SOLON

SOLON, as Hermippus writes, when his father had ruined his estate in

doing benefits and kindnesses to other men, though he had friends enough

that were willing to contribute to his relief, yet was ashamed to

be beholden to others, since he was descended from a family who were

accustomed to do kindnesses rather than receive them; and therefore

applied himself to merchandise in his youth; though others assure us

that he traveled rather to get learning and experience than to make

money. It is certain that he was a lover of knowledge, for when he was

old he would say that he

Each day grew older, and learnt something new.

But that he accounted himself rather poor than rich is evident from the

lines,

Some wicked men are rich, some good are poor,

We will not change our virtue for their store;

Virtue's a thing that none can take away,

But money changes owners all the day.

It is stated that Anacharsis and Solon and Thales were familiarly

acquainted, and some have quoted parts of their discourse; for, they

say, Anacharsis, coming to Athens, knocked at Solon's door and told

him that he, being a stranger, was come to be his guest, and contract a

friendship with him; and Solon replying; "It is better to make friends

at home," Anacharsis replied, "Then you that are at home make friendship

with me." Solon, somewhat surprised at the readiness of the repartee,

received him kindly, and kept him some time with him, being already

engaged in public business and the compilation of his laws; which when

Anacharsis understood, he laughed at him for imagining the dishonesty

and covetousness of his countrymen could be restrained by written laws,

which were like spiders' webs, and would catch, it is true, the weak

and poor, but easily be broken by the mighty and rich. To this Solon

rejoined that men keep their promises when neither side can get anything

by the breaking of them; and he would so fit his laws to the citizens,

that all should understand it was more eligible to be just than to break

the laws. But the event rather agreed with the conjecture of Anacharsis

than Solon's hope. Anacharsis, being once at the assembly, expressed his

wonder that in Greece wise men spoke and fools decided.

Now, when the Athenians were tired with a tedious and difficult war that

they conducted against the Megarians for the island Salamis, and made

a law that is should be death for any man, by writing or speaking, to

assert that the city ought to endeavor to recover it, Solon, vexed at

the disgrace, and perceiving thousands of the youth wished for

somebody to begin, but did not dare to stir first for fear of the law,

counterfeited a distraction, and by his own family it was spread about

the city that he was mad. He then secretly composed some elegiac verses,

and getting them by heart, that it might seem extempore, ran out into

the market-place with a cap upon his head, and, the people gathering

about him, got upon the herald's stand, and sang that elegy which begins

thus:--

I am a herald come from Salamis the fair,

My news from thence my verses shall declare.

The poem is called "Salamis"; it contains a hundred verses, very

elegantly written. When it had been sung, his friends commended it, and

especially Pisistratus exhorted the citizens to obey his directions;

insomuch that they recalled the law, and renewed the war under Solon's

conduct. The popular take is, that with Pisistratus he sailed to Colias,

and, finding the women, according to the custom of the country there,

sacrificing to Ceres, he sent a trusty friend to Salamis, who should

pretend himself a renegade, and advise them, if they desired to seize

the chief Athenian women, to come with him at once to Colias; the

Megarians presently sent off men in the vessel with him, and Solon,

seeing it put off from the island, commanded the women to be gone, and

some beardless youths, dressed in their clothes, their shoes, and caps,

and privately armed with daggers, to dance and play near the shore till

the enemies had landed and the vessel was in their power. Things being

thus ordered, the Megarians were allured with the appearance, and,

coming to the shore, jumped out, eager who should first seize a prize,

so that not one of them escaped; and the Athenians set sail for the

island and took it.

For this Solon grew famed and powerful; but his advice in favor of

defending the oracle at Delphi, to give aid, and not to suffer the

Cirrhaeans to profane it, but to maintain the honor of the god, got him

most repute among the Greeks: for upon his persuasion the Amphictyons

undertook the war.

Now the Cylonian pollution had a long time disturbed the commonwealth,

ever since the time when Megacles the archon persuaded the conspirators

with Cylon that took sanctuary in Athena's temple to come down and stand

to a fair trial. And they, tying a thread to the image, and holding one

end of it, went down to the tribunal; but when they came to the temple

of the Furies, the thread broke of its own accord, upon which, as if the

goddess had refused them protection, they were seized by Megacles and

the other magistrates; as many as were without the temples were stoned,

those that fled for sanctuary were butchered at the altar, and only

those escaped who made supplication to the wives of the magistrates.

