Type topology

readme.md

It is too hard to play with the topology of type in HTML! This effectively spools (or coils) a long column of text onto a cylinder with a circumference equal to the height of the first section, so that when you get to the beginning of the second section, the top of the first section comes around again. (To prove it's the same DOM element, try highlighting a sentence from Solon and notice that your highlight is still there when it comes around the second time.)

For example text I've chosen Plutarch's Parallel Lives, so that you may compare Solon and Poplicola.

If you view on a sufficiently wide screen, you'll notice that when you get to the third section (Plutarch's comparison of the two), it breaks down a bit. What I'd like is for the beginnings of the previous two sections to be aligned, so that you have three columns of text with headers aligned. But, since the sections are different lengths, that would require different columns scrolling at different rates. I haven't gotten there yet.

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Ideas

There are definitely more elegant ways to do this but I'm an idiot. You can imagine other topologies, especially for periodic prose. Like maybe there's a daily weather report. Maybe it's more, like, elliptic, i.e. periodic in two dimensions; what if the previous day's weather is aligned at left, and the preview year's weather on a row above? Is that a good idea? Probably not!!!

Also, not necessarily topologies per se, but there are lots of ways you could recollect (re-collect) earlier passages in margins when references come up. Hmmm. It's cute that DOM stays intact here but probably you'd want lots of clones.

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Sources:

• Solon
• Poplicola
• Comparison

comparison.html

<h2>The Comparison of Poplicola with Solon</h2>

<p>
There is something singular in the present parallel which has not occurred 
in any other of the lives; that the one should be the imitator of the other, 
and the other his best evidence. Upon the survey of Solon's sentence to 
Croesus in favour of Tellus's happiness, it seems more applicable to Poplicola; 
for Tellus, whose virtuous life and dying well had gained him the name 
of the happiest man, yet was never celebrated in Solon's poems for a good 
man, nor have his children or any magistracy of his deserved a memorial; 
but Poplicola's life was the most eminent amongst the Romans, as well for 
the greatness of his virtue as his power, and also since his death many 
amongst the distinguished families, even in our days, the Poplicolae, Messalae, 
and Valerii, after a lapse of six hundred years, acknowledge him as the 
fountain of their honour. Besides, Tellus, though keeping his post and 
fighting like a valiant soldier, was yet slain by his enemies; but Poplicola, 
the better fortune, slew his, and saw his country victorious under his 
command. And his honours and triumphs brought him, which was Solon's ambition, 
to a happy end; the ejaculation which, in his verses against Mimnermus 
about the continuance of man's life, he himself made-
</p><p>"Mourned let me die; and may I, when life ends,
<br>Occasion sighs and sorrows to my friends," is evidence to Poplicola's 
happiness; his death did not only draw tears from his friends and acquaintance, 
but was the object of universal regret and sorrow through the whole city, 
the women deplored his loss as that of a son, brother, or common father. 
"Wealth I would have," said Solon, "but wealth by wrong procure would not," 
because punishment would follow. But Poplicola's riches were not only justly 
his, but he spent them nobly in doing good to the distressed. So that if 
Solon was reputed the wisest man, we must allow Poplicola to be the happiest; 
for what Solon wished for as the greatest and most perfect good, this Poplicola 
had, and used and enjoyed to his death.
</p><p>And as Solon may thus be said to have contributed to Poplicola's 
glory, so did also Poplicola to his, by his choice of him as his model 
in the formation of republican institutions; in reducing, for example, 
the excessive powers and assumption of the consulship. Several of his laws, 
indeed, he actually transferred to Rome, as his empowering the people to 
elect their officers, and allowing offenders the liberty of appealing to 
the people, as Solon did to the jurors. He did not, indeed, create a new 
senate, as Solon did, but augmented the old to almost double its number. 
The appointment of treasurers again, the quaestors, has a like origin; 
with the intent that the chief magistrate should not, if of good character, 
be withdrawn from greater matters; or, if bad, have the greater temptation 
to injustice, by holding both the government and treasury in his hands. 
The aversion to tyranny was stronger in Poplicola; any one who attempted 
usurpation could, by Solon's law, only be punished upon conviction; but 
Poplicola made it death before a trial. And though Solon justly gloried, 
that, when arbitrary power was absolutely offered to him by circumstances, 
and when his countrymen would have willingly seen him accept it, he yet 
declined it; still Poplicola merited no less, who, receiving a despotic 
command, converted it to a popular office, and did not employ the whole 
legal power which he held. We must allow, indeed, that Solon was before 
Poplicola in observing that-
</p><p>"A people always minds its rulers best
<br>When it is neither humoured nor oppressed."
</p><p>The remission of debts was peculiar to Solon; it was his great 
means for confirming the citizens' liberty; for a mere law to give all 
men equal rights is but useless, if the poor must sacrifice those rights 
to their debts, and, in the very seats and sanctuaries of equality, the 
courts of justice, the offices of state, and the public discussions, be 
more than anywhere at the beck and bidding of the rich. A yet more extraordinary 
success was, that, although usually civil violence is caused by any remission 
of debts, upon this one occasion this dangerous but powerful remedy actually 
put an end to the civil violence already existing, Solon's own private 
worth and reputation overbalancing all the ordinary ill-repute and discredit 
of the change. The beginning of his government was more glorious, for he 
was entirely original, and followed no man's example, and, without the 
aid of any ally, achieved his most important measures by his own conduct; 
yet the close of Poplicola's life was more happy and desirable, for Solon 
saw the dissolution of his own commonwealth, Poplicola maintained the state 
in good order to the civil wars. Solon, leaving his laws, as soon as he 
had made them, engraved in wood, but destitute of a defender, departed 
from Athens; whilst Poplicola, remaining both in and out of office, laboured 
to establish the government. Solon, though he actually knew of Pisistratus's 
ambition, yet was not able to suppress it, but had to yield to usurpation 
in its infancy; whereas Poplicola utterly subverted and dissolved a potent 
monarchy, strongly settled by long continuance; uniting thus to virtues 
equal to those, and purposes identical with those of Solon, the good fortune 
and the power that alone could make them effective.
</p><p>In military exploits, Daimachus of Plataea will not even allow 
Solon the conduct of the war against the Megarians, as was before intimated; 
but Poplicola was victorious in the most important conflicts, both as a 
private soldier and commander. In domestic politics, also, Solon, in play, 
as it were, and by counterfeiting madness induced the enterprise against 
Salamis; whereas Poplicola, in the very beginning, exposed himself to the 
greatest risk, took arms against Tarquin, detected the conspiracy, and, 
being principally concerned both in preventing the escape of and afterwards 
punishing the traitors, not only expelled the tyrants from the city, but 
extirpated their very hopes. And as, in cases calling for contest and resistance 
and manful opposition, he behaved with courage and resolution, so, in instances 
where peaceable language, persuasion, and concession were requisite, he 
was yet more to be commended; and succeeded in gaining happily to reconciliation 
and friendship, Porsenna, a terrible and invincible enemy. Some may, perhaps, 
object that Solon recovered Salamis, which they had lost, for the Athenians; 
whereas Poplicola receded from part of what the Romans were at that time 
possessed of; but judgment is to be made of actions according to the times 
in which they were performed. The conduct of a wise politician is ever 
suited to the present posture of affairs; often by foregoing a part he 
saves the whole, and by yielding in a small matter secures a greater; and 
so Poplicola, by restoring what the Romans had lately usurped, saved their 
undoubted patrimony, and procured, moreover, the stores of the enemy for 
those who were only too thankful to secure their city. Permitting the decision 
of the controversy to his adversary, he not only got the victory, but likewise 
what he himself would willingly have given to purchase the victory, Porsenna 
putting an end to the war, and leaving them all the provision of his camp, 
from the sense of the virtue and gallant disposition of the Romans which 
their consul had impressed upon him.
</p>

