L A W, 
Hie afterwards quietly continued ; but the hiftorian gives 
us no proof of the lincere amendment in the morals of 
this eccentric genius. 
In the new legiflation of Athens, an unlimited extent 
■was not allowed to paternal power over males. They 
continued, indeed, dependent upon the father to a certain 
extent through life, if not manumitted, which was fel- 
dom the cafe except for the purpofe of marrying an heirefs. 
Where alfo the fathers were diltrefled, it was cuftomary 
to emancipate their children that they might efcape the 
ignominy of their parents' misfortunes ; but the duties 
of a father and fon were in other refpedts very properly 
made reciprocal. The child was bound to fupport his 
parents ; but, if the father did not provide him with a 
trade, he was exempted from furnilhing him with main¬ 
tenance ; and the illegitimate child, as the offspring of no 
honourable motive, was equally freed from this filial ob¬ 
ligation. The monfter who beat his parents was declared 
infamous; and difobedience was a i'ufficient caufe for re¬ 
jection from the dignity of archon. In a laocracy, where 
every thing was determined by the aggregate voice of the 
people, reverence and refpedt to age could not be too 
ilrongly inculcated. On the other hand, the father could 
not difinherit his children from paftion or flight preju¬ 
dices ; he mull previoufly go before the judges, and there 
lodge his complaint ; and, on proof of fufficient caufe, 
the crier was ordered to proclaim, that fuch a citizen re¬ 
jected the unworthy wretch. If the parent, from dotage, 
indolence, or other caufe, became incapable of managing 
his eflate and property, the fon might impeach him be¬ 
fore his fellow-citizens of the fame ward, and obtain from 
them the inveftment of that inheritance which the inca¬ 
pacity of the parent would have fquandered or reduced ; 
and fuch a diffipation of property by fpendthrifts fub- 
jedted them to the charge and punifhment of infamy. 
A principal feature in the laws of Solon is the provid¬ 
ing for defolate heritages; for the care of heirefles and 
orphans, whom he entrulfed to the archons ; and that 
power which enabled an Athenian, devoid of male ifi'ne, 
to preferv.e his name among his fellow-citizens, and be¬ 
llow on fome adopted male itranger who might deferve it 
the portion which otherwife would be divided among an 
ungrateful or inattentive kindred. This right aifo fe- 
cured to the manes of the deceafed the accuilomed rites 
which Greece, as well as the nations of the eaftern world, 
paid to the tombs of departed anceltry. But the parent 
was at the fame time excluded from depriving his own 
Ions of their inheritance, though he who thould be pre¬ 
vioufly adopted could not be excluded, but (hared equally 
with the after-born male children. A confequence of 
adoption was, that the fon manumitted loft all right in the 
inheritance of his natural father, but not of his natural 
mother; for every man continued to have the fame mo¬ 
ther. The child adopted could not afterwards abandon 
his fictitious parent, unlefs he left him a fon to fupply his 
own place; and, this done, he might again return to his 
own family ; but, if the adopted failed in the main con¬ 
dition, that of railing a family to his legal parent, the ef- 
tate reverted ; the adopted had no power of devifing it 
himfqlf; but no adoption by a map who had legitimate 
fons then born fnould be valid. 
Solon was the firft that introduced the law of wills at 
Athens; but he did not think man was to live entirely 
for himfelf, nor folely to enjoy the property he pofl'efled ; 
his children had a fair claim upon his eftate; for want of 
them only, or their attaining the age of fixteen, could he 
devife it. If he left no will, it defcended among his near- 
? eft relations, as it had been accuftomed previoufly, name¬ 
ly, by lot. Iliad , xiv. But, whiift Solon gave the power 
of devife in default of children, he allowed it not under 
every circumftance; and, if the bequeft was obtained by 
improper means, either violence or fraud, the will was fet 
afide ; even the perfuafions of a wife were a caufe of nul¬ 
lity. Deceit, fays his biographer, was confidered by him 
in the fame light as compulfion ; and pleafure as great a 
Vol. XII. No. 835. 