The Athenians, now the Cylonian sedition was over and the polluted gone

into banishment, fell into their old quarrels about the government,

there being as many different parties as there were diversities in the

country. The Hill quarter favored democracy; the Plain, oligarchy; and

those that lived by the Sea-side stood for a mixed sort of government,

and so hindered either of the parties from prevailing. And the disparity

of fortune between the rich and the poor at that time also reached its

height; so that the city seemed to be in a truly dangerous condition,

and no other means for freeing it from disturbances and settling it to

be possible but a despotic power.

Then the wisest of the Athenians, perceiving Solon was of all men the

only one not implicated in the troubles, that he had not joined in the

exactions of the rich, and was not involved in the necessities of

the poor, pressed him to succor the commonwealth and compose the

differences. Solon, reluctantly at first, engaged in state affairs,

being afraid of the pride of one party and the greediness of the other;

he was chosen archon, however, after Philombrotus, and empowered to be

an arbitrator and lawgiver; the rich consenting because he was wealthy,

the poor because he was honest. There was a saying of his current before

the election, that when things are even there never can be war, and this

pleased both parties, the wealthy and the poor; the one conceiving him

to mean, when all have their fair proportion; the other, when all are

absolutely equal. Thus, there being great hopes on both sides, the chief

men pressed Solon to take the government into his own hands, and, when

he was once settled, manage the business freely and according to his

pleasure; and many of the commons, perceiving it would be a difficult

change to be effected by law and reason, were willing to have one wise

and just man set over the affairs; and some say that Solon had this

oracle from Apollo:

Take the mid-seat, and be the vessel's guide;

Many in Athens are upon your side.

From which it is manifest that he was a man of great reputation before

he gave his laws. The several mocks that were put upon him for refusing

the power, he records in these words:

Solon surely was a dreamer, and a man of simple mind; When the gods

would give him fortune, he of his own will declined; When the new was

full of fishes, over-heavy thinking it, He declined to haul it up,

through want of heart and want of wit. Had but I that chance of riches

and of kingship for one day, I would give my skin for flaying, and my

house to die away.

Thus he makes the many and the low people speak of him. Yet, though he

refused the government, he did not show himself mean and submissive to

the powerful, nor make his laws to pleasure those that chose him. For

the first thing which he settled was, that what debts remained should

be forgiven, and no man, for the future, should engage the body of his

debtor for security. Though some, as Androtion, affirm that the debts

were not canceled, but the interest only lessened, which sufficiently

pleased the people; so that they named this benefit the Seisacthea,

together with the enlarging of their measures, and raising the value of

their money; for he made a pound, which before passed for seventy-three

drachmas, go for a hundred; so that, though the number of pieces in

the payment was equal, the value was less; which proved a considerable

benefit to those that were to discharge great debts, and no loss to the

creditors.

While he was designing this, a most vexatious thing happened; for when

he had resolved to take off the debts, and was considering the proper

form and fit beginning for it, he told some of his friends, Conon,

Clinias, and Hipponicus, in whom he had a great deal of confidence, that

he would not meddle with the lands, but only free the people from their

debts; upon which, they, using their advantage, made haste and borrowed

some considerable sums of money, and purchased some large farms; and

when the law was enacted, they kept the possessions, and would not

return the money; which brought Solon into great suspicion and

dislike, as if he himself had not been abused, but was concerned in the

contrivance. But he presently stopped this suspicion, by releasing his

own debtors of five talents (for he had lent so much), according to the

law; others, as Polyzelus the Rhodian, say fifteen.

Soon becoming sensible of the good that was done, the people laid by

their grudges, made a public sacrifice, and chose Solon to new-model

and make laws for the commonwealth, giving him the entire power over

everything, their magistracies, their assemblies, courts, and councils;

that he should appoint the number, times of meeting, and what estate

they must have that could be capable of these, and dissolve or continue

any of the present constitutions, according to his pleasure.

First, then, he repealed all Draco's laws, except those concerning

homicide, because they were too severe and the punishments too great;

for death was appointed for almost all offences, insomuch that those

that were convicted of idleness were to die, and those that stole a

cabbage or an apple to suffer even as villains that committed sacrilege

or murder. So that Demades, in after time, was thought to have said very

happily, that Draco's laws were written not with ink, but blood; and

he himself, being once asked why he made death the punishment of most

offences, replied: "Small ones deserve that, and I have no higher for

the greater crimes."