index.html

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  <h1>Parallel Lives</h1>

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poplicola.html

<h2>Poplicola</h2>
<h3>(legendary, lived 500 B.C.E.)</h3>

<p>
Such was Solon. To him we compare Poplicola, who received this later title 
from the Roman people for his merit, as a noble accession to his former 
name, Publius Valerius. He descended from Valerius, a man amongst the early 
citizens, reputed the principal reconciler of the differences betwixt the 
Romans and Sabines, and one that was most instrumental in persuading their 
kings to assent to peace and union. Thus descended, Publius Valerius, as 
it is said, whilst Rome remained under its kingly government, obtained 
as great a name from his eloquence as from his riches, charitably employing 
the one in liberal aid to the poor, the other with integrity and freedom 
in the service of justice thereby giving assurance, that, should the government 
fall into a republic, he would become a chief man in the community. The 
illegal and wicked accession of Tarquinius Superbus to the crown, with 
his making it, instead of kingly rule, the instrument of insolence and 
tyranny, having inspired the people with a hatred to his reign, upon the 
death of Lucretia (she killing herself after violence had been done to 
her), they took an occasion of revolt; and Lucius Brutus, engaging in the 
change, came to Valerius before all others, and, with his zealous assistance, 
deposed the kings. And whilst the people inclined towards the electing 
one leader instead of their king, Valerius acquiesced, that to rule was 
rather Brutus's due, as the author of the democracy. But when the name 
of monarchy was odious to the people, and a divided power appeared more 
grateful in the prospect, and two were chosen to hold it, Valerius, entertaining 
hopes that he might be elected consul with Brutus, was disappointed; for, 
instead of Valerius, notwithstanding the endeavours of Brutus, Tarquinius 
Collatinus was chosen, the husband of Lucretia, a man noways his superior 
in merit. But the nobles dreading the return of their kings, who still 
used all endeavours abroad and solicitations at home, were resolved upon 
a chieftain of an intense hatred to them, and noways likely to 
yield.
</p><p>Now Valerius was troubled that his desire to serve his country 
should be doubted, because he had sustained no private injury from the 
insolence of the tyrants. He withdrew from the senate and practice of the 
bar, quitting all public concerns; which gave an occasion of discourse, 
and fear, too, lest his anger should reconcile him to the king's side, 
and he should prove the ruin of the state, tottering as yet under the uncertainties 
of a change. But Brutus being doubtful of some others, and determined to 
give the test to the senate upon the altars, upon the day appointed Valerius 
came with cheerfulness into the forum, and was the first man that took 
the oath, in no way to submit or yield to Tarquin's propositions, but rigorously 
to maintain liberty; which gave great satisfaction to the senate and assurance 
to the consuls, his action soon after showing the sincerity of his oath. 
For ambassadors came from Tarquin, with popular and specious proposals, 
whereby they thought to seduce the people, as though the king had cast 
off all insolence, and made moderation the only measure of his desires. 
To this embassy the consuls thought fit to give public audience, but Valerius 
opposed it, and would not permit that the poorer people, who entertained 
more fear of war than of tyranny, should have any occasion offered them, 
or any temptations to new designs. Afterwards other ambassadors arrived, 
who declared their king would recede from his crown, and lay down his arms, 
only capitulating for a restitution to himself, his friends, and allies, 
of their moneys and estates to support them in their banishment. Now, several 
inclining to the request, and Collatinus in particular favouring it, Brutus, 
a man of vehement and unbending nature, rushed into the forum, there proclaiming 
his fellow-consul to be a traitor, in granting subsidies to tyranny, and 
supplies for a war to those to whom it was monstrous to allow so much as 
subsistence in exile. This caused an assembly of the citizens, amongst 
whom the first that spake was Caius Minucius, a private man, who advised 
Brutus, and urged the Romans to keep the property, and employ it against 
the tyrants, rather than to remit it to the tyrants, to be used against 
themselves. The Romans, however, decided that whilst they had enjoyed the 
liberty they had fought for, they should not sacrifice peace for the sake 
of money, but send out the tyrants' property after them. This question, 
however, of his property was the least part of Tarquin's design; the demand 
sounded the feelings of the people, and was preparatory to a conspiracy 
which the ambassadors endeavoured to excite, delaying their return, under 
pretence of selling some of the goods and reserving others to be sent away, 
till, in fine, they corrupted two of the most eminent families in Rome, 
the Aquillian, which had three, and the Vitellian, which had two senators. 
These all were, by the mother's side, nephews to Collatinus; besides which 
Brutus had a special alliance to the Vitellii from his marriage with their 
sister, by whom he had several children; two of whom, of their own age, 
their near relations and daily companions, the Vitellii seduced to join 
in the plot, to ally themselves to the great house and royal hopes of the 
Tarquins, and gain emancipation from the violence and imbecility united 
of their father, whose austerity to offenders they termed violence, while 
the imbecility which he had long feigned, to protect himself from the tyrants, 
still, it appears, was, in name at least, ascribed to him. When upon these 
inducements the youths came to confer with the Aquillii, and thought it 
convenient to bind themselves in a solemn and dreadful oath, by tasting 
the blood of a murdered man, and touching his entrails. For which design 
they met at the house of the Aquillii. The building chosen for the transaction 
was, as was natural, dark and unfrequented, and a slave named Vindicius 
had, as it chanced, concealed himself there, not out of design or any intelligence 
of the affair, but, accidentally being within, seeing with how much haste 
and concern they came in, he was afraid to be discovered, and placed himself 
behind a chest, where he was able to observe their actions and overhear 
their debates. Their resolutions were to kill the consuls, and they wrote 
letters to Tarquin to this effect, and gave them to the ambassadors, who 
were lodging upon the spot with the Aquillii, and were present at the 
consultation.
</p><p>Upon their departure, Vindicius secretly quitted the house, but 
was at a loss what to do in the matter, for to arraign the sons before 
the father Brutus, or the nephews before the uncle Collatinus, seemed equally 
(as indeed it was) shocking; yet he knew no private Roman to whom he could 
intrust secrets of such importance. Unable, however, to keep silence, and 
burdened with his knowledge, he went and addressed himself to Valerius, 
