585 



SOLON. 



SOLON. 



586 



coes where be sat in judgment ; and alao a palace for his wife, the 

 daughter of Pharaoh. (1 Kings, vii. 1-12 j 2 Chron., viii. 1.) He also 

 built several cities, and amont; them Tadmor in the wilderness, which 

 was afterwards called Palmyra; but the splendid ruins which still 

 exist belong to the age of the Roman empire. (1 Kings, ix. 15-19; 

 2 Chron., viii., 1-6.) In all these buildings he used as workmen the 

 descendants of the Canaanitcs who remained in the land, whom also 

 he made to pay a tribute : the Israelites he employed in his armies, 

 and in superintending the works. (1 Kings, ix. 20-23 ; 2 Chron., 

 viii., 7-10.) He built a navy at Ezion-geber, which brought him the 

 produce of Arabia and India. (1 Kings, ix. 26-28; x. 11, 12; 2 

 Chron., viii. 17-18.) [OpHin.] He had also another navy in the 

 Mediterranean, in company with a navy of Hiram, which made a 

 voyage to Turshish every three years, bringing gold, silver, ivory, 

 apes, and peacocks. (1 Kings, x. 22, 23; 2 Chron., ix. 21.) From 

 Egypt he imported horses and linen-yarn. (1 Kings, x. 28, 29.) 



While Solomon was thus at the height of his prosperity, he received 

 a visit from the Queen of Sheba, or Saba, in Ethiopia, who had heard 

 of his wisdom and came to prove it with hard questions, to which 

 Solomon gave such answers that she confessed that the half of his 

 wisdom had not been told her, and departed after an exchange of 

 presents. (1 Kings, x. ; Matt. ii. 42.) 



Solomon's prosperity was at length too much for him. Among his 

 magnificent establishments was a large harem, composed, in direct 

 opposition to the divine command, of women, from the remnant of 

 idolatrous nations of Canaan. These women seduced him into idolatry, 

 as a punishment for which God threatened to divide his kingdom after 

 his death : and even during his life signs were given of the coming 

 calamity in the rebellion of Hadad the Edomite, Rezon king of Syria, 

 and Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who afterwards became king of the 

 ten revolted tribes of Israel. (1 Kings, xi. ; Nehem., xiii. 26.) 



It is generally supposed that this threat had the effect of recovering 

 Solomon from his idolatry, and that he then recorded in the book of 

 Ecclesiastes his confessions of the vanity of wordly wisdom, riches, 

 and honour. This supposition is rather favoured by the internal 

 evidence of the narrative in the book of Kings, and by that of the 

 book of Ecclesiastes itself. Among the other works ascribed to him 

 are the Book of Proverbs, of which he must be regarded as the 

 compiler rather than the author, the Song of Solomon, the Wisdom 

 of Solomon, the Psalms Ixxii. and cxxvii., and also a collection of 

 eighteen psalms entitled ' The Psalter of Solomon/ which was found 

 in Greek, in the library at Augsburg, by Schott, and translated into 

 Latin by De la Cerda, and which are generally supposed to be the 

 composition of some Hellenistic Jew, in imitation of the Psalms of 

 David. Other writings ascribed to Solomon are mentioned by Suidas 

 s. v. 'Efejcfas), by Euseb. (' Praepar. Evang.,' ix. 31). See also Fabric., 

 'Cod. Pseudepigraph.,' I. 914, &c. ; 1014, &c. ; Bartolocc., 'Bibl. 

 Rabb.,' L 490, &c. Solomon died in the year 975 B.C., after a reign of 

 forty years. (1 Kings, xi. 42, 43 ; 2 Chron., ix. 30, 31.) 



The reL>n of Solomon was the period of the highest prosperity of 

 Israel and the commencement of its decline, both in its religious and 

 civil state. At its commencement the kingdom had reached its 

 utmost boundaries, and was in the enjoyment of profound peace and 

 plenty, and the Temple of God was built and dedicated ; but before its 

 close the king had turned idolater, rebellion had broken out, and the 

 kingdom was on the eve of a partition. The causes of this decline 

 are obvious. They were in part judicial, for in the magnificent esta- 

 blishments of Solomon, especially in bis treasures, his horses and 

 chariots, and his concubines, he had transgressed the fundamental 

 law which denned the duties of the king. [MosES, vol. iv. col. 363.] 

 But natural causes also may easily be found. The government of 

 Solomon was calculated rather to promote the splendour of the court 

 than the prosperity of the people. The wealth derived from com- 

 merce went into the king's treasury, aud the people were even taxed 

 in addition. (1 Kings, xii. 4, 10, 11.) The court set the example of 

 luxury, which weakened and depraved the whole nation, besides 

 training up that race of insolent young nobles whose bad advice to 

 Rehoboam was the immediate cause of the partition of the kingdom. 

 (1 Kings, xii. 6-11.) The subject nations were of course ready, espe- 

 cially after forty years of peace, to throw off the yoke, and it has even 

 been doubted whether the splendid scale on which Solomon established 

 the Temple worship was likely to support the national religion. On 

 the whole, therefore, this period of the history of Israel must be 

 regarded as far less solid than splendid. 



Solomon has always had an extensive fabulous reputation in the 

 East. As early as the time of Josephus magical powers were ascribed 

 to him (' Autiq.,' viii. 2, 5 ; comp. Origen, ' Ad Matth.,' xxvi. 63 ; 

 Nicet. Chon., ' Annal.,' iv. 7). The similar traditions of the Arabians 

 concerning him have been collected by Mr. Lane, ' Thousand and One 

 Nights,' Index, under Suleymdn Ibn Ddood. 