Next, Solon, being willing to continue the magistracies in the hands

of the rich men, and yet receive the people into the other part of the

government, took an account of the citizens' estates, and those that

were worth five hundred measures of fruits, dry and liquid, he placed

in the first rank; those that could keep a horse, or were worth three

hundred measures, were made the second class; those that had two hundred

measures, were in the third; and all the other were called Thetes, who

were not admitted to any office, but could come to the assembly, and

act as jurors; which at first seemed nothing, but afterward was found an

enormous privilege, as almost every matter of dispute came before them

in this latter capacity. Besides, it is said that he was obscure and

ambiguous in the wording of his laws, on purpose to increase the honor

of his courts; for since their differences could not be adjusted by the

letter, they would have to bring all their causes to the judges, who

thus were in a manner masters of the laws. Of this equalization he

himself makes mention in this manner:

Such power I gave the people as might do,

Abridged not what they had, now lavished new.

Those that were great in wealth and high in place,

My counsel likewise kept from all disgrace.

Before them both I held my shield of might,

And let not either touch the other's right.

When he had constituted the Areopagus of those who had been yearly

archons, of which he himself was a member therefore, observing that

the people, now free from their debts, were unsettled and imperious,

he formed another council of four hundred, a hundred out of each of

the four tribes, which was to inspect all matters before they were

propounded to the people, and to take care that nothing but what had

been first examined should be brought before the general assembly. The

upper council, or Areopagus, he made inspectors and keepers of the

laws, conceiving that the commonwealth, held by these two councils like

anchors, would be less liable to be tossed by tumults, and the people be

more at quiet. Such is the general statement that Solon instituted the

Areopagus.

Amongst his other laws, one is very peculiar and surprising, which

disfranchises all who stand neuter in a sedition; for it seems he would

not have any one remain insensible and regardless of the public good,

but at once join with the good party and those that have the right upon

their side, assist and venture with them, rather than keep out of harm's

way and watch who would get the better.

Another commendable law of Solon's is that which forbids men to speak

evil of the dead.

Since the country has but few rivers, lakes, or large springs, and many

used wells which they had dug, there was a law made, that, where there

was a public well within a hippicon, that is, four furlongs, all should

draw at that; but then it was farther off, they should try and procure a

well of their own; and, if they had dug ten fathoms deep and could find

no water, they had liberty to fetch a pitcherful of four gallons and a

half in a day from their neighbors'; for he thought it prudent to make

provision against want, but not to supply laziness. He showed skill in

his orders about planting, for any one that would plant another tree was

not to set it within five feet of his neighbor's field; but if a fig or

an olive, not within nine, for their roots spread farther, nor can they

be planted near all sorts of trees without damage, for they draw away

the nourishment, and in some cases are noxious by their effluvia. He

that would dig a pit or a ditch was to dig it at the distance of its own

depth from his neighbor's ground; and he that would raise stocks of bees

was not to place them within three hundred feet of those which another

had already raised.

He permitted only oil to be exported, and those that exported any other

fruit, the archon was solemnly to curse, or else pay an hundred drachmas

(a drachma was about twenty cents.) himself; and this law was written in

his first table, and, therefore, let none think it incredible, as some

affirm, that the exportation of figs was once unlawful. He made a law

also, concerning hurts and injuries from beasts, in which he commands

the master of any dog that bit a man to deliver him up with a log about

his neck four and a half feet long-a happy device for men's security.

All his laws he established for an hundred years, and wrote them on

wooden tables or rollers, named axones, which might be turned round in

oblong cases; some of their relics were in my time still to be seen in

the Prytaneum, or common hall, at Athens. These, as Aristotle states,

were called cyrbes, and there is a passage of Cratinus the comedian,

By Solon, and by Draco, if you please,

Whose Cyrbes make the fires that parch our peas.

But some say those are properly cyrbes, which contain laws concerning

sacrifices and the rites of religion, and all the other axones. The

council all jointly swore to confirm the laws, and every one of the

Thesmothetae vowed for himself at the stone in the market-place, that,

if he broke any of the statutes, he would dedicate a golden statue, as

big as himself, at Delphi.

Now when these laws were enacted, and some came to Solon every day, to

commend or dispraise them, and to advise, if possible, to leave out, or

put in something, and many criticised, and desired him to explain,

and tell the meaning of such and such a passage, he, to escape all

displeasure, it being a hard thing, as he himself says,

In great affairs to satisfy all sides,

As an excuse for traveling, bought a trading vessel and, having obtained

leave for ten years' absence, departed, hoping that by that time his

laws would have become familiar.