whose known freedom and kindness of temper were an inducement; as he was 
a person to whom the needy had easy access, and who never shut his gates 
against the petitions or indigences of humble people. But when Vindicius 
came and made a complete discovery to him, his brother Marcus and his own 
wife being present, Valerius was struck with amazement, and by no means 
would dismiss the discoverer, but confined him to the room, and placed 
his wife as a guard to the door, sending his brother in the interim to 
beset the king's palace, and seize, if possible, the writings there, and 
secure the domestics, whilst he, with his constant attendance of clients 
and friends, and a great retinue of attendants, repaired to the house of 
the Aquillii, who were, as it chanced, absent from home; and so, forcing 
an entrance through the gates, they lit upon the letters then lying in 
the lodgings of the ambassadors. Meantime the Aquillii returned in all 
haste, and, coming to blows about the gate, endeavoured a recovery of the 
letters. The other party made a resistance, and throwing their gowns around 
their opponents' necks, at last, after much struggling on both sides, made 
their way with them their prisoners through the streets into the forum. 
The like engagement happened about the king's palace, where Marcus seized 
some other letters which it was designed should be conveyed away in the 
goods, and, laying hands on such of the king's people as he could find, 
dragged them also into the forum. When the consuls had quieted the tumult, 
Vindicius was brought out by the orders of Valerius, and the accusation 
stated, and the letters were opened, to which the traitors could make no 
plea. Most of the people standing mute and sorrowful, some only, out of 
kindness to Brutus, mentioning banishment, the tears of Collatinus, attended 
with Valerius's silence, gave some hopes of mercy. But Brutus, calling 
his two sons by their names, "Canst not thou," said he, "O Titus, or thou, 
Tiberius, make any defence against the indictment?" The question being 
thrice proposed, and no reply made, he turned himself to the lictors and 
cried, "What remains is your duty." They immediately seized the youths, 
and, stripping them of their clothes, bound their hands behind them and 
scourged their bodies with their rods; too tragical a scene for others 
to look at; Brutus, however, is said not to have turned aside his face, 
nor allowed the least glance of pity to soften and smooth his aspect of 
rigour and austerity, but sternly watched his children suffer, even till 
the lictors, extending them on the ground, cut off their heads with an 
axe; then departed, committing the rest to the judgment of his colleague. 
An action truly open alike to the highest commendation and the strongest 
censure; for either the greatness of his virtue raised him above the impressions 
of sorrow, or the extravagance of his misery took away all sense of it; 
but neither seemed common, or the result of humanity, but either divine 
or brutish. Yet it is more reasonable that our judgment should yield to 
his reputation, than that his merit should suffer detraction by the weakness 
of our judgment; in the Roman's opinion, Brutus did a greater work in the 
establishment of the government than Romulus in the foundation of the 
city.
</p><p>Upon Brutus's departure out of the forum, consternation, horror, 
and silence for some time possessed all that reflected on what was done; 
the easiness and tardiness, however, of Collatinus gave confidence to the 
Aquillii to request some time to answer their charge, and that Vindicius, 
their servant, should be remitted into their hands, and no longer harboured 
amongst their accusers. The consul seemed inclined to their proposal, and 
was proceeding to dissolve the assembly; but Valerius would not suffer 
Vindicius, who was surrounded by his people, to be surrendered, nor the 
meeting to withdraw without punishing the traitors; and at length laid 
violent hands upon the Aquillii, and, calling Brutus to his assistance, 
exclaimed against the unreasonable course of Collatinus, to impose upon 
his colleague the necessity of taking away the lives of his own sons, and 
yet have thoughts of gratifying some women with the lives of traitors and 
public enemies. Collatinus, displeased at this, and commanding Vindicius 
to be taken away, the lictors made their way through the crowd and seized 
their man, and struck all who endeavoured a rescue. Valerius's friends 
headed the resistance, and the people cried out for Brutus, who, returning, 
on silence being made, told them he had been competent to pass sentence 
by himself upon his own sons, but left the rest to the suffrages of the 
free citizens: "Let every man speak that wishes, and persuade whom he can." 
But there was no need of oratory, for, it being referred to the vote, they 
were returned condemned by all the suffrages, and were accordingly 
beheaded.
</p><p>Collatinus's relationship to the kings had, indeed, already rendered 
him suspicious, and his second name, too, had made him obnoxious to the 
people, who were loth to hear the very sound of Tarquin; but after this 
had happened, perceiving himself an offence to every one, he relinquished 
his charge and departed from the city. At the new elections in his room, 
Valerius obtained, with high honour, the consulship, as a just reward of 
his zeal; of which he thought Vindicius deserved a share, whom he made, 
first of all freedmen, a citizen of Rome, and gave him the privilege of 
voting in what tribe soever he was pleased to be enrolled; other freedmen 
received the right of suffrage a long time after from Appius, who thus 
courted popularity; and from this Vindicius, a perfect manumission is called 
to this day vindicta. This done, the goods of the kings were exposed to 
plunder, and the palace to ruin.
</p><p>The pleasantest part of the field of Mars, which Tarquin had owned, 
was devoted to the service of that god; but, it happening to be harvest 
season, and the sheaves yet being on the ground, they thought it not proper 
to commit them to the flail, or unsanctify them with any use; and, therefore, 
carrying them to the river-side, and trees withal that were cut down, they 
cast all into the water, dedicating the soil, free from all occupation, 
to the deity. Now, these thrown in, one upon another, and closing together, 
the stream did not bear them far, but where the first were carried down 
and came to a bottom, the remainder, finding no farther conveyance, were 
stopped and interwoven one with another; the stream working the mass into 
a firmness, and washing down fresh mud. This, settling there, became an 
accession of matter, as well as cement, to the rubbish, insomuch that the 
violence of the waters could not remove it, but forced and compressed it 
all together. Thus its bulk and solidity gained it new subsidies, which 
gave it extension enough to stop on its way most of what the stream brought 
down. This is now a sacred island, lying by the city, adorned with the 
temples of the gods, and walks, and is called in the Latin tongue inter 
duos pontes. Though some say this did not happen at the dedication of Tarquin's 
field, but in aftertimes, when Tarquinia, a vestal priestess, gave an adjacent 
