687 



SOLON. 



SOLON". 



583 



full power to arbitrate between them ; and he acted in the name and 

 on behalf of his country. The sincerity with which ho acted is mani- 

 fest from the fact that ho resisted all temptations and exhortations of 

 his friends to make himself tyrant of Athens, which he might undoubt- 

 edly have done without much difficulty, and that he himself lost a 

 considerable part of his property by his own legislation. 



The legislation of Solon consisted of two main parts : the one 

 embraced those measures by which he intended to remove the evils 

 under which the republic was actually labouring ; the object of the 

 second was to establish the constitution upon such a basis as would 

 prevent the recurrence of these evils. The first step he took was to 

 relieve those who wore oppressed by debts. This was done in a 

 manner which did not cause too great loss to the rich, and was yet a 

 great relief to the poor, by a measure called fffiffdxOfta, or a disburden- 

 ing ordinance, by which he not only established a reduction of the rate 

 of interest (which was probably made retrospective), but also lowered 

 the standard of the silver coinage in such a manner that 73 old 

 drachmae became worth 100 new ones. (Plut., 'Sol.,' 15.) He also 

 released the pledged lands, and restored them to their owners, but it is 

 not clear whether this was effected by a particular measure, or whether 

 it was included in his disburdening ordinance. Those citizens who 

 had been enslaved by their creditors were restored to freedom, and 

 those who had been sold into foreign countries seem to have recovered 

 their liberty at the expense of those who had sold them. Finally, the 

 law which gave to the creditor a right to the person of his insolvent 

 debtor was abolished. Some of the ancient writers state that he 

 cancelled all debts, but the best authorities do not mention any such 

 measure, which is the more improbable, as we read that the most 

 violent democrats, who would certainly have been pleased with it, 

 were not satisfied with his disburdening ordinance. If we except the 

 extreme of both parties, the relieving measures of Solon were received 

 with universal approbation, and sacrifices were offered to the gods for 

 the happy change. Thus encouraged, Solon proceeded to the second 

 and more difficult part of his task. The first thing he did was to 

 abolish the bloody laws of Draco, with the exception of those relating 

 to murder. The characteristic feature of his new constitution was, 

 that he substituted property for birth as a title to the honours and 

 offices of the state. The change brought about by this new standard 

 cou'rd not at first be great, as the eupatrids were undoubtedly the 

 wealthiest citizens. According to their property, he divided the whole 

 population of Attica into four classes, and regulated their political 

 rights and duties according to the amount of their income from their 

 landed property. The first class comprised all those citizens whose 

 estates yielded a yearly income of 500 medimni (a medimnus is a 

 bu=hel, six pints and a fraction) of dry or liquid produce, whence they 

 are called jrevTa/coo-jo^e'St/ti/oi ; the second, those who had 300 rnedimui, 

 and could keep a war-horse, whence they were called fcnrets, and 

 formed the Athenian cavalry; the third contained those whose estates 

 yielded 200 medimni. They were called fevyirai, from the yoke of 

 cattle for the cultivation of their fields, and formed the heavy-armed 

 infantry in the Athenian armies. All the remaining population whose 

 income did not amount to 200 medimni constituted the fourth class, 

 with the name of Orjres, that is, hired labourers, who were excluded 

 from all the offices of the state, and formed the light-armed infantry 

 in the armies, as subsequently they also manned the fleets. They had 

 however the right of voting in the popular assembly, as well as the 

 exercise of the judicial power, which Solon placed in the hands of the 

 people. The archonship and the other great civil and military offices, 

 which had before been held by the nobles alone, became now ac- 

 cessible to all the citizens contained, in the first class, while the 

 second and third classes had access to all the minor offices. The 

 public burdens were distributed according to the classes ; but as the 

 lower classes had fewer political rights than the higher, the contribu- 

 tions to the necessities of the state were for the lower classes pro- 

 portionately light, for the second and third classes were not taxed 

 according to the real value of their property, but that of the second 

 clas-i was reduced by one sixth, and that of the third class by one-third 

 below its real value. (Bockh, ' Staatshaush,' ii., p. 29, &c.) The fourth 

 class was altogether exempted from direct taxes. This distribution 

 of power and duties was, as Solon himself expressed it, intended to 

 give to the people as much power as would enable them to protect 

 themselves, and to the wealthy as much as was necesssary to maintain 

 their dignity. (Plut., ' Sol.,' 18.) 



The four old tribes into which Attica was divided were left unaltered 

 by the new constitution. The magistrates also appear to have 

 retained the same power which they had had before, with the 

 exception that they were now made responsible for the exercise of it 

 to the people, and not, as before, merely to the order of the nobles. 

