permitted a husband to kill an adulterer taken in the act; but if any
one carried off a free woman and forced her, he assessed the penalty at
one hundred drachmas. If he obtained her favours by persuasion, he was
to pay twenty drachmas, except in the case of those who openly ply for
hire, alluding to harlots; for they come to those who offer them money
without any concealment. Moreover, he forbade men to sell their sisters
and daughters, except in the case of unchastity. Now to punish the same
offence at one time with unrelenting severity, and at another in a light
and trifling manner, by imposing so slight a fine, is unreasonable,
unless the scarcity of specie in the city at that period made fines
which were paid in money more valuable than they would now be; indeed,
in the valuation of things for sacrifice, a sheep and a drachma were
reckoned as each equal to a medimnus of corn. To the victor at the
Isthmian games he appointed a reward of a hundred drachmas, and to the
victor in the Olympian, five hundred. He gave five drachmas for every
wolf that was killed, and one drachma for every wolf's whelp; and we are
told by Demetrius of Phalerum that the first of these sums was the price
of an ox, and the second that of a sheep. The prices of choice victims,
which he settled in his sixteenth tablet of laws, would naturally be
higher than those of ordinary beasts, but even thus they are cheap
compared with prices at the present day. It was an ancient practice
among the Athenians to destroy the wolves, because their country was
better fitted for pasture than for growing crops. Some say that the
Athenian tribes derive their names, not from the sons of Ion, but from
the different professions in which men were then divided: thus the
fighting men were named Hoplites, and the tradesmen Ergadeis; the two
remaining ones being the Geleontes, or farmers, and the Aigikoreis, or
goat-herds and graziers. With regard to water, as the country is not
supplied with either rivers or lakes, but the people depend chiefly upon
artificial wells, he made a law, that wherever there was a public well
within four furlongs, people should use it, but if it were farther off,
then they must dig a private well for themselves; but if a man dug a
depth of sixty feet on his own estate without finding water, then he was
to have the right of filling a six-gallon pitcher twice a day at his
neighbour's well; for Solon thought it right to help the distressed, and
yet not to encourage laziness. He also made very judicious regulations
about planting trees, ordering that they should not be planted within
five feet of a neighbour's property, except in the case of olives and
fig-trees, which were not to be planted within nine feet; for these
trees spread out their roots farther than others, and spoil the growth
of any others by taking away their nourishment and by giving off hurtful
juices. Trenches and pits he ordered to be dug as far away from another
man's property as they were deep; and no hive of bees was to be placed
within three hundred feet of those already established by another man.
XXIV. Oil was the only product of the country which he allowed to be
exported, everything else being forbidden; and he ordered that if any
one broke this law the archon was to solemnly curse him, unless he paid
a hundred drachmas into the public treasury. This law is written on the
first of his tablets. From this we see that the old story is not
altogether incredible, that the export of figs was forbidden, and that
the men who informed against those who had done so were therefore called
sycophants. He also made laws about damage received from animals, one of
which was that a dog who had bitten a man should be delivered up to him
tied to a stick three cubits long, an ingenious device for safety.
One is astounded at his law of adopting foreigners into the state,
which permits no one to become a full citizen in Athens unless he be
either exiled for life from his native city, or transfers himself with
his whole family to Athens to practise his trade there. It is said that
his object in this was not so much to exclude other classes of people
from the city, as to assure these of a safe refuge there; and these he
thought would be good and faithful citizens, because the former had been
banished from their own country, and the latter had abandoned it of
their own freewill. Another peculiarity of Solon's laws was the public
dining-table in the prytaneum. Here he did not allow the same person to
dine often, while he punished the man who was invited and would not
come, because the one seemed gluttonous, and the other contemptuous.
XXV. He ordered that all his laws should remain in force for a hundred
years, and he wrote them upon triangular wooden tablets, which revolved
upon an axis in oblong recesses, some small remains of which have been
preserved in the prytaneum down to the present day. These, we are told
by Aristotle, were called _Kurbeis_. The comic poet Kratinus also says,
"By Solon and by Draco, mighty legislators once,
Whose tablets light the fire now to warm a dish of pulse."
