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SOLOMON'S SEAL SOLON 



SOLOMON'S SEAL (polyyonatum} ; a genus 

 of plants, allied to the asparagus, which it resembles 

 in the flowers and fruit, but the form of the leaves 

 is very different. These last are entire, more or 

 less oval or lanceolate. In most of the species, the 

 leaves an- alternate, and all directed upwards, while 

 the flowers are pendulous, and, to the number of 

 two or more, are disposed upon a common foot- 

 stalk, which arises from the axil of each of the 

 leaves. The calyx is wanting; the corolla mono- 

 petalous, cylindrical, divided at the summit into six 

 obtuse lobes; the capsule is a rounded berry, con- 

 taining three cells. We have two species or more 

 in the United States. The name is said to be de- 

 rived from the roots, which, in the common Euro- 

 pean species, are full of knots; and a transverse 

 section of them shows characters which have been 

 thought by the superstitious to represent the impress 

 of the famous seal of Solomon. 



SOLOMON'S SONG, OR THE CANTICLES, 

 oil THE SONG OF SONGS ; one of the books of 

 the Old Testament, commonly attributed to Solo- 

 mon. The manner, tone and colouring of this book 

 bear marks of the voluptuousness, splendour and 

 luxury of the age of Solomon; but on account of 

 the traces of the Aramsan dialect, which it contains, 

 it has been assigned by Eichhorn, Jahn, and others, 

 to a later period. The scenes and incidents depic- 

 ted in it form a connected whole, which has more 

 of the idyllic or pastoral than of the dramatic char- 

 acter. Whether considered as the work of Solo- 

 mon or of some later Hebrew poet, many view it as 

 a love song, entirely destitute of religious allusions : 

 its subject being the passion of the bridegroom 

 and the bride. From the time of Origen to the 

 seventeenth century, critics ascribed an allegorical 

 religious meaning to this book; and, for above 1200 

 years, it was interpreted to describe the union of 

 the faithful with God, Christ being signified under 

 the emblem of the bridegroom, and his church under 

 that of the bride. The older Jewish rabbis, how- 

 ever, permitted the reading of the song to no one 

 under thirty years of age, and did not allow it to be 

 read and explained publicly. Erasmus was the first 

 theologian who endeavoured to prove that it was 

 wrong to give an allegorical interpretation to this 

 poem. Bossuet considered it Solomon's epithala- 

 inium. Lowth represents it as a sacred drama. Mr 

 Good, who has given a metrical version of it in 

 English, considers it a collection of Hebrew idyls; 

 to which division of poetry Sir William Jones had 

 previously referred it. 



SOLON, one of the seven wise men of Greece, 

 and the legislator of Athens, flourished about B. C. 

 600. He was descended from the ancient kings of 

 Athens, and from Codrus, but was in such narrow 

 circumstances as to be obliged to get his living by 

 commerce. He possessed poetical talents, and had 

 acquired extensive knowledge by his travels. His 

 manners were affable and pleasing : he was a friend 

 to reasonable enjoyment, not indifferent to riches, 

 but free from avarice : universally esteemed by his 

 fellow-citizens, he exercised an important influence 

 in public affairs. It was by his means that the in- 

 habitants of Cirrha were punished for a violation of 

 the temple at Delphi; that those persons who had, 

 contrary to their promise, murdered the adherents 

 of Cyron (who attempted to make himself master 

 of Athens) on sacred ground, were arraigned and 

 condemned; and that Epimenides was sent for from 

 Crete, to purify the city, and to soften the fierce- 

 ness of the Athenians by religious influences. Plu- 



tarch says, that Solon made use of the services of 

 Epimenides in the promulgation of his laws. As 

 an instance of his patriotism, we may mention his 

 venturing to propose the recovery of Salamis, at the 

 hazard of his life. That island had been conquered 

 by the Megarensians; and all the attempts of the 

 Athenians to reduce it had been without success. 

 It had therefore been forbidden, under pain of death, 

 to propose the renewal of the attempt. Solon, dis- 

 contented with this state of things, composed an 

 elegy, reproaching the Athenians for their weak- 

 ness, and, feigning himself mad, recited the poem 

 with the greatest warmth before the people. The 

 impression which he produced was heightened by 

 the exhortations of Pisistratus, who mingled with 

 the crowd: a new war was resolved upon, and the 

 command of the expedition was given to Solon and 

 Pisistratus. By the courage and prudence of the 

 commanders, Salamis was recovered; and it would 

 now have been easy for Solon to have made him- 

 self tyrant of Athens; buthe rejected all proposals 

 of that nature, convinced that the happiness of his 

 fellow-citizens, and the introduction of a new and 

 salutary form of government, would bring him a 

 more permanent reputation. Draco's bloody laws had 

 effected no reform in the internal condition of the 

 state: Athens was divided into factions: the com- 

 mon people were entirely in the power of the rich 

 and noble, and were cruelly oppressed by them. 

 The rich compelled their poor debtors either to cul- 

 tivate their grounds as serfs, or to sell their children, 

 or to give themselves up as slaves; and many citizens, 

 on this account, abandoned their country. The 

 public treasury and the temples were likewise plun- 

 dered. A new constitution was the general wish, 

 and even many of the rich saw the necessity of it. 

 In the third year of the forty-sixth Olympiad (B. C. 

 594), all parties united in choosing Solon archon, 

 and in investing him with full powers as a lawgiver. 

 He immediately abolished most of the cruel laws of 

 Draco, raised the nominal value of money, entirely 

 abrogated the debts, or reduced them so that they 

 should not be burdensome to the debtors ; and al- 

 though, at first, neither party was satisfied with 

 these measures, the poor being desirous of an equal 

 division of the lands, yet they were afterwards con- 

 vinced of their expediency and wisdom.. At the 

 same time, it was made a standing law, that no 

 citizen should give up his own person or his chil- 

 dren to his creditors, in satisfaction of his debts. 

 The constitution of Solon was founded on the prin- 

 ciple that the supreme power resided in the whole 

 people, and that in the popular assemblies lay the 

 prerogatives of declaring war and making peace, 

 contracting and abrogating alliances, choosing and 

 removing magistrates, repealing and passing laws. 

 The judicial power was divided between the people 

 and the judicial tribunals, already in existence. 

 Public offences were tried before the Areopagus 

 and the other courts; private suits were prosecuted 

 before new tribunals, the members of which were 

 chosen by lot from the whole people. The citizens 

 were divided into four classes, three of which were 

 determined by the amount of property, the fourth 

 being composed of all those who had 710 property, 

 this class was excluded from all public offices, but 

 was admitted into the general assemblies of the 

 people. This arrangement had the effect to en- 

 courage industry among the lowest class, by ren- 

 dering it an object of ambition to them to raise 

 themselves above the operation of the exclusion; 

 and it was the policy of Solon to encourage arts 