field to the public, and obtained great honours in consequence, as, amongst 
the rest, that of all women her testimony alone should be received; she 
had also the liberty to marry, but refused it; thus some tell the 
story.
</p><p>Tarquin, despairing of a return to his kingdom by the conspiracy, 
found a kind reception amongst the Tuscans, who, with a great army, proceeded 
to restore him. The consuls headed the Romans against them, and made their 
rendezvous in certain holy places, the one called the Arsian grove, the 
other the Aesuvian meadow. When they came into action, Aruns, the son of 
Tarquin, and Brutus, the Roman consul, not accidentally encountering each 
other, but out of hatred and rage, the one to avenge tyranny and enmity 
to his country, the other his banishment, set spurs to their horses, and, 
engaging with more fury than forethought, disregarding their own security, 
fell together in the combat. This dreadful onset hardly was followed by 
a more favourable end; both armies, doing and receiving equal damage, were 
separated by a storm. Valerius was much concerned, not knowing what the 
result of the day was, and seeing his men as well dismayed at the sight 
of their own dead, as rejoiced at the loss of the enemy; so apparently 
equal in the number was the slaughter on either side. Each party, however, 
felt surer of defeat from the actual sight of their own dead, than they 
could feel of victory from conjecture about those of their adversaries. 
The night being come (and such as one may presume must follow such a battle), 
and the armies laid to rest, they say that the grove shook, and uttered 
a voice, saying that the Tuscans had lost one man more than the Romans; 
clearly a divine announcement; and the Romans at once received it with 
shouts and expressions of joy; whilst the Tuscans, through fear and amazement, 
deserted their tents, and were for the most part dispersed. The Romans, 
falling upon the remainder, amounting to nearly five thousand, took them 
prisoners, and plundered the camp; when they numbered the dead, they found 
on the Tuscans' side eleven thousand and three hundred, exceeding their 
own loss but by one man. This fight happened upon the last of February, 
and Valerius triumphed in honour of it, being the first consul that drove 
in with a four-horse chariot; which sight both appeared magnificent, and 
was received with an admiration free from envy or offence (as some suggest) 
on the part of the spectators; it would not otherwise have been continued 
with so much eagerness and emulation through all the after ages. The people 
applauded likewise the honours he did to his colleague, in adding to his 
obsequies a funeral oration: which was so much liked by the Romans, and 
found so good a reception, that it became customary for the best men to 
celebrate the funerals of great citizens with speeches in their commendation; 
and their antiquity in Rome is affirmed to be greater than in Greece, unless, 
with the orator Anaximenes, we make Solon the first 
author.
</p><p>Yet some part of Valerius's behaviour did give offence and disgust 
to the people, because Brutus, whom they esteemed the father of their liberty, 
had not presumed to rule without a colleague, but united one and then another 
to him in his commission; while Valerius, they said, centering all authority 
in himself, seemed not in any sense a successor to Brutus in the consulship, 
but to Tarquin in the tyranny; he might make verbal harangues to Brutus's 
memory, yet when he was attended with all the rods and axes, proceeding 
down from a house than which the king's house that he had demolished had 
not been statelier, those actions showed him an imitator of Tarquin. For, 
indeed, his dwelling-house on the Velia was somewhat imposing in appearance, 
hanging over the forum, and overlooking all transactions there; the access 
to it was hard, and to see him far off coming down, a stately and royal 
spectacle. But Valerius showed how well it were for men in power and great 
offices to have ears that give admittance to truth before flattery; for 
upon his friends telling him that he displeased the people, he contended 
not, neither resented it, but while it was still night, sending for a number 
of work-people, pulled down his house and levelled it with the ground; 
so that in the morning the people, seeing and flocking together, expressed 
their wonder and their respect for his magnanimity, and their sorrow, as 
though it had been a human being, for the large and beautiful house which 
was thus lost to them by an unfounded jealousy, while its owner, their 
consul, without a roof of his own, had to beg a lodging with his friends. 
For his friends received him, till a place the people gave him was furnished 
with a house, though less stately than his own, where now stands the temple, 
as it is called, of Vica Pota.
</p><p>He resolved to render the government, as well as himself, instead 
of terrible, familiar and pleasant to the people, and parted the axes from 
the rods, and always, upon his entrance into the assembly, lowered these 
also to the people, to show, in the strongest way, the republican foundation 
of the government; and this the consuls observe to this day. But the humility 
of the man was but a means, not, as they thought, of lessening himself, 
but merely to abate their envy by this moderation; for whatever he detracted 
from his authority he added to his real power, the people still submitting 
with satisfaction, which they expressed by calling him Poplicola, or people-lover, 
which name had the pre-eminence of the rest, and, therefore, in the sequel 
of his narrative we shall use no other.
</p><p>He gave free leave to any to sue for the consulship; but before 
the admittance of a colleague, mistrusting the chances, lest emulation 
or ignorance should cross his designs, by his sole authority enacted his 
best and most important measures. First, he supplied the vacancies of the 
senators, whom either Tarquin long before had put to death, or the war 
lately cut off; those that he enrolled, they write, amounted to a hundred 
and sixty-four; afterwards he made several laws which added much to the 
people's liberty, in particular one granting offenders the liberty of appealing 
to the people from the judgment of the consuls; a second, that made it 
death to usurp any magistracy without the people's consent; a third, for 
the relief of poor citizens, which, taking off their taxes, encouraged 
their labours; another, against disobedience to the consuls, which was 
no less popular than the rest, and rather to the benefit of the commonalty 
than to the advantage of the nobles, for it imposed upon disobedience the 
penalty of ten oxen and two sheep; the price of a sheep being ten obols, 
of an ox, an hundred. For the use of money was then infrequent amongst 
the Romans, but their wealth in cattle great; even now pieces of property 
are called peculia from pecus, cattle; and they had stamped upon their 
most ancient money an ox, a sheep, or a hog; and surnamed their sons Suillii, 
Bubulci, Caprarii, and Porcii, from caproe, goats, and porci, 
hogs.
</p><p>Amidst this mildness and moderation, for one excessive fault he 
instituted one excessive punishment; for he made it lawful without trial 
