Icarus paradox were imprisoned in the maze. In order to escape their prison, Daedalus built two pairs of wings by attaching feathers to a wooden frame using wax. He gave one pair to Icarus and cautioned him that the wax would melt if he flew too close to the sun. However, in his excitement and elation at his newfound flying abilities, Icarus did not heed Daedalus' warning and flew too high. The wax melted, the feathers fell off and Icarus plunged to his death in the sea. The sea that Icarus drowned in and the islet his body washed ashore on were
Golden mean (philosophy) flew up and up until the sun melted the wax off his wings. For not heeding the middle course, he fell into the sea and drowned. Another early elaboration is the Doric saying carved on the front of the temple at Delphi: ""Nothing in Excess"" ("Meden Agan"). The first work on the golden mean is sometimes attributed to Theano, wife of Pythagoras. To Cleobulus is attributed the maxim: "Mέτρον ἄριστον" "Moderation is best" Socrates teaches that a man must know "how to choose the mean and avoid the extremes on either side, as far as possible." In education, Socrates asks