 From the judicial sentence of a magistrate an appeal also was left to 

 the popular courts of justice, which were numerously composed of 

 citizens of all classes indiscriminately. (Thirlwall, ' Hist, of Greece,' 

 ii., p. 39, SO.) Two other institutions, which were intended as 

 bulwarks against democratical extravagance, the senate of four hundred 

 and the council of the Areopagus, are almost unanimously ascribed to 

 Solon. But as regards the senate, there can be no doubt that it existed 

 previous to the legislation of Solon, and was composed of the nobles, 

 but its number cannot be ascertained with any accuracy. Solon 

 raised it to the number of four hundred, and threw it open to all 



citizens belonging to the first three classes, in such a manner that 

 each of the four tribes was represented in it by one hundred 

 members. Whether these members were elected, as Plutarch states, 

 or whether they were appointed by lot, as in subsequent times, is 

 uncertain. Each member however had to give evidence of his 

 qualification by an examination called So/cijuacria, and no person was 

 eligible who had not attained the a^e of thirty. All members of the 

 senate were changed every year, at the end of which they were liable 

 to give an account of their conduct during the time of their adminis- 

 tration. The senate was divided into sections, called prytanies, 

 which succeeded each other in the management of the affairs through- 

 out the year, and held their assemblies in the Prytaneum. The most 

 important part of their business consisted in preparing those measures 

 which were to be laid before the popular assembly, which had the 

 power to accept, reject, or modify them. The senate however hud 

 other powers connected with the finances and other branches of the 

 administration. 



As regards the rights which Solon gave to the popular assembly, no 

 measures could originate in it, but its discussions were confined to such 

 measures as had been prepared by the senate. Every citizen, to what- 

 ever property-class he belonged, had a right to take part and to speak in 

 it, so that the vote of the wealthiest nobleman had no more weight than 

 that of the poorest labourer. No one however was allowed to speak 

 who had not attained the age of twenty, and the oldest persons were 

 called upon by the crier to vote first. Though the political power of 

 the assembly was limited, the judicial power with which Solon invested 

 it was considerable. Out of the popular assembly 6000 men above 

 the age of thirty were chosen every year by lot, to form a supreme 

 court of justice called the rjAiaia, to which appeals were made from 

 the sentence of magistrates, and which had in certain cases to take 

 cognisance, independently of any other court, and in subsequent times 

 assumed all judicial power in the state. The importance and influence 

 of the Heliaea appears from the oath which the heliasts had to take at 

 the time -of their appointment, and which is preserved in Demosthenes 

 (c. ' Timocrat.,' p. 746.) 



It would be impossible to give any detailed account of the civil 

 and criminal legislation of Solon, although there were many materials 

 for such a purpose. It may suffice here to state, that although 

 he did not in the same degree as Lycurgus interfere with and 

 regulate the private affairs and the mode of living of his fellow- 

 citizens, yet, like most ancient legislators, he did not think any part 

 of the life of the citizens unworthy of his attention. The education of 

 the young, and the conduct of women as well as of men, were to him as 

 important as any of those subjects which in modern times alone engross 

 the attention of legislators. Plutarch (' Sol.,' 1 8) states that Solon 

 clothed his laws intentionally in obscure language, for the purpose of 

 increasing the influence of the courts of justice. But surely nothing 

 is more contrary to the whole spirit of his legislation than such a 

 scheme, and the alleged obscurity, if it existed at all, was probably 

 nothing more than the natural consequence of the state of the 

 language in the days of Solon, in comparison with what it was two 

 centuries later. 



The Attic tribes had from early times been divided into forty-eight 

 naucraries, and Solon is said to have established the law according to 

 which each of these naucraries was charged with the equipment of a 

 trireme and the mounting of two horsemen. If this is true, he must 

 be regarded as the founder of the Attic navy. (Phot. s. v. vavKpapla,) 

 Solon also encouraged the arts and manufactures, and for this purpose 

 he invited foreigners to settle at Athens. (Plut., 'Sol.,' 24.) The 

 calendar likewise received some improvements from Solon. 



He had made such arrangements in regard to the observations of 

 his laws, and their constant revision, that it is impossible to place any 

 confidence in the statement of Plutarch, that he enacted them to 

 remain in force unaltered only for a century. The laws were in- 

 scribed upon wooden tablets, put together in pyramidal blocks, which 

 turned upon an axis. They were at first kept in the Acropolis, and 

 afterwards in the Prytaneum. These axes were called |oj/es and 

 Kvpfltis, and according to some authors the former contained the civil, 

 and the latter the religious laws. (Plut., ' Sol.,' 25.) 



When his legislation was completed, Solon is said to have been so 

 much annoyed at Athens by the remarks of the discontented, and the 

 importunate inquiries of the curious, that he asked permission to 

 leave Athens for ten years, hoping that during this period the people 

 would become familiar with their new institutions. The permission 

 was granted, and Solon is said to have visited Egypt, Cyprus, and Asia 

 Minor. The beautiful story of his interview with Croesus, kiug of 

 Lydia, which is told by Herodotus, Plutarch, and others, is incon- 

 sistent with chronology, as even some of the ancients have observed, for 

 Croesus did not come to the throne till about B.C. 560, some twenty or 

 thirty years later than the time at which Solon must have visited Asia 

 Minor. (Voemel, ' Exercitat. Chronolog. de Aetate Solonis, et Croesi,' 

 Frankfurt, 1832.) On his return he found Athens again distracted by 

 factions. The three parties of the highlauders, the men of the plain, 

 aud the men of the coast, were again engaged in hard struggles. The 

 first of these parties was headed by Piaistratus, the friend of Solon, 

 the second by Lycurgus, and the third by Magacles. Solon exerted all 

 his powers to avert the threatening danger, and to reconcile the heads 

 of the parties. But he laboured in vain, and although Pisistratus 