to take away any man's life that aspired to a tyranny, and acquitted the 
slayer, if he produced evidence of the crime; for though it was not probable 
for a man, whose designs were so great, to escape all notice; yet because 
it was possible he might, although observed, by force anticipate judgment, 
which the usurpation itself would then preclue, he gave a licence to any 
to anticipate the usurper. He was honoured likewise for the law touching 
the treasury; for because it was necessary for the citizens to contribute 
out of their estates to the maintenance of wars, and he was unwilling himself 
to be concerned in the care of it, or to permit his friends or indeed to 
let the public money pass into any private house, he allotted the temple 
of Saturn for the treasury, in which to this day they deposit the tribute-money, 
and granted the people the liberty of choosing two young men as quaestors, 
or treasurers. The first were Publius Veturius and Marcus Minucius; and 
a large sum was collected, for they assessed one hundred and thirty thousand, 
excusing orphans and widows from the payment. After these dispositions, 
he admitted Lucretius, the father of Lucretia, as his colleague, and gave 
him the precedence in the government, by resigning the fasces to him, as 
due to his years, which privilege of seniority continued to our time. But 
within a few days Lucretius died, and in a new election Marcus Horatius 
succeeded in that honour, and continued consul for the remainder of the 
year.
</p><p>Now, whilst Tarquin was making preparations in Tuscany for a second 
war against the Romans, it is said a great portent occurred. When Tarquin 
was king, and had all but completed the buildings of the Capitol, designing, 
whether from oracular advice or his own pleasure, to erect an earthen chariot 
upon the top, he intrusted the workmanship to Tuscans of the city Veii, 
but soon after lost his kingdom. The work thus modelled, the Tuscans set 
in a furnace, but the clay showed not those passive qualities which usually 
attend its nature, to subside and be condensed upon the evaporation of 
the moisture, but rose and swelled out to that bulk, that, when solid and 
firm, notwithstanding the removal of the roof and opening the walls of 
the furnace, it could not be taken out without much difficulty. The soothsayers 
looked upon this as a divine prognostic of success and power to those that 
should possess it; and the Tuscans resolved not to deliver it to the Roman, 
who demanded it, but answered that it rather belonged to Tarquin than to 
those who had sent him into exile. A few days after, they had a horse-race 
there, with the usual shows and solemnities, and as the charioteer with 
his garland on his head was quietly driving the victorious chariot out 
of the ring, the horses, upon no apparent occasion, taking fright, either 
by divine instigation or by accident, hurried away their driver at full 
speed to Rome; neither did his holding them in prevail, nor his voice, 
but he was forced along with violence till, coming to the Capitol, he was 
thrown out by the gate called Ratumena. This occurrence raised wonder and 
fear in the Veientines, who now permitted the delivery of the 
chariot.
</p><p>The building of the temple of the Capitoline Jupiter had been vowed 
by Tarquin, the son of Demaratus, when warring with the Sabines; Tarquinius 
Superbus, his son or grandson, built but could not dedicate it, because 
he lost his kingdom before it was quite finished. And now that it was completed 
with all its ornaments, Poplicola was ambitious to dedicate it; but the 
nobility envied him that honour, as, indeed, also, in some degree, those 
his prudence in making laws and conduct in wars entitled him to. Grudging 
him, at any rate, the addition of this, they urged Horatius to sue for 
the dedication, and, whilst Poplicola was engaged in some military expedition, 
voted it to Horatius, and conducted him to the Capitol, as though, were 
Poplicola present, they could not have carried it. Yet, some write, Poplicola 
was by lot destined against his will to the expedition, the other to the 
dedication; and what happened in the performance seems to intimate some 
ground for this conjecture; for, upon the Ides of September, which happens 
about the full moon of the month Metagitnion, the people having assembled 
at the Capitol and silence being enjoined, Horatius, after the performance 
of other ceremonies, holding the doors, according to custom, was proceeding 
to pronounce the words of dedication, when Marcus, the brother of Poplicola, 
who had got a place on purpose beforehand near the door, observing his 
opportunity, cried, "O consul, thy son lies dead in the camp;" which made 
a great impression upon all others who heard it, yet in nowise discomposed 
Horatius, who returned merely the reply, "Cast the dead out whither you 
please; I am not a mourner;" and so completed the dedication. The news 
was not true, but Marcus thought the he might avert him from his performance; 
but it argues him a man of wonderful self-possession, whether he at once 
saw through the cheat, or, believing it as true, showed no 
discomposure.
</p><p>The same fortune attended the dedication of the second temple; 
the first, as has been said, was built by Tarquin, and dedicated by Horatius; 
it was burnt down in the civil wars. The second, Sylla built, and, dying 
before the dedication, left that honour to Catulus; and when this was demolished 
in the Vitellian sedition, Vespasian, with the same success that attended 
him in other things, began a third and lived to see it finished, but did 
not live to see it again destroyed, as it presently was; but was as fortunate 
in dying before its destruction, as Sylla was the reverse in dying before 
the dedication of his. For immediately after Vespasian's death it was consumed 
by fire. The fourth, which now exists, was both built and dedicated by 
Domitian. It is said Tarquin expended forty thousand pounds of silver in 
the very foundations; but the whole wealth of the richest private man in 
Rome would not discharge the cost of the gilding of this temple in our 
days, it amounting to above twelve thousand talents; the pillars were cut 
out of Pentelican marble, of a length most happily proportioned to their 
thickness; these we saw at Athens; but when they were cut anew at Rome 
and polished, they did not gain so much in embellishment as they lost in 
symmetry, being rendered too taper and slender. Should any one who wonders 
at the costliness of the Capitol visit any one gallery in Domitian's palace, 
or hall, or bath, or the apartments of his concubines, Epicharmus's remark 
upon the prodigal, that-
</p><p>"'Tis not beneficence, but truth to say,
<br>A mere disease of giving things away," would be in his mouth in application 
to Domitian. It is neither piety, he would say, nor magnificence, but, 
indeed, a mere disease of building, and a desire, like Midas, of converting 
everything into gold or stone. And thus much for this 
matter.
</p><p>Tarquin, after the great battle wherein he lost his son in combat 
with Brutus, fled to Clusium, and sought aid from Lars Porsenna, then one 
of those most powerful princes of Italy, and a man of worth and generosity; 
who assured him of assistance, immediately sending his commands to Rome 