Some say that the term _Kurbeis_ is only applied to those on which are
written the laws which regulate religious matters.
The senate swore by a collective oath that it would enforce Solon's
laws; and each of the Thesmothetae took an oath to the same effect at
the altar in the market-place, protesting that, if he transgressed any
of the laws, he would offer a golden statue as big as himself to the
temple at Delphi.
Observing the irregularity of the months, and that the motions of the
moon did not accord either with the rising or setting of the sun, but
that frequently she in the same day overtakes and passes by him, he
ordered that day to be called "the old and the new," and that the part
of it before their conjunction should belong to the old month, while the
rest of the day after it belonged to the new one, being, it seems, the
first to rightly interpret the verse of Homer--
"The old month ended and the new began."
He called the next day that of the new moon. After the twentieth, he no
longer reckoned forwards, but backwards, as the moon decreased, until
the thirtieth of the month.
When Solon had passed all his laws, as people came to him every day to
praise or blame, or advise him to add or take away from what he had
written, while innumerable people wanted to ask questions, and discuss
points, and kept bidding him explain what was the object of this or that
regulation, he, feeling that he could not do all this, and that, if he
did not, his motives would be misunderstood; wishing, moreover, to
escape from troubles and the criticism and fault-finding of his
countrymen [for, as he himself writes, it is "Hard in great measures
every one to please"], made his private commercial business an excuse
for leaving the country, and set sail after having obtained from the
Athenians leave of absence for ten years. In this time he thought they
would become used to his laws.
XXVI. He first went to Egypt, where he spent some time, as he himself
says,
"At Nilus' outlets, by Canopus' strand."
And he also discussed points of philosophy with Psenophis of Heliopolis,
and with Sonchis of Sais, the most distinguished of the Egyptian
priests. From them he heard the tale of the island Atlantis, as we are
told by Plato, and endeavoured to translate it into a poetical form for
the enjoyment of his countrymen. He next sailed to Cyprus, where he was
warmly received by Philocyprus, one of the local sovereigns, who ruled
over a small city founded by Demophon, the son of Theseus, near the
river Klarius, in a position which was easily defended, but
inconvenient.
As a fair plain lay below, Solon persuaded him to remove the city to a
pleasanter and less contracted site, and himself personally
superintended the building of the new city, which he arranged so well
both for convenience and safety, that many new settlers joined
Philocyprus, and he was envied by the neighbouring kings. For this
reason, in honour of Solon, he named the new city Soloi, the name of the
old one having been Aipeia. Solon himself mentions this event, in one of
his elegiac poems, in which he addresses Philocyprus, saying--
"Long may'st thou reign,
Ruling thy race from Soloi's throne with glory,
But me may Venus of the violet crown
Send safe away from Cyprus famed in story.
May Heaven to these new walls propitious prove,
And bear me safely to the land I love."
XXVII. Some writers argue, on chronological grounds, that Solon's
meeting with Croesus must have been an invention. But I cannot think
that so famous a story, which is confirmed by so many writers, and,
moreover, which so truly exhibits Solon's greatness of mind and wisdom,
ought to be given up because of the so-called rules of chronology, which
have been discussed by innumerable persons, up to the present day,
without their being ever able to make their dates agree. The story goes
that Solon at Croesus's desire came to Sardis, and there felt much like
a continental when he goes down to the seaside for the first time; for
he thinks each river he comes to must be the sea, and so Solon, as he
walked through the court and saw many of the courtiers richly attired
and each of them swaggering about with a train of attendants and
body-guards, thought that each one must be the king, until he was
brought before the king himself, who, as far as precious stones, richly
dyed clothes, and cunningly worked gold could adorn him, was splendid
and admirable, indeed a grand and gorgeous spectacle to behold. When
Solon was brought into his presence, he showed none of the feelings and
made none of the remarks about the sight, which Croesus expected, but
evidently despised such vulgar ostentation. Croesus then ordered his
treasures to be exhibited to him, and all the rest of his possessions
and valuables; not that Solon needed this, for the sight of Croesus
himself was enough to show him what sort of man he was. When, after
having seen all this, he was again brought before the king, Croesus
asked him whether he knew any man more happy than himself. Solon at
once answered that one Tellus, a fellow countryman of his own, was more
happy. He explained that Tellus was a good man, and left a family of
good sons; that he passed his life beyond the reach of want, and died
gloriously in battle for his country. At this, Croesus began to think
that Solon must be a cross-grained churlish fellow, if he did not
measure happiness by silver and gold, but preferred the life and death
of some private man of low degree to such power and empire as his.
