As the tale of Candaules sets up the cycle of law, envy, and vengeance, so the interactions between Solon the Athenian and Croesus the Lydian analogize relations between the East and West. It can also be construed that Herodotus is speaking metaphorically about the topic of history itself in his stories that predate the Persian conflict. The first Lydian ruler, Candaules, requires someone else to look upon his wife so that her beauty may not go unremembered. In the case of this other king of Lydia, Croesus attempts to prod the Greek sage Solon to award him veneration by his power through riches (1.30). In the case of the bodyguard Gyges, physically seeing his king’s wife goes too far (1.9). Conversely, from the perspective of Solon, physical