that they should receive Tarquin as their king, and, upon the Romans' refusal, 
proclaimed war, and, having signified the time and place where he intended 
his attack, approached with a great army. Poplicola was, in his absence, 
chosen consul a second time, and Titus Lucretius his colleague, and, returning 
to Rome, to show a spirit yet loftier than Porsenna's, built the city Sigliura 
when Porsenna was already in the neighbourhood; and walling it at great 
expense, there placed a colony of seven hundred men, as being little concerned 
at the war. Nevertheless, Porsenna, making a sharp assault, obliged the 
defendants to retire to Rome, who had almost in their entrance admitted 
the enemy into the city with them; only Poplicola by sallying out at the 
gate prevented them, and, joining battle by Tiber side, opposed the enemy, 
that pressed on with their multitude, but at last, sinking under desperate 
wounds, was carried out of the fight. The same fortune fell upon Lucretius, 
so that the Romans, being dismayed, retreated into the city for their security, 
and Rome was in great hazard of being taken, the enemy forcing their way 
on to the wooden bridge, where Horatius Cocles, seconded by two of the 
first men in Rome, Herminius and Lartius, made head against them. Horatius 
obtained this name from the loss of one of his eyes in the war, or, as 
others write, from the depressure of his nose, which, leaving nothing in 
the middle to separate them, made both eyes appear but as one; and hence, 
intending to say Cyclops, by a mispronunciation they called him Cocles. 
This Cocles kept the bridge, and held back the enemy, till his own party 
broke it down behind, and then with his armour dropped into the river, 
and swam to the hither side, with a wound in his hip from a Tuscan spear. 
Poplicola, admiring his courage, proposed at once that the Romans should 
every one make him a present of a day's provisions, and afterwards give 
him as much land as he could plough round in one day, and besides erected 
a brazen statute to his honour in the temple of Vulcan, as a requital for 
the lameness caused by his wound.
</p><p>But Porsenna laying close siege to the city, and a famine raging 
amongst the Romans, also a new army of the Tuscans making incursions into 
the country, Poplicola, a third time chosen consul, designed to make, without 
sallying out, his defence against Porsenna, but, privately stealing forth 
against the new army of the Tuscans, put them to flight and slew five thousand. 
The story of Mucius is variously given; we, like others, must follow the 
commonly received statement. He was a man endowed with every virtue, but 
most eminent in war; and, resolving to kill Porsenna, attired himself in 
the Tuscan habit, and using the Tuscan language, came to the camp, and 
approaching the seat where the king sat amongst his nobles, but not certainly 
knowing the king, and fearful to inquire, drew out his sword, and stabbed 
one who he thought had most the appearance of king. Mucius was taken in 
the act, and whilst he was under examination, a pan of fire was brought 
to the king, who intended to sacrifice; Mucius thrust his right hand into 
the flame, and whilst it burnt stood looking at Porsenna with a steadfast 
and undaunted countenance; Porsenna at last in admiration dismissed him, 
and returned his sword, reaching it from his seat; Mucius received it in 
his left hand, which occasioned the name of Scaevola, left-handed, and 
said, "I have overcome the terrors of Porsenna, yet am vanquished by his 
generosity, and gratitude obliges me to disclose what no punishment could 
extort; and assured him then, that three hundred Romans, all of the same 
resolution, lurked about his camp, only waiting for an opportunity; he, 
by lot appointed to the enterprise, was not sorry that he had miscarried 
in it, because so brave and good a man deserved rather to be a friend to 
the Romans than an enemy. To this Porsenna gave credit, and thereupon expressed 
an inclination to a truce, not, I presume, so much out of fear of the three 
hundred Romans, as in admiration of the Roman courage. All other writers 
call this man Mucius Scaevola, yet Athendrous, son of Sandon, in a book 
addressed to Octavia, Caesar's sister, avers he was also called 
Postumus.
</p><p>Poplicola, not so much esteeming Porsenna's enmity dangerous to 
Rome as his friendship and alliance serviceable, was induced to refer the 
controversy with Tarquin to his arbitration, and several times undertook 
to prove Tarquin the worst of men, and justly deprived of his kingdom. 
But Tarquin proudly replied he would admit no judge, much less Porsenna, 
that had fallen away from his engagements; and Porsenna, resenting this 
answer, and mistrusting the equity of his cause, moved also by the solicitations 
of his son Aruns, who was earnest for the Roman interest, made a peace 
on these conditions, that they should resign the land they had taken from 
the Tuscans, and restore all prisoners and receive back their deserters. 
To confirm the peace, the Romans gave as hostages ten sons of patrician 
parents, and as many daughters, amongst whom was Valeria, the daughter 
of Poplicola.
</p><p>Upon these assurances, Porsenna ceased from all acts of hostility, 
and the young girls went down to the river to bathe at that part where 
the winding of the bank formed a bay and made the waters stiller and quieter; 
and, seeing no guard, nor any one coming or going over, they were encouraged 
to swim over, notwithstanding the depth and violence of the stream. Some 
affirm that one of them, by name Cloelia, passing over on horseback, persuaded 
the rest to swim after; but, upon their safe arrival, presenting themselves 
to Poplicola, he neither praised nor approved their return, but was concerned 
lest he should appear less faithful than Porsenna, and this boldness in 
the maidens should argue treachery in the Romans; so that, apprehending 
them, he sent them back to Porsenna. But Tarquin's men, having intelligence 
of this, laid a strong ambuscade on the other side for those that conducted 
them; and while these were skirmishing together, Valeria, the daughter 
of Poplicola, rushed through the enemy, and fled, and with the assistance 
of three of her attendants made good her escape, whilst the rest were dangerously 
hedged in by the soldiers; but Aruns, Porsenna's son, upon tidings of it, 
hastened to their rescue, and, putting the enemy to flight, delivered the 
Romans. When Porsenna saw the maiden returned, demanding who was the author 
and adviser of the act, and understanding Cloelia to be the person, he 
looked on her with a cheerful and benignant countenance, and, commanding 
one of his horses to be brought, sumptuously adorned, made her a present 
of it. This is produced as evidence by those who affirm that only Cloelia 
passed the river on horseback; those who deny it call it only the honour 
the Tuscan did to her courage; a figure, however, on horseback, stands 
in the Via Sacra, as you go to the Palatium, which some say is the statue 
of Cloelia, others of Valeria. Porsenna, thus reconciled to the Romans, 
gave them a fresh instance of his generosity, and commanded his soldiers 
to quit the camp merely with their arms, leaving their tents, full of corn 
