His chief application had been to the study of philosophy, and especially to that part of it which we call politics, and which teaches the art of government. His extraordinary merit gave him one of the first ranks among the seven sages of Greece, who rendered the age we are speaking of so illustrious. These sages often paid visits to one another.* One day that Solon went to Miletus to see Thales, the first thing he said to him was, that he wondered why he had never chosen to have either wife or children. Thales made him no answer then: but a few days after he contrived that a stranger should come into their company, and pretend that he was just arrived from Athens, from whence he had set out about ten days before. Solon asked him, if there was no news at Athens when he came away. The stranger, who had been taught his lesson, replied, that he had heard of nothing but the death of a young gentleman, whose funeral was attended by all the town; because, as they said, he was the son of the worthiest man in the city, who was then absent.-Alas! cried Solon, interrupting the man's story; how much is the poor father of the youth to be pitied! But pray, what is the gentleman's name?—I heard his name, replied the stranger, but I have forgotten it: I only remember, that the people talked much of his wisdom and justice.-Every answer afforded new cause of anxiety and terror to the inquiring father, who was so justly alarmed.-Was it not, said he at length, the son of Solon?-The very same, replied the stranger. Solon at these words rent his clothes, and beat his breast, and, expressing his sorrow by tears and groans, abandoned himself to the most sensible affliction. Thales, seeing this, took him by the hand, and said to him with a smile: Comfort yourself, my friend; all that has been told to you, is a mere fiction. Now you see the reason why I never married: it is because I am unwilling to expose myself to such trials and afflictions.

Plutarch has given us a large refutation of Thales's reasoning, which tends to deprive mankind of the most natural and reasonable attachments in life, in lieu of which the heart of man will not fail to substitute others of an unjust and unlawful nature, which will expose him to the same pains and inconveniences. The remedy, says this historian, against the grief that may arise from the loss of goods of friends, or of children, is not to throw away our estates, and reduce ourselves to poverty, to make an absolute renunciation of all friendship, or to confine ourselves to a state of celibacy; but upon all such accidents and misfortunes, to make a right use of our reason. Athens, after some interval 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 different parties, as there were sorts of inhabitants in Attica. For those that lived upon the mountains, were fond

* Plut. in Solon. p. 81, 82

↑ Plut. in Solon. p. 85, 86.

of popular government; those in the low-lands were for an oli. garchy; and those that dwelt on the sca-coasts, were for having a mixed government, composed of those two forms blended together and these 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 solicited him very earnestly to take the management of affairs, 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 constituted 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 thought only of settling a form of government in his country, that should be the parent 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 the influence of reason; or bring them into, by the weight of his authority; wisely mixing, 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 that could be given them; Yes, said he, the best they were capable of receiving.

The soul of popular states is equality. But, for fear of disgusting the rich, Solon durst not 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 ar

rears 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 scrape,* 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, 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 large sums of money of their rich acquaintance, which they laid out in purchasing of lands, as knowing they would not be affected by the edict. When the edict was published, the general indignation, that was raised by such a base and flagrant knavery, fell upon Solon, though in fact 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 rapine, that may be 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 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 that 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 those laws, which inflicted death alike upon all sorts of offenders; so that they who were convicted of sloth and idleness, or they that had stolen only a few herbs or a little fruit out of a garden, were as severely punished as those that were guilty of murder or sacrilege.

*Plut. in Solon. p. 87.

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 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 that were found to have 500 measures per annum, as well in corn as in liquids, were placed in the first rank; those that had 300 were placed in the second; and those that had but 200 made up the third.

All the rest of the citizens, whose income fell short of 200 measures, were comprised in a fourth and last class, and were never admitted into any employments.* But, in order to make 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 were ultimately referred 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 af fairs 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 inspection and superintendency over all affairs, as also the care of causing the laws (of which he made that body the guardian) to be observed and put in execution. Before his time, the citizens of the greatest probity and worth were made the judges of the Areopagus. Solon was the first that thought it convenient that none should be honoured with that dignity, except such as had passed through the 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 alone; 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 400 men, 100 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 gene* Plut. in Solon. p. 88.

This was a hill near the citadel of Athens, called Areopagus, that is to say, the hill of Mars; because it was there Mars had been tried for the murder of Halirrothius, the son of Neptune

Val. Max. 1. viii. c. 1. Lucian in Hermot. p. 595. Quintil. L. vi. c. 1.

ral assembly of the people; to the judgment of which 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 that Anacharsis (whom the reputation of the sages of Greece had brought from the heart of Scythia) said one day to Solon, I wonder you should empower 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 these written laws are just like spiders' webs: the weak and small may be caught and entangled 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 enjoy more tranquillity.

I shall mention only 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 authorised 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 by this ordinance was, to accustom his citizens to have a fellow-feeling of one another's sufferings and misfortunes, as they were all members of one and the same body.

By another law,f those persons that 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 learnt, 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 so