His first voyage was for Egypt, and he lived, as he himself says,

Near Nilus' mouth, by fair Canopus' shore,

And spent some time in study with Psenophis of Heliopolis, and Sonchis

the Saite, the most learned of all the priests; from whom, as Plato

says, getting knowledge of the Atlantic story, he put it into a poem,

and proposed to bring it to the knowledge of the Greeks. From thence he

sailed to Cyprus, where he was made much of by Philocyprus, one of the

kings there, who had a small city built by Demophon, Theseus's son, near

the river Clarius, in a strong situation, but incommodious and uneasy

of access. Solon persuaded him, since there lay a fair plain below,

to remove, and build there a pleasanter and more spacious city. And he

stayed himself, and assisted in gathering inhabitants, and in fitting it

both for defence and convenience of living; insomuch that many flocked

to Philocyprus, and the other kings imitated the design; and, therefore,

to honor Solon, he called the city Soli.

That Solon should discourse with Croesus, some think not agreeable with

chronology; but I cannot reject so famous and well-attested a narrative,

and, what is more, so agreeable to Solon's temper, and so worthy his

wisdom and greatness of mind, because, forsooth, it does not agree with

some chronological canons, which thousands have endeavored to regulate,

and yet, to this day, could never bring their differing opinions to any

agreement. They say, therefore, that Solon, coming to Croesus at his

request, was in the same condition as an inland man when first he goes

to see the sea; for as he fancies every river he meets with to be the

ocean, so Solon, as he passed through the court, and saw a great many

nobles richly dressed, and proudly attended with a multitude of guards

and footboys, thought every one to be the king, till he was brought to

Croesus, who was decked with every possible rarity and curiosity, in

ornaments of jewels, purple, and gold, that could make a grand and

gorgeous spectacle of him. Now when Solon came before him, and seemed

not at all surprised, nor gave Croesus those compliments he expected,

but showed himself to all discerning eyes to be a man that despised the

gaudiness and petty ostentation of it, he commanded them to open all

his treasure houses, and carry him to see his sumptuous furniture and

luxuries, though Solon did not wish it; he could judge of him well

enough by the first sight of him; and, when he returned from viewing

all, Croesus asked him if ever he had known a happier man than he. And

when Solon answered that he had known one Tellus, a fellow-citizen of

his own, and told him that this Tellus had been an honest man, had had

good children, a competent estate, and died bravely in battle for his

country, Croesus took him for an ill-bred fellow and a fool, for not

measuring happiness by the abundance of gold and silver, and preferring

the life and death of a private and mean man before so much power and

empire. He asked him however, again, if, besides Tellus, he knew any

other man more happy. And Solon replying, Yes, Cleobis and Biton, who

were loving brothers, and extremely dutiful sons to their mother, and,

when the oxen delayed her, harnessed themselves to the wagon, and drew

her to Juno's temple, her neighbors all calling her happy, and she

herself rejoicing; then, after sacrificing and feasting, they went

to rest, and never rose again, but died in the midst of their honor a

painless and tranquil death. "What," said Croesus, angrily, "and dost

not thou reckon us amongst the happy men at all?" Solon, unwilling

either to flatter or exasperate him more, replied, "The gods, O king,

have given the Greeks all other gifts in moderate degree; and so our

wisdom, too, is a cheerful and a homely, not a noble and kingly, wisdom;

and this, observing the numerous misfortunes that attend all conditions,

forbids us to grow insolent upon our present enjoyments, or to admire

any man's happiness that may yet, in course of time, suffer change. For

the uncertain future has yet to come, with every possible variety of

fortune; and him only to whom the divinity has continued happiness unto

the end, we call happy; to salute as happy one that is still in the

midst of life and hazard, we think as little safe, and conclusive as to

crown and proclaim as victorious the wrestler that is yet in the ring."

After this, he was dismissed, having given Croesus some pain, but no

instruction.

Aesop, who wrote the fables, being then at Sardis upon Croesus's

invitation, and very much esteemed, was concerned that Solon was so

ill-received, and gave him this advice: "Solon, let your converse with

kings be either short or seasonable." "Nay, rather," replied Solon,

"either short or reasonable." So at this time Croesus despised Solon;

but when he was overcome by Cyrus, had lost his city, was taken alive,

condemned to be burnt, and laid bound upon the pile before all the

Persians and Cyrus himself, he cried out as loud as he possibly could

three times, "O Solon!" and Cyrus being surprised, and sending some to

inquire what man or god this Solon was, whom alone he invoked in this

extremity, Croesus told him the whole story, saying, "He was one of the

wise men of Greece, whom I sent for, not to be instructed, or to learn

anything that I wanted, but that he should see and be a witness of my

happiness; the loss of which was, it seems, to be a greater evil than

the enjoyment was a good; for when I had them they were goods only in

opinion, but now the loss of them has brought upon me intolerable and

real evils. And he, conjecturing from what then was, this that now is,

bade me look to the end of my life, and not rely and grow proud upon

uncertainties." When this was told Cyrus, who was a wiser man than

Croesus, and saw in the present example Solon's maxim confirmed, he not

only freed Croesus from punishment, but honored him as long as he

lived; and Solon had the glory, by the same saying, to save one king and

instruct another.