However, he asked him a second time, whether he knew any one more happy
than himself, next to Tellus. Solon answered that he knew two men,
Kleobis and Biton, remarkable for their love for each other and for
their mother, who, as the oxen that drew their mother travelled slowly,
put themselves under the yoke and drew the carriage with her in it to
the temple of Here. She was congratulated by all the citizens, and was
very proud of them; and they offered sacrifice, drank some wine, and
then passed away by a painless death after so much glory.
"Then," asked Croesus angrily, "do you not reckon me at all among happy
men?" Solon, who did not wish to flatter him, nor yet to exasperate him
farther, answered, "O King of the Lydians, we Greeks have been endowed
with moderate gifts, by Heaven, and our wisdom is of a cautious and
homely cast, not of a royal and magnificent character; so, being
moderate itself, and seeing the manifold chances to which life is
exposed, it does not permit us to take a pride in our present
possessions, nor to admire the good fortune of any man when it is liable
to change. Strange things await every man in the unknown future; and we
think that man alone happy whose life has been brought to a fortunate
termination. To congratulate a man who is yet alive and exposed to the
caprice of fortune is like proclaiming and crowning as victor one who
has not yet run his race, for his good fortune is uncertain and liable
to reversal." After speaking thus, Solon took his leave, having enraged
Croesus, who could not take his good advice.
XXVIII. Aesop, the writer of the fables, who had been sent for to Sardis
by Croesus and enjoyed his favour, was vexed at the king's ungracious
reception of Solon, and advised him thus: "Solon," said he, "one ought
either to say very little to kings or else say what they wish most to
hear." "Not so," said Solon; "one should either say very little to them,
or else say what is best for them to hear." So at that time Croesus
despised Solon; but after he had been defeated by Cyrus, his city taken,
and he himself was about to be burned alive upon a pyre erected in the
presence of all the Persians and of Cyrus himself, then he thrice cried
out, "Solon," as loud as he could. Cyrus, surprised at this, sent to ask
what man or god Solon might be, who was invoked by a man in such
extremity. Croesus, without any concealment said, "He is one of the wise
men of Greece, whom I sent for, not because I wished to listen to him
and learn what I was ignorant of, but in order that he might see and
tell of my wealth, which I find it is a greater misfortune to lose than
it was a blessing to possess. For, while I possessed it, all I enjoyed
was opinion and empty talk; whereas, now the loss of it has brought me
in very deed into terrible and irreparable misfortunes and sufferings.
Now this man, who foresaw what might befall me, bade me look to the end
of my life, and not be arrogant on the strength of a fleeting
prosperity."
When this was reported to Cyrus, he being a wiser man than Croesus, and
finding Solon's words strongly borne out by the example before him, not
only released Croesus, but treated him with favour for the rest of his
life; so that Solon had the glory of having by the same words saved one
king's life and given instruction to another.
XXIX. During Solon's absence the strife of the factions at Athens was
renewed; Lykurgus was the chief of the party of the Pediaei, Megakles,
the son of Alkmaeon, led the Parali, and Peisistratus, the Diakrii, who
were joined by the mass of the poorer classes who hated the rich. Thus
the city still obeyed Solon's laws, but was longing for change, and all
men hoped for a new revolution, in which they trusted to get not only
their rights, but something more, and to triumph over the opposite
faction. In this state of affairs Solon landed at Athens, and was
received with respect by all the citizens. Although, on account of his
age, he was no longer able to engage in politics as keenly as before,
still he met the leaders of the various factions privately and
endeavoured to arrange their differences and reconcile them to one
another. Peisistratus appeared to pay more attention to him than the
others, for he was crafty and pleasant of speech, a protector of the
poor, and a man of moderation even in his quarrels. The qualities which
he had not, he affected to possess, giving himself out to be a cautious
and law-abiding man, who loved even-handed justice and was enraged at
any revolutionary proceedings. Thus he deceived the people; but Solon
soon saw through him, and detected his plans before any one else. He was
not shocked, but endeavoured to turn him from his purpose by advice,
saying to him and to others that if his desire to be first and his wish
to make himself master could be removed, there would be no more
excellent and virtuous citizen than Peisistratus.