and other stores, as a gift to the Romans. Hence, even down to our time, 
when there is a public sale of goods, they cry Porsenna's first, by way 
of perpetual commemoration of his kindness. There stood also, by the senate-house, 
a brazen statue of him, of plain and antique workmanship.
</p><p>Afterwards, the Sabines, making incursions upon the Romans, Marcus 
Valerius, brother to Poplicola, was made consul, and with him Postumius 
Tubertus. Marcus, through the management of affairs by the conduct and 
direct assistance of Poplicola, obtained two great victories, in the latter 
of which he slew thirteen thousand Sabines without the loss of one Roman, 
and was honoured, as an accession to his triumph, with an house built in 
the Palatium at the public charge; and whereas the doors of other houses 
opened inward into the house, they made this to open outward into the street, 
to intimate their perpetual public recognition of his merit by thus continually 
making way for him. The same fashion in their doors the Greeks, they say, 
had of old universally, which appears from their comedies, where those 
that are going out make a noise at the door within, to give notice to those 
that pass by or stand near the door, that the opening the door into the 
street might occasion no surprisal.
</p><p>The year after, Poplicola was made consul the fourth time, when 
a confederacy of the Sabines and Latins threatened a war; a superstitious 
fear also overran the city on the occasion of general miscarriages of their 
women, no single birth coming to its due time. Poplicola, upon consultation 
of the Sibylline books, sacrificing to Pluto, and renewing certain games 
commanded by Apollo, restored the city to more cheerful assurance in the 
gods, and then prepared against the menaces of men. There were appearances 
of great preparation, and of a formidable confederacy. Amongst the Sabines 
there was one Appius Clausus, a man of a great wealth and strength of body, 
but most eminent for his high character and for his eloquence; yet, as 
is usually the fate of great men, he could not escape the envy of others, 
which was much occasioned by his dissuading the war, and seeming to promote 
the Roman interest, with a view, it is thought, to obtaining absolute power 
in his own country for himself. Knowing how welcome these reports would 
be to the multitude, and how offensive to the army and the abettors of 
the war, he was afraid to stand a trial, but, having a considerable body 
of friends and allies to assist him, raised a tumult amongst the Sabines, 
which delayed the war. Neither was Poplicola wanting, not only to understand 
the grounds of the sedition, but to promote and increase it, and he despatched 
emissaries with instructions to Clausus, that Poplicola was assured of 
his goodness and justice, and thought it indeed unworthy in any man, however 
injured, to seek revenge upon his fellow citizens; yet if he pleased, for 
his own security, to leave his enemies and come to Rome, he should be received, 
both in public and private, with the honour his merit deserved, and their 
own glory required. Appius, seriously weighing the matter, came to the 
conclusion that it was the best resource which necessity left him, and 
advising with his friends, and they inviting others in the same manner, 
he came to Rome, bringing five thousand families, with their wives and 
children; people of the quietest and steadiest temper of all the Sabines. 
Poplicola, informed of their approach, received them with all the kind 
offices of a friend, and admitted them at once to the franchise allotting 
to every one two acres of land by the river Anio, but to Clausus twenty-five 
acres, and gave him a place in the senate; a commencement of political 
power which he used so wisely, that he rose to the highest reputation, 
was very influential, and left the Claudian house behind him, inferior 
to none in Rome.
</p><p>The departure of these men rendered things quiet amongst the Sabines; 
yet the chief of the community would not suffer them to settle into peace, 
but resented that Clausus now, by turning deserter, should disappoint that 
revenge upon the Romans, which, while at home, he had unsuccessfully opposed. 
Coming with a great army, they sat down before Fidenae, and placed an ambuscade 
of two thousand men near Rome, in wooded and hollow spots, with a design 
that some few horsemen, as soon as it was day, should go out and ravage 
the country, commanding them upon their approach to the town so to retreat 
as to draw the enemy into the ambush. Poplicola, however, soon advertised 
of these designs by deserters, disposed his forces to their respective 
charges. Postumius Balbus, his son-in-law, going out with three thousand 
men in the evening, was ordered to take the hills, under which the ambush 
lay, there to observe their motions; his colleague, Lucretius, attended 
with a body of the lightest and boldest men, was appointed to meet the 
Sabine horse; whilst he, with the rest of the army, encompassed the enemy. 
And a thick mist rising accidentally, Postumius, early in the morning, 
with shouts from the hills, assailed the ambuscade, Lucretius charged the 
light-horse, and Poplicola besieged the camp; so that on all sides defeat 
and ruin came upon the Sabines, and without any resistance the Romans killed 
them in their flight, their very hopes leading them to their death, for 
each division, presuming that the other was safe, gave up all thought of 
fighting or keeping their ground; and these quitting the camp to retire 
to the ambuscade, and the ambuscade flying to the camp, fugitives thus 
met fugitives, and found those from whom they expected succour as much 
in need of succour from themselves. The nearness, however, of the city 
Fidenae was the preservation of the Sabines, especially those that fled 
from the camp; those that could not gain the city either perished in the 
field, or were taken prisoners. This victory, the Romans, though usually 
ascribing such success to some god, attributed to the conduct of one captain; 
and it was observed to be heard amongst the soldiers, that Poplicola had 
delivered their enemies lame and blind, and only not in chains, to be despatched 
by their swords. From the spoil and prisoners great wealth accrued to the 
people.
</p><p>Poplicola, having completed his triumph, and bequeathed the city 
to the care of the succeeding consuls, died; thus closing a life which, 
so far as human life may be, had been full of all that is good and honourable. 
The people, as though they had not duly rewarded his deserts when alive, 
but still were in his debt, decreed him a public interment, every one contributing 
his quadrans towards the charge; the women, besides, by private consent, 
mourned a whole year, a signal mark of honour to his memory. He was buried, 
by the people's desire, within the city, in the part called Velia, where 
his posterity had likewise privilege of burial; now, however, none of the 
family are interred there, but the body is carried thither and set down, 
and some one places a burning torch under it and immediately takes it away, 
as an attestation of the deceased's privilege, and his receding from his 
honour; after which the body is removed.
</p>

