At this time, then, Croesus held Solon in a contempt like this; but afterwards he encountered Cyrus, was defeated in battle, lost his city, was taken alive and condemned to be burnt; and then, as he lay bound upon the pyre in the sight of all the Persians and of Cyrus himself, with all the reach and power of which his voice was capable, he called out thrice: ‘O Solon!’ Cyrus, then, astonished at this, sent men to ask him what man or god this Solon was on whom alone he called in his extremity.
Edition :
Plutarch Lives I: Theseus and Romulus, Lycurgus and Numa, Solon and Publicola, Ed. Jeffrey Henderson, trans. Bernadotte Perrin (The Loeb Classical Library 46), Harvard University Press: Cambridge/MA - London 1967 (first ed. 1914).
Remark :
date: The date of 541 BCE is contested.
Notes :
Cyrus finally spares Croesus' life, see Plut. Sol. 28.2-28.4.
