Athens, after some time of tranquillity and peace, which the prudence and courage of Solon had procured, who was as great a warrior as he was a statesman, relapsed into her former dissensions about the government of the commonwealth, and was divided into as many parties as there were different sorts of inhabitants in Attica. For those that lived upon the mountains were fond of popular government; those in the low-lands were for an oligarchy; and those who dwelt on the sea-coasts, were for having a mixed government, compounded of these two forms blended together; and they hindered the other two contending parties, from getting any ground of each other. Besides these, there was a fourth party, which consisted only of the poor, who were grievously harassed and oppressed by the rich, on account of their debts, which they were not able to discharge. This unhappy party was determined to choose themselves a chief, who should deliver them from the inhuman severity of their creditors, and make an entire change in the form of their government, by making a new division of the lands.*

:

In this extreme danger, all the wise Athenians cast their eyes upon Solon, who was obnoxious to neither party; because he had never sided either with the injustice of the rich, or the rebellion of the poor; and they strongly solicited him to take the matter in hand, and to endeavour to put an end to these differences and disorders. He was very unwilling to take upon him so dangerous a commission: however, he was at last chosen Archon, and was ccnstituted supreme arbiter and legislator with the unanimous consent of all parties; the rich liking him as he was rich; and the poor because he was honest. He now had it in his power to make himself king several of the citizens advised him to it; and even the wisest among them, not thinking it was in the power of human reason to bring about a favourable change, consistent with the laws, were not unwilling that the supreme power should be vested in one man, who was so eminently distinguished for his prudence and justice. But notwithstanding all the remonstrances that were made to him, and all the solicitations and reproaches of his friends, who treated his refusal of the diadem as an effect of pusillanimity and meanness of spirit, he was still firm and unchangeable in his purpose and would hearken to no other scheme than that of settling a form of gove uent in his country, that should be founded upon the basis of a just and reasonable liberty. Not venturing to meddle with certain disorders and evils, which he looked upon as incurable, he undertook to bring about no other alterations or changes, than such as he thought he could persuade the citizens to comply with by argument and reason, or bring them into by the weight of his authority; wisely uniting, as he himself said, authority and power with reason and justice. Wherefore, when one afterwards asked him, if the laws which he had made for the Athenians were the best: Yes," said he, "the best they were capable of receiving.

66

The soul of popular states is equality. But for fear of disgusting the rich, Solon did not venture to propose any equality of lands and wealth; whereby Attica, as well as Laconia, would have resembled a paternal inheritance, divided among a number of brethren. However, he went so far as to put an end to the slavery and oppression of those poor citizens, whose excessive debts and accumulated arrears had forced them to sell their persons and liberty, and reduce themselves to a state of servitude and bondage. An express law was made, which declared all debtors discharged and acquitted of all their debts. This affair drew Solon into a troublesome difficulty, which gave him a great deal of vexation and concern. When he first determined to cancel the debts he foresaw that such an edict, which had something in it contrary to justice, would be extremely offensive. For which reason, he endeavoured in some measure to rectify the tenor of it, by introducing it with a specious preamble, which set forth a great many very plausible pretexts, and gave a colour of equity and reason to the law, which in reality it had not. But in order hereto,

Plut. in Solon, p. 85, 86.

he first disclosed his design to some particular friends whom he used to consult in all his affairs, and concerted with them the form and the terms in which this edict should be expressed. Now, before it was published, his friends, who were more interested than faithful, secretly borrowed great sums of money of their rich acquaintance, which they laid out in the purchase of lands, knowing they would not be affected by the edict. When this appeared, the general indignation that was raised by such a base and flagrant knavery, fell upon Solon, though in reality he had no hand in it.* But it is not enough for a man in office to be disinterested and upright himself; all that surround and approach him ought to be so too; wife, relations, friends, secretaries, and servants. The faults of others are charged to his account: all the wrongs, all the rapines, that are committed either through his negligence or connivance, are justly imputed to him; because it is his business, and one of the principal designs of his being put into such a trust, to prevent those corruptions and abuses.

