Heroes get to cheat but have to share their ill-gotten gains. Superheroes get to cheat and keep as much of their ill-gotten gains as they want, but if they drink too much gasoline they go boom--a great show from a sufficiently safe distance.
A Hero can eat more of his goodies than is safe, but that tends to have unfortunate effects.
Dragons are cheating personified.
Thus, Sartar had some choices (although he may not have been conscious of it). First, he could have taken the "go boom" route, which he didn't. Then, he could either take enough medicine for it to become poisonous or apportion it out. He evidently amassed enough so that the only way he could avoid corruption would be to found a kingdom. Now, the reason WHY he would wish to avoid corruption is still unanswered. Was it pure selfishness? Was it out of the goodness of his heart? Was it a mythic realization that an unpragmatic solution would be needed for as pragmatic a path as the Luners would take? Go ask the God-Learners.
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