Bias of Priene

Bias spent his life in Priene as a legal advocate, taking no payment from clients he believed had been wronged. He served as an envoy during a dispute with Samos, though the mediation failed. His philosophy was austere: most men are bad, misfortune must be borne, the gods deserve credit for good deeds, and wealth means nothing. Stories attached themselves to him—he turned down a tripod meant for the wisest man alive, ransomed kidnapped girls from Messenia, and once tricked the Lydian king Alyattes into abandoning a siege by making Priene look overstocked. He died arguing a case in old age, and…