weeping and yearning and sorrow. For the women of Rome mourned for him as though they had lost a son, or a brother, or a common father.
1.5
Wealth I desire to have, says Solon, but wrongfully to get it, I do not wish, See Solon, ii. 3. believing that punishment would follow. And Publicola’s wealth was not only not ill got, but also nobly spent in benefactions to the needy. So that if Solon was the wisest, Publicola was the most happy of men, since what Solon prayed for as the greatest and fairest of blessings, these Publicola was privileged to win and continue to enjoy until the end.
