The story alluded to in quot. 1545 is narrated in Herodotus' Histories I. xxxii: when the great Athenian lawgiver Solon visited Croesus, the fabulously wealthy king of Lydia, the latter asked Solon who was the happiest man he had ever seen—expecting the answer to be himself. Cf. [Sophocles Oedipus Rex l. 1529] μηδέ᾽ ὀλβίζɛίν, ρρὶν ἃν ṯέρμα ṯοῦ βίου ρɛράση μηδεν ἀλγɛίνὸν ραθὼν, deem no man happy, until he passes the end of his life without suffering grief; [Ovid Metamorphoses iii. 135] dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo‥debet, nobody should be called blessed before his death.
Salon aunsered kynge Cresus, that no man could be named happy, tyl he had happely and prosperouslye passed the course of his lyfe.
[1545 R. Taverner tr. Erasmus' Adages (ed. 2) 53V]
Oh no man happie, till his ende be seene.
[1565 Norton & Sackville Gorboduc iii. i.]
We must exspect of man the latest day, Nor e'er he die, he's happie, can we say.
[1603 J. Florio tr. Montaigne's Essays i. xviii.]
Call no man happy till he dies is the motto‥suggested by the career of Dom Pedro [emperor of Brazil].
[1891 Times 5 Dec. 9]
‘Call no man happy until he is dead.’‥He was seventy-two, and yet there was still time for this dream‥to change to a nightmare.
[1967 C. S. Forester Hornblower & Crisis 163]
Related to: good fortune; happiness
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