At this time Thespis was beginning to introduce the drama, and the
novelty of his exhibition attracted many people, although the regular
contests were not yet introduced. Solon, who was fond of seeing sights
and gaining knowledge, and whose old age was spent in leisure and
amusements and good fellowship, went to see Thespis, who acted in his
own play, as the ancient custom was. After the play was over, he asked
him if he was not ashamed to tell so many lies before so many people.
When Thespis answered that there was no harm in saying and doing these
things in jest, Solon violently struck the ground with his stick,
saying, "If we praise and approve of such jests as these, we shall soon
find people jesting with our business."
XXX. When Peisistratus wounded himself and was driven into the
market-place in a cart to excite the people, whom he told that he had
been so treated by his enemies because he defended the constitution, and
while he was surrounded by a noisy crowd of sympathisers, Solon came
near him and said, "Son of Hippokrates, you are dishonourably imitating
Homer's Ulysses. You are doing this to deceive your fellow citizens,
while he mutilated himself to deceive the enemy." Upon this, as the
people were willing to take up arms on behalf of Peisistratus, they
assembled at the Pnyx, where Ariston proposed that a body-guard of
fifty club-bearers should be assigned to Peisistratus. Solon opposed
this, urging many arguments, like what we read in his poems:
"You hang upon a crafty speaker's words;"
and again,
"Each alone a fox in cunning,
You grow stupid when you meet."
But as he saw that the poor were eager to serve Peisistratus, while the
rich held back from cowardice, he went away, after saying that he was
wiser than the one class, and braver than the other; wiser, namely, than
those who did not understand what was going on, and braver than those
who did understand, but did not dare to oppose the despotism with which
they were threatened.
The people carried the proposal, and would not be so mean as to make any
stipulation with Peisistratus about the number of his body-guard, but
permitted him to keep as many as he pleased until he seized the
Acropolis. When this took place, the city was convulsed; Megakles and
the other descendants of Alkmaeon fled, but Solon, although he was now
very old and had no one to stand by him, nevertheless came into the
market-place and addressed the citizens, reproaching them for their
folly and remissness, and urging them to make a final effort to retain
their freedom. It was then that he made the memorable remark that, in
former days it would have been easier for them to have prevented
despotism from appearing amongst them, but that now it would be more
glorious to cut it down, when it had arrived at its full growth.
However, as no one listened to him, because of the general terror, he
went home, armed himself, and took his post in the street outside his
door, saying, "I have done all I could for my country and her laws."
After this he remained quiet, though his friends urged him to leave
Athens. He, however, wrote poems reproaching the Athenians--
"Through your own cowardice you suffered wrong,
Blame then yourselves and not the gods for this;
'Twas you yourselves that made the tyrant strong,
And rightly do you now your freedom miss."
XXXI. At this many of his friends told him that the despot would surely
put him to death, and when they asked him what he trusted to, that he
performed such mad freaks, he answered, "To my age." But Peisistratus,
after he became established as sovereign, showed such marked favour to
Solon that he even was advised by him, and received his approval in
several cases. For he enforced most of Solon's laws, both observing them
himself and obliging his friends to do so. Indeed, when accused of
murder before the court of the Areopagus, he appeared in due form to
stand his trial, but his accuser let the case fall through. He also made
other laws himself, one of which is that those who are maimed in war
shall be kept at the public expense. Herakleides says that this was done
in imitation of Solon, who had already proposed it in the case of
Thersippus. But Theophrastus tells us that it was not Solon, but
Peisistratus, who made the law about idleness, by means of which he
rendered the city more quiet, and the country better cultivated.