SOLON, son of Execestides, and a descendant of the royal house 

 of Codrus, was born about B.C. 638, in the island of Salamis. His 

 father is said to have considerably diminished his property by his 

 liberality, and that Solon in his youth engaged in mercantile under- 

 takings in order to better his circumstances. For this purpose, or, 

 according to others, in order to satisfy his thirst for knowledge, he 

 visited various countries. The time when he returned and settled at 

 Athens is not quite clear, but it seems very probable that it was soon 



after the Cylonian conspiracy (B.C. 612), when he must have been 

 about twenty-six years old. Athens at this time was in a deplorable 

 condition : it was distracted by internal feuds, and unable to maintain 

 itself against its hostile neighbours. It had shortly before been 

 deprived of the island of Salamis by the Megarians, and in the ensuing 

 war Athens had suffered such losses that at last a decree was made 

 that any one who ventured to propose the continuance or renewal of 

 the war should be punished with death. (Plut., ' Sol.,' 8 ; Diog. Lsert., 

 i. 45.) Solon, indignant at the humiliation of Athens and the pusil- 

 lanimity of her citizens, devised a plan by which he hoped to rouse 

 the Athenians to renewed activity without incurring the penalty of 

 the law. Being endowed by nature with considerable poetical talents, 

 as appears from the fragments of his works, he composed an elegy 

 upon the loss of Salamia (Miiller, ' Hist, of the Lit. of Ancient Greece,' 

 i., p. 117), and assuming the appearance of a madman, he rushed into 

 the Agora, where a crowd soon gathered around him. Here he recited 

 his poem to the multitude, and its inspiriting influence, together with 

 the probably preconcerted assistance of some of his friends, had such 

 an effect upon the people, that they not only repealed the law respect- 

 ing Salamis, but resolved to try once more to recover that island. 

 Solon was placed at the head of the Athenian forces, aud led them to 

 victory by a stratagem which is differently described by ancient 

 writers. (Plut., ' Sol.,' 8, 9.) All the Megarians in Salamis were 

 either slain or dismissed to their homes, and Salamis again came into 

 the hands of the Athenians. This successful undertaking, in which 

 the Athenians also appear to have gained possession of Nisaea, raised 

 Solon to a very high degree of popularity. In the war between 

 Delphi and Cirrha (about B.C. 600), Solon advised the Athenians to 

 support the former city against the sacrilegious Cirrhseans. Hia 

 advice was followed and crowned with success, for Cirrha was 

 destroyed, and Solon's fame now spread through all Greece. 



In consequence of the massacre of the friends of Cylon, notwith- 

 standing their having taken refuge in the temples and at the altars of 

 the gods, the republic was at this time divided between two parties, 

 which were as much the result of religious fears and scruples as of the 

 political state of the country. A part of the Athenians were enraged 

 against Megacles and his associates for their violation of all religious 

 feelings, and the surviving friends of Cylon did their utmost to foster 

 this hostility against their enemies. The Megaclids were looked upon 

 as a cursed race, and the Cylonids were gaining fresh strength every 

 day. It was evident that peace could not be restored until the Mega- 

 clids had atoned for their crime, and delivered the city from the 

 curse they appeared to have brought upon it. Solon, who appears to 

 have belonged to neither party, enjoyed the full confidence of his 

 fellow-citizens ; and when the dissensions had reached their highest 

 pitch, he persuaded the Megaclids to submit their case to the decision 

 of a commission of 300 persons to be chosen from among the nobles. 

 The sentence of this court was that the surviving Megaclids should 

 be sent into exile, and that the bodies of those who had died should 

 be taken from their graves and be carried beyond the frontiers of 

 Attica. During these troubles at Athens the Megarians renewed their 

 attempts upon Salamis with success. Both the Megarians however 

 aud the Athenians were unwilling to engage again in a long and 

 tedious warfare, and both agreed to request the Lacedaemonians to 

 appoint a commission of five men to investigate the claims of the two 

 states. Solon, who was the spokesman on the part of the Athenians, 

 established by various means the legitimacy of the claims of his 

 country, which thus again came into the possession of Salamis. 

 (Plut., 'Sol.,' 10, 12; Diog. Laert., i. 48.) 



Notwithstanding the removal of the Megaclids from Athens, the 

 party feuds continued to rage as before. For besides the religious 

 scruples arising from the crime of the Megaclids, which still seemed 

 to call down the divine wrath upon the city, there were other causes, 

 which could only be removed by a reform of the constitution. This 

 however could not be effected with any degree of success, unless all 

 religious fears and apprehensions were allayed by a complete purifi- 

 cation of the city. This was done by Epimenides of Crete, whom the 

 Athenians invited for this purpose. The way was thus prepared for 

 the legislation of Solon. 



The three ancient local divisions of the country the lowlandera 

 (IleSteis, or ITeSjtuot), highlanders (SiaKpiot), and the inhabitants of the 

 coast (riopoAoj) formed three distinct political parties ; the high- 

 landers being the most democratical, the lowlanders the most 

 oligarchical, and the men of the coast, who took a middle course, 

 wishing to reconcile the two other parties. Besides these political 

 parties, a struggle was going on between the wealthy and the poor. 

 Many of the latter had not only lost their property, but, not being 

 able to pay their creditors, had become the bondsmen of their 

 wealthy oppressors, and some had even been sold as slaves into foreign 

 countries. (Plut., 'Sol.,' 13.) The most moderate and wisest among 

 the Athenians saw that this state of things could not last, and that if 

 no remedy was applied the time would soon come when the people 

 would take the power into their own hands. Solon appeared to be the 

 only man who was impartial and skilful enough to mediate between 

 the hostile parties. In the year B.C. 594 he was invested with the 

 office of archou, and requested to act as mediator and to frame a new 

 code of laws. In considering the legislation which he undertook, it 

 should constantly be borne in mind that he received from both parties 