solon.html

<h2>Solon</h2>
<h3>(legendary, died 539 B.C.E.)</h3>

<p>
Didymus, the grammarian, in his answer to Asclepiades concerning Solon's 
Tables of Law, mentions a passage of one Philocles, who states that Solon's 
father's name was Euphorion, contrary to the opinion of all others who 
have written concerning him; for they generally agree that he was the son 
of Execestides, a man of moderate wealth and power in the city, but of 
a most noble stock, being descended from Codrus; his mother, as Heraclides 
Ponticus affirms, was cousin to Pisistratus's mother, and the two at first 
were great friends, partly because they were akin, and partly because of 
Pisistratus's noble qualities and beauty. And they say Solon loved him; 
and that is the reason, I suppose, that when afterwards they differed about 
the government, their enmity never produced any hot and violent passion, 
they remembered their old kindnesses, and retained-
</p><p>"Still in its embers living the strong fire" of their love and 
dear affection. For that Solon was not proof against beauty, nor of courage 
to stand up to passion and meet it-
</p><p>"Hand to hand as in the ring," we may conjecture by his poems, 
and one of his laws, in which there are practices forbidden to slaves, 
which he would appear, therefore, to recommend to freemen. Pisistratus, 
it is stated, was similarly attached to one Charmus; he it was who dedicated 
the future of Love in the Academy, where the runners in the sacred torch 
race light their torches. Solon, as Hermippus writes, when his father had 
ruined his estate in doing benefits and kindnesses to other men, though 
he had friends enough that were willing to contribute to his relief, yet 
was ashamed to be beholden to others, since he was descended from a family 
who were accustomed to do kindnesses rather than receive them; and therefore 
applied himself to merchandise in his youth; though others assure us that 
he travelled rather to get learning and experience than to make money. 
It is certain that he was a lover of knowledge, for when he was old he 
would say, that he-
</p><p>"Each day grew older, and learnt something new;" and yet no admirer 
of riches, esteeming as equally wealthy the man-
</p><p>"Who hath both gold and silver in his hand,
<br>Horses and mules, and acres of wheat-land,
<br>And him whose all is decent food to eat,
<br>Clothes to his back and shoes upon his feet,
<br>And a young wife and child, since so 'twill be,
<br>And no more years than will with that agree;" and in another 
place-
</p><p>"Wealth I would have, but wealth by wrong procure
<br>I would not; justice, e'en if slow, is sure." And it is perfectly possible 
for a good man and a statesman, without being solicitous for superfluities, 
to show some concern for competent necessaries. In his time, as Hesiod 
says,- "Work was a shame to none," nor was distinction made with respect 
to trade, but merchandise was a noble calling, which brought home the good 
things which the barbarous nations enjoyed, was the occasion of friendship 
with their kings, and a great source of experience. Some merchants have 
built great cities, as Protis, the founder of Massilia, to whom the Gauls, 
near the Rhone, were much attached. Some report also, that Thales and Hippocrates 
the mathematician traded; and that Plato defrayed the charges of his travels 
by selling oil in Egypt. Solon's softness and profuseness, his popular 
rather than philosophical tone about pleasure in his poems, have been ascribed 
to his trading life; for, having suffered a thousand dangers, it was natural 
they should be recompensed with some gratifications and enjoyments; but 
that he accounted himself rather poor than rich is evident from the 
lines-
</p><p>"Some wicked men are rich, some good are poor,
<br>We will not change our virtue for their store:
<br>Virtue's a thing that none can take away;
<br>But money changes owners all the day."
</p><p>At first he used his poetry only in trifles, not for any serious 
purpose, but simply to pass away his idle hours; but afterwards he introduced 
moral sentences and state matters, which he did, not to record them merely 
as an historian, but to justify his own actions, and sometimes to correct, 
chastise, and stir up the Athenians to noble performances. Some report 
that he designed to put his laws into heroic verse, and that they began 
thus:-
</p><p>"We humbly beg a blessing on our laws
<br>From mighty jove, and honour, and applause."
</p><p>In philosophy, as most of the wise men then, he chiefly esteemed 
the political part of morals; in physics, he was very plain and antiquated, 
as appears by this:-
</p><p>"It is the clouds that make the snow and hail,
<br>And thunder comes from lightning without fail;
<br>The sea is stormy when the winds have blown,
<br>But it deals fairly when 'tis left alone." And, indeed, it is probable 
that at that time Thales alone had raised philosophy above mere practice 
into speculation; and the rest of the wise men were so called from prudence 
in political concerns. It is said, that they had an interview at Delphi, 
and another at Corinth, by the procurement of Periander, who made a meeting 
for them, and a supper. But their reputation was chiefly raised by sending 
the tripod to them all, by their modest refusal, and complaisant yielding 
to one another. For, as the story goes, some of the Coans fishing with 
a net, some strangers, Milesians, bought the draught at a venture; the 
net brought up a golden tripod, which, they say, Helen, at her return from 
Troy, upon the remembrance of an old prophecy, threw in there. Now, the 
strangers at first contesting with the fishers about the tripod, and the 
cities espousing the quarrel so far as to engage themselves in a war, Apollo 
decided the controversy by commanding to present it to the wisest man; 
and first it was sent to Miletus to Thales, the Coans freely presenting 
him with that for which they fought against the whole body of the Milesians; 
but Thales declaring Bias the wiser person, it was sent to him; from him 
to another; and so, going round them all, it came to Thales a second time; 
and, at last, being carried from Miletus to Thebes, was there dedicated 
to Apollo Ismenius. Theophrastus writes that it was first presented to 
Bias at Priene; and next to Thales at Miletus, and so through all it returned 
to Bias, and was afterwards sent to Delphi. This is the general report, 
only some, instead of a tripod, say this present was a cup sent by Croesus; 
others, a piece of plate that one Bathycles had left. It is stated, that 
Anacharsis and Solon, and Solon and Thales, were familiarly acquainted 
and some have delivered parts of their discourse; for, they say, Anacharsis, 
coming to Athens, knocked at Solon's door, and told him, that he, being 
a stranger, was come to be his guest, and contract a friendship with him; 
and Solon replying, "It is better to make friends at home," Anacharsis 
replied, "Then you that are at home make friendship with me." Solon, somewhat 
surprised at the readiness of the repartee, received him kindly, and kept 
him some time with him, being already engaged in public business and the 
compilation of his laws; which, when Anacharsis understood, he laughed 
at him for imagining the dishonesty and covetousness of his countrymen 
could be restrained by written laws, which were like spiders' webs, and 
would catch, it is true, the weak and poor, but easily be broken by the 
mighty and rich. To this Solon rejoined that men keep their promises when 
neither side can get anything by the breaking of them; and he would so 
fit his laws to the citizens, that all should understand it was more eligible 
to be just than to break the laws. But the event rather agreed with the 
conjecture of Anacharsis than Solon's hope. Anacharsis, being once at the 
Assembly, expressed his wonder at the fact that in Greece wise men spoke 
and fools decided.
</p><p>Solon went, they say, to Thales, at Miletus, and wondered that 
Thales took no care to get him a wife and children. To this, Thales made 
no answer for the present; