SOLOMON'S SONG 



5437 



SOLUTION 



Europeans, who are there for commercial rea- 

 sons. The Solomon Islands were discovered by 

 Alvaro Mendana, the Spanish navigator, in 

 1567. See map, with article OCEANIA. 



SOLOMON'S SONG, SONG OF SONGS, or 

 CANTICLES, one of the books of the Old Testa- 

 ment, a. dramatic poem written in celebration 

 of wedded love. In its present form the origi- 

 nal assignment of parts to characters is difficult 

 to restore. There are two current interpreta- 

 tions, in the first of which King Solomon, dis- 

 guised as a shepherd, woos a country maiden 

 and takes her finally to his court, where they 

 are married in great splendor, returning after- 

 ward to her rural home for a honeymoon. In 

 the second, the maiden, though surrounded by 

 all the allurements of king and court, remains 

 true to an actual shepherd lover, to whom she 

 at last returns. The culmination of either plot 

 is found in the lines (VIII, 6-7) : 



For love is strong as death ; 

 Jealousy is cruel as Sheol. 



Many waters cannot quench love, 

 Neither can the floods drown it. 



In Jewish theology, Solomon's Song is con- 

 sidered as an allegory, picturing the close rela- 

 tionship between God and Israel. Christian 

 commentators regard it as symbolizing the 

 union of Christ and the Church. 



SO'LON (about 639-559 B.C.), an Athenian 

 statesman, one of the most famous lawgivers 

 of all time, whose name is yet a synonym for 

 wisdom. He was by class a noble, and was 

 well educated, but was obliged to support him- 

 self by commercial ventures. His first public 

 service consisted in an appeal to the Athenians 

 which led to the regaining of the island of 

 Salamis, long in the hands of the Megarians. 

 About 594 B.C. he was elected archon, and 

 promptly instituted legal and governmental 

 measures which have made his name famous. 



Political and economic reforms were sadly 

 needed in Athens. Most of the money had 

 accumulated in the hands of a comparative 

 few; living was high, and the small farmers had 

 been compelled in many instances to mortgage 

 their land, while the free laborers had sold 

 themselves into slavery to obtain the means of 

 subsistence. By a sweeping ordinance Solon 

 annulled all these debts and mortgages and pro- 

 vided that in the future no man should pledge 

 his own person as security in borrowing money. 

 He changed the system of coinage in such a 

 way as to give immediate relief to many, and 

 forbade the exportation of most articles. 



His constitutional reforms consisted in a re- 

 division of citizens into four classes, according 

 to income, members of all classes to hold mem- 

 bership in the assembly and in the public law 

 courts. In that offices were open only to mem- 

 bers of the three higher classes, and the archon- 

 ship only to the highest class, the reforms of 

 Solon left the constitution of Athens oligarchic, 

 but the granting to every citizen of legal and 

 judicial privileges was a long step toward de- 

 mocracy. 



According to tradition, Solon pledged the 

 Athenians to keep his laws for ten years, and 

 left the state for that length of time. Civil 

 strife broke out almost immediately, however, 

 and before the death of Solon Athens had 

 come into the control of the tyrant Pisistratus. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 

 Archon Pisistratus 



Oligarchy Seven Wise Men 



SOLSTICE, sol'stis, a term used in as- 

 tronomy to describe the point in the ecliptic 

 at the greatest distance from the equator, 

 either north in summer or south in winter. The 

 word is derived from the Latin solstitium, 

 meaning a standing still of the sun. In the 

 spring the sun crosses the equator in the eclip- 

 tic to the north of the equator on June 21. 

 The sun apparently stands still or holds the 

 same position for several days before starting 

 southward. It reaches the southern winter sol- 

 stice about December 22, when the northern 

 day is shortest, and the days then begin to 

 lengthen as the sun turns towards the north 

 and continues thus until June 21, when the 

 northern, longest day of the year occurs. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred for 

 related information to the following articles in 

 these volumes : 

 Ecliptic Sun 



Equinox Tropics 



SOLUTION, so lu' shun. When the particles 

 of a solid, such as sugar, or of a gas, as carbon 

 dioxide, or of a liquid, as alcohol, mingle with 

 the particles of a fluid so completely that a 

 uniform liquid results, a solution is formed. 

 The resulting liquid is not an example of chem- 

 ical, but physical, change, for a new chemical 

 compound is not formed. In case of a sugar 

 solution, for example, the substance may be re- 

 converted into sugar by evaporating the water. 

 When any solvent has dissolved as much of a 

 given substance as it can, the solution is said 

 to be saturated. At the same time it may not 

 be saturated with respect to another substance, 