This ordinance at first pleased neither of the two parties; it disgusted the rich, because it abolished the debts; and dissatisfied the poor, because it did not ordain a new division of the lands, as they had expected, and as Lycurgus had actually effected at Sparta. But Solon's influence at Athens fell very short of the power which Lycurgus had acquired in Sparta; for he had no other authority over the Athenians, than what the reputation of his wisdom, and the confidence of the people in his integrity, had procured him.

However, in a little time afterwards, this ordinance was generally approved, and the same powers as before, were continued to Solon.

He repealed all the laws, that had been made by Draco, except those against murder. The reason of his doing this, was the excessive rigour of these laws, which inflicted death alike upon all sorts of offenders: so that they who were convicted of sloth or idleness, or they who had only stolen a few herbs, or a little fruit out of a garden, were as severely punished as those that were guilty of murder or sacrilege.

He then proceeded to the regulation of offices, employments, and magistracies, all which he left in the hands of the rich; for which reason he distributed all the rich citizens into three classes, ranging them according to the difference of their incomes and revenues, and according to the value and estimation of each particular man's estate. Those who were found to have five hundred measures a year, as well in corn as in liquids, were placed in the first class; those who had three hundred were placed in the second; and those who had but two hundred made up the third.

All the rest of the citizens, whose income fell short of two hundred measures, were comprised in a fourth and last class, and were never admitted into any employments. But, in order to make them amends for this exclusion from offices, he left them a right to vote in the assemblies and judgments of the people; which at first seemed to be a matter of little consequence, but in time became extremely advantageous, and made them masters of all the affairs of the city; for most of the law-suits and differences returned to the people, to whom an appeal lay from all the judgments of the magistrates; and in the assemblies of the people, the greatest and most important affairs of the state, relating to peace or war, were also determined.

The Areopagus, so called from the place where its assemblies were held, had been a long time established. Solon restored and augmented its authority, leaving to that tribunal, as the supreme court of judicature, a general inspec. tion and superintendency over all affairs, as also the care of causing the laws. of which he was the guardian, to be observed and put in execution. Before his time, the citizens of the greatest probity and justice were made the judges of the Areopagus. Solon was the first who thought it convenient that none should be honoured with that dignity, except such as had passed through the

*Plut. in Solon. p. 87.

† Plut. in Solon. p. 88. This was a hill near the citadel of Athens, called Areopagus, that is to say, the hill of Mars; be. cause it was there Mars had been tried for the murder of Halirrothius, the son of Neptune. VOL. 1. T

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office of archon. Nothing was so august as this senate; and its reputation for judgment and integrity became so very great, that the Romans sometimes referred causes, which were too intricate for their own decision, to the determination of this tribunal.*

Nothing was regarded or attended to here but truth, and to the end that no external objects might divert the attention of the judges, their tribunal was always held at night, or in the dark; and the orators were not allowed to make use of any exordium, digression, or peroration.

Solon, to prevent, as much as possible, the abuse which the people might make of the great authority he left them, created a second council, consisting of four hundred men, a hundred out of every tribe; and ordered all causes and affairs to be brought before this council, and to be maturely examined by them, before they were proposed to the general assembly of the people; to whose judgment the sentiments of the other were to submit, and to which alone belonged the right of giving a final sentence and decision. It was upon this subject Anacharsis, whom the reputation of the sages of Greece had brought from the middle of Scythia, said one day to Solon, "I wonder you should empower the wise men only to deliberate and debate upon affairs, and leave the determination and decision of them wholly to fools.'

Upon another occasion, when Solon was conversing with him upon some other regulations he had in view, Anacharsis, astonished that he could expect to succeed in his designs of restraining the avarice and injustice of the citizens by written laws, answered him in this manner: "give me leave to tell you, that your writings are just like spiders' webs; the weak and small flies may be entangled and caught in them, but the rich and powerful will break through them and despise them."