Solon also attempted to write a great poem about the fable of
'Atlantis,' which he had learned from the chroniclers of Sais
particularly concerned the Athenians, but he did not finish it, not, as
Plato says, for want of leisure, but rather because of his advanced age,
which made him fear that the task was too great for him. His own words
tell us that he had abundance of leisure--
"Old I grow, but ever learning,"
and,
"Venus and Bacchus are all my care,
And the Muses, that charm the hearts of men."
Plato eagerly took in hand the scheme of the 'Atlantis,' as though it
were a fine site for a palace, which had come to be his by inheritance,
still unbuilt on. He placed in the beginning of it such splendid
entrance-halls and vestibules as we find in no other tale or legend or
poem, but, as he began the work too late, he died before he was able to
finish it; so that the more we enjoy what he has written, the more we
grieve over what is lost. As the temple of Olympic Zeus among the
temples of Athens, so the 'Atlantis' is the only one among Plato's many
noble writings that is unfinished.
Solon lived on into the reign of Peisistratus for a long time,
according to Herakleides of Pontus, but less than two years, according
to Phanias of Eresus. For Peisistratus became despot in the archonship
of Komius, and Phanias tells us that Solon died during the archonship of
Hegesistratus, Komias' successor. The story that his ashes were
scattered round the island of Salamis is legendary and improbable, yet
it is confirmed by many trustworthy writers, amongst whom is the
philosopher Aristotle.
LIFE OF POPLICOLA.
I. As a parallel to Solon we shall take Poplicola, who was honoured with
this name by the Romans, his original name having been Publius Valerius,
a supposed descendant of that Valerius who in ancient times was
especially instrumental in making the Romans and Sabines cease to be
enemies and become one people; for it was he who persuaded the two kings
to meet and make terms of peace. Valerius, a descendant of this hero,
was a man of eminence in Rome, which was then ruled by the kings,
because of his eloquence and wealth. He always spoke boldly on the side
of justice, and assisted the poor and needy with such kindness that it
was clear that, in case of a revolution, he would become the first man
in the state.
Tarquinius Superbus, the king, had not come to his throne justly, but by
wicked and lawless violence, and as he reigned tyrannically and
insolently, the people hated him, and seized the opportunity of the
death of Lucretia, after her dishonour, to drive him out. Lucius Brutus,
who was determined to change the form of government, applied to Valerius
first of all, and with his vigorous assistance drove out the king. After
these events Valerius kept quiet, as long as it seemed likely that the
people would choose a single general to replace their king, because he
thought that it was Brutus's right to be elected, as he had been the
leader of the revolution. However the people, disgusted with the idea of
monarchy, and thinking that they could more easily endure to be ruled by
two men, proposed that two consuls should be chosen. Valerius now became
a candidate, hoping that he and Brutus would be elected; but he was not
chosen. Brutus, instead of Valerius, whom he would have preferred, had
as a colleague Tarquinius Collatinus, the husband of Lucretia, who was
not a better man than Valerius, but was elected because the men in power
at Rome, seeing what intrigues the exiled king was setting on foot to
secure his return, wished to have for their general a man who was his
sworn personal enemy.
II. Valerius, disgusted at the idea that he was not trusted to fight for
his country because he had not suffered any personal wrong at the hands
of the king, left the senate, refused to attend public meetings, and
ceased to take any part whatever in public affairs, so that people began
to fear that in his rage he might go over to the king's party and
destroy the tottering edifice of Roman liberty. Brutus suspected some
others besides him, and proposed on a certain day to hold a solemn
sacrifice and bind the senate by an oath. Valerius, however, came
cheerfully into the Forum, and was the first to swear that he would
never yield anything to the Tarquins, but would fight for liberty to the
death, by which he greatly delighted the senate and encouraged the
leading men of the state. His acts too, immediately confirmed his words,
for ambassadors came from Tarquin with specious and seductive proposals,
such as he thought would win over the people, coming from a king who
seemed to have laid aside his insolence and only to wish for his just
rights. The consuls thought it right that these proposals should be laid
before the people, but Valerius would not permit it, not wishing that
the poorer citizens, to whom the war was a greater burden than the
monarchy had been, should have any excuse for revolt.