When Solon was gone, the citizens began to quarrel; Lycurgus headed

the Plain; Megacles, the son of Alcmaeon, those of the Sea-side; and

Pisistratus the Hill-party, in which were the poorest people, the

Thetes, and greatest enemies to the rich; insomuch that, though the

city still used the new laws, yet all looked for and desired a change of

government, hoping severally that the change would be better for them,

and put them above the contrary faction. Affairs standing thus, Solon

returned, and was reverenced by all, and honored; but his old age would

not permit him to be as active, and to speak in public, as formerly;

yet, by privately conferring with the heads of the factions, he

endeavored to compose the differences, Pisistratus appearing the most

tractable; for he was extremely smooth and engaging in his language,

a great friend to the poor, and moderate in his resentments; and what

nature had not given him, he had the skill to imitate; so that he was

trusted more than the others, being accounted a prudent and orderly man,

one that loved equality, and would be an enemy to any that moved against

the present settlement. Thus he deceived the majority of people; but

Solon quickly discovered his character, and found out his design before

any one else; yet did not hate him upon this, but endeavored to humble

him, and bring him off from his ambition, and often told him and others,

that if any one could banish the passion for preeminence from his mind,

and cure him of his desire of absolute power, none would make a more

virtuous man or a more excellent citizen. Thespis, at this time,

beginning to act tragedies, and the thing, because it was new, taking

very much with the multitude, though it was not yet made a matter

of competition, Solon, being by nature fond of hearing and learning

something new, and now, in his old age, living idly, and enjoying

himself, indeed, with music and with wine, went to see Thespis himself,

as the ancient custom was, act; and after the play was done, he

addressed him, and asked him if he was not ashamed to tell so many lies

before such a number of people; and Thespis replying that it was no harm

to say or do so in play, Solon vehemently struck his staff against the

ground: "Ay," said he, "if we honor and commend such play as this, we

shall find it some day in our business."

Now when Pisistratus, having wounded himself, was brought into the

market-place in a chariot, and stirred up the people, as if he had been

thus treated by his opponents because of his political conduct, and a

great many were enraged and cried out, Solon, coming close to him, said,

"This, O son of Hippocrates, is a bad copy of Homer's Ulysses; you do,

to trick your countrymen, what he did to deceive his enemies." After

this, the people were eager to protect Pisistratus, and met in an

assembly, where one Ariston made a motion that they should allow

Pisistratus fifty clubmen for a guard to his person. Now, the people,

having passed the law, were not nice with Pisistratus about the number

of his clubmen, but took no notice of it, though he enlisted and kept as

many as he would, until he seized the Acropolis. When that was done, and

the city in an uproar, Megacles, with all his family, at once fled; But

Solon, though he was now very old, and had none to back him, yet came

into the market-place and made a speech to the citizens, partly blaming

their inadvertency and meanness of spirit, and in part urging and

exhorting them not thus tamely to lose their liberty; and likewise then

spoke that memorable saying, that, before, it was an easier task to

stop the rising tyranny, but now the greater and more glorious action

to destroy it, when it was begun already, and had gathered strength.

But all being afraid to side with him, he returned home, and, taking his

arms, he brought them out and laid them in the porch before his door,

with these words: "I have done my part to maintain my country and my

laws," and then be busied himself no more.

But Pisistratus, having got the command, so extremely courted Solon, so

honored him, obliged him, and sent to see him, that Solon gave him

his advice, and approved many of his actions; for he retained most of

Solon's laws, observed them himself, and compelled his friends to obey.

And he added other laws, one of which is that the maimed in the wars

should be maintained at the public charge, following Solon's example in

this, who had decreed it in the case of one Thersippus, that was maimed.

Solon lived after Pisistratus seized the government a long time. But

the story that his ashes were scattered about the island Salamis is too

strange to be easily believed, or be thought anything but a mere

fable; and yet it is given, among other good authors, by Aristotle the

philosopher.