Solon, who was an able and prudent man, was very sensible of the inconveniences that attend a democracy or popular government; but having thoroughly studied, and being perfectly well acquainted with the character and disposition of the Athenians, he knew it would be a vain attempt to take the sovereignty out of the people's hands; and that, if they parted with it at one time, they would soon resume it at another, by force and violence. He therefore contented himself with limiting their power by the authority of the Areopagus, and the council of four hundred; judging that the state, being supported and strengthened by these two powerful bodies, as by two good anchors, would not be so liable to commotions and disorders as it had been, and that the people would be kept within due bounds, and enjoy more tranquillity.

I shall only mention some of the laws which Solon made, by which the reader may be able to form a judgment of the rest. In the first place, every particular person was authorized to espouse the quarrel of any one that was injured and insulted; so that the first comer might prosecute the offender, and bring him to justice for the outrage he had committed.†

The design of this wise legislator in this ordinance, was to a custom his citizens to have a fellow-feeling for one another's sufferings and misfortunes, as they were all members of one and the same body.

By another law, those persons who, in public differences and dissensions, did not declare themselves of one party or other, but waited to see how things would go before they determined, were declared infamous, condemned to perpetual banishment, and to have all their estates confiscated. Solon had learned from long experience and deep reflection, that the rich, the powerful, and even the wise and virtuous, are usually the most backward to expose themselves to the inconveniences which public dissensions and troubles produce in society; and that their zeal for the public good does not render them so active and vigi lant in the defence of it, as the passions of the factious render them industrious to destroy it; that the just party, being thus abandoned by those that are ca

Val. Max. 1. viii. c. 1. Lucian. in Hermot. p. 595. Quintil. I. vi. c. 1. ↑ Plut. in Solon. p. 88.

P. 89.

pable of giving more weight, authority, and strength to it by their union and concurrence, becomes unable to contend with the audacious and violent enterprises of a few daring innovators. To prevent this misfortune, which may be attended with the most fatal consequences to a state, Solon judged it proper to force the well-affected, by the fear of greater inconveniences to themselves, to declare for the just party at the very beginning of seditions, and to animate the spirits and courage of the best citizens, by engaging with them in the common danger. By this method of accustoming the minds of the people to look upon that man almost as an enemy and a traitor, who should appear indifferent to, and unconcerned at the misfortunes of the public, he provided the state with a quick and sure resource against the sudden enterprises of wicked and profligate citizens.

Solon abolished the giving of portions in marriage with young women, unless they were only daughters, and ordered that the bride should carry no other fortune to her husband, than three suits of clothes, and some few householdgoods of little value; for he would not have matrimony become a traffic, and a mere commerce of interest, but desired that it should be regarded as an honourable fellowship and society, in order to raise subjects to the state, to make the married pair live agreeably and harmoniously together, and to give continual testimony of mutual love and tenderness to each other.*

Before Solon's time, the Athenians were not allowed to make their wills; the wealth of the deceased always devolved upon his children and family. Solon's law allowed every one that was childless, to dispose of his whole estate as he thought fit; preferring, by that means, friendship to kindred, and choice to necessity and constraint, and rendering every man truly master of his own fortune, by leaving him at liberty to bestow it where he pleased. This law, however, did not authorize indifferently all sorts of donations; it justified and approved of none but those that were made freely, and without any compulsion; without having the mind distempered and intoxicated with drinks or charms, or perverted and seduced by the allurements and caresses of a woman; for this wise lawgiver was justly persuaded, that there is no difference to be made between being seduced and being forced, looking upon artifice and violence, pleasure and pain, in the same light, when they are made use of as means to impose upon men's reason, and to captivate the liberty of their understanding.

Another regulation he made, was to lessen the rewards of the victors at the Isthmian and Olympic games, and to fix them at a certain value, viz. a hun dred drachms, which make about fifty livres, for the first sort;† and five hun dred drachms, or two hundred and fifty livres, for the second. He thought it a shameful thing, that athlete and wrestlers, a sort of people not only useless but often dangerous to the state, should have any considerable rewards allotted to them, which ought rather to be reserved for the families of those persons who died in the service of their country; it being very just and rea sonable, that the state should support and provide for such orphans, who probably might come in time to follow the good examples of their fathers.§

In order to encourage arts, trades, and manufactures, the senate of the Areopagus was charged with the care of inquiring into the ways and means that every man made use of to get his livelihood: and of chastising and punishing all those who led an idle life. Besides the fore-mentioned view of bringing arts and trades into a flourishing condition, this regulation was founded upon two other reasons, still more important.