35 7 
pervertor as pain. If a man had legitimate daughters 
even, he might devife his eliates; but, in fuch cafe, it 
muff be on condition the devifees took them in marriage. 
The defcent of e(fates, where no will was 'allowed, re¬ 
mained as theretofore. The inheritance could not lineally 
afcend, and it appears to have been partible among ail 
the fons, and, in default of fons, among the daughters. 
Sir William Jones has briefly put together the laws of in¬ 
heritance, as follows: “The adopted fon, and the after- 
born fons of the perfon who adopted him, (hall be coheirs 
of the eftate. If a citizen die inteftate and leave daugh¬ 
ters, the neared kin linen who marry them (hall inherit 
the eftate; but, if he die childlefs, his brothers, by the 
fame father, (hall be his heirs; and the legitimate fons of 
thofe brothers (hall fucceed to the (hare of their fathers. 
If there be no brothers, the filters on the father’s fide and 
their children (hall inherit. On failure of filters and ne¬ 
phews, the coufins on the father’s fide (hall be heirs in 
the fame manner ; but males and children of males (hall 
be preferred, although in a remoter degree, provided that 
they belong to the dime branch. If there be no klnfman 
on the father’s fide fo near as the fecond coufins, then let 
thofe on the mother’s fide fucceed to the eftate in the 
fame order. Should there be no maternal kinfman with¬ 
in the degree above limited, the next paternal kinfman 
(hall be the heir.” But firft coufins, once removed, took 
the (hares only their refpedtive parents would have had ; 
and the fon of an heirefs took his mother’s eftate on at¬ 
taining the age of (ixteen years, as has been mentioned 
before. /.lltic Law , xi. xii. 
Solon feems to have been particularly attentive to the 
boundaries and fecurity of each man’s property, for the 
prevention of difpute and mifchief, and thofe little con- 
tefts lb frequently occurring from too near a neighbour¬ 
hood. No one could dig a ditch or trench but at the 
fame diftance from his neighbour’s ground that the trench 
or ditch was deep; he who would raife a ftock of bees 
mud hive them three hundred feet from thofe railed by 
another. Common trees might be planted nine, but olives 
ten, feet from the boundary, that neither the root nor the 
branching might be an injury to the land of another; no 
wall could be built under one foot from a neighbour’s 
ground ; if a houfe were built, it mult be two feet dif- 
tant; he that built one in a field mult eredl it a bow-fhot 
from his neighbour. As water was fcarce in Attica, So¬ 
lon ordered that, where there was a public well, all with¬ 
in the diftance of four furlongs might make ufe of it; 
where the diftance was greater, parties mult dig their own ; 
but, if they dug ten fathoms without reaching water, they 
had liberty to fill a vefl'el of lix gallons twice a-day at 
their neighbours’. 
Theft, as in the Jewifli law, feems mixed by Solon as a 
criminal and civil offence : the double might be reftored, 
and a fine paid to the ftate. From the laws againlt de¬ 
faming and reviling perfons dead and alive, we may dif- 
cern, from the commencement, the light flippant charac¬ 
ter of the Athenian people, (Adts xvii. 21.) and their al- 
moft innate difpofition to abufe; and from thofe prohi¬ 
biting the next heir from becoming guardian to the mi¬ 
nor, and the guardian from marrying the mother of the 
ward, we may collect the opinion entertained by Solon of 
the want of principle among his countrymen. The fame 
want that dictated the eternal perjuries, forgeries of wills, 
frauds, feizures, and unjuft claims of fucceffion, and abule 
of guardian(hip, fo ftrongly marked throughout the 
fpeeches of Ifeus ; the fame want that made Alcibiades 
reply in anfwer to a queftion, whether he W'o'uld not truifc 
his country with his life; “No, not even my mother, left 
(lie fliould miftake a black bean for a white one.” We 
may admire the very fplendid abilities of the great men 
of her republic in arms, in arts, and in letters, and the 
few virtuous (ages amongft them ; but the very treal'ures 
of literature and philofophy with which the fchool of 
Athens has (tored the world, have alfo molt unblufhingly 
handed down the teitimony of thofe vices her inftitutidns 
4 Y fandtionesj. 