In the first place, Solon considered, that such persons as have no fortune, and make use of no methods of industry to get their livelihood, are ready to employ all manner of unjust and unlawful means for acquiring money; and that the necessity of subsisting some way or other disposes them for committing all sorts of misdemeanours, rapines, knaveries, and frauds; from which

Phut. in Solon, p. 89. t $9. + $45. § Plut. in Solon, p. 91. Diog. Laërt. in Solon. p. 37

springs up a school of vice in the bosom of the commonwealth; and such aft evil gains ground, as does not fail to spread its infection, and by degrees corrupt the manners of the public.

In the second place, the most able statesmen have always looked upon these indigent and idle people as a troop of dangerous, restless, and turbulent spirits, eager after innovation and change, always ready for seditions and insurrections, and interested in the revolutions of the state, by which alone they can hope to change their own situation and fortune It was for all these reasons, that, in the law we are speaking of, Solon declared, that a son should not be obliged to support his father in old age or necessity, if the latter had not taken care to have his son brought up to some trade or occupation: all children that were spurious and illegitimate, were exempted from the same duty for it is evident, says Solon, that whoever thus contemns the dignity and sanctity of matrimony has never had in view the lawful end we ought to propose to ourselves in having children, but only the gratification of a loose passion. Having satisfied his own desires, the end he proposed to himself, he has no proper right over the persons who may spring from him, upon whose lives, as well as births, he has entailed indelible infamy and reproach.

It was prohibited to speak any ill of the dead; because religion directs us to account the dead as sacred, justice requires us to spare those that are no more, and good policy should prevent hatreds from becoming immortal.*

It was also forbidden to affront, or give ill language to any body in the temples and courts of judicature, in public assemblies, and in the theatres during the time of representation; for to be no where able to govern our passions and resentments, argues too untractable and licentious a disposition; as to restrain them at all times, and upon all occasions, is a virtue beyond the mere force of human nature, a perfection reserved for the evangelical law.

Cicero observes, that this wise legislator of Athens, whose laws were in force even in his time, had provided no law against parricide; and being asked the reason why he had not, he answered, "that to make laws against, and ordain punishments for, a crime that had never been known or heard of, was the way to introduce it, rather than to prevent it." I omit several of his laws concerning marriage and adultery, in which there are remarkable and manifest contradictions, and a great mixture of light and darkness, know dge and error, which we generally find among the very wisest of the heathens, who had no established principles or rules to go by.

After Solon had published his laws, and engaged the people by public oath to observe them religiously, at least for the term of a hundred years, he thought proper to remove from Athens, in order to give them time to take root, and to gather strength by custom; as also to rid hin.self of the trouble and importunity of those who came to consult him about the sense and meaning of is laws, and to avoid the co.nplaints and odium of others; for, as he said himself, in great undertakings, it is difficult if not impossible, to please all parties. He was absent ten years, in which interval of time we are to place his journey into Egypt, into Lydia to visit king Croesus, and into several other countries. At his return he found the whole city in commotion and trouble; the three old factions were revived, and had formed three different parties: Lycurgus was at the head of the people that inhabited the low-lands; Megacles, son of Alcmeon, was the leader of the inhabitants on the sea coast; and Pisistratus had declared for the mountaineers, to whom were joined the manufacturers and labourers who lived by their industry, and whose 'animosity was chiefly against the rich of these three leaders, the two last were the most powerful and considerable.‡

*Plut. in Solon, p. 89.

† Sapienter fecisse dicitur, cum de eo nihil sanxerit,quod antea commissum non erat; ne, non tam prohibere, quam admonere, videretur.-Pro Ros. Amer. n. 70,

A. M. 3445. ant. J. C. 559. Plut. in Solon, p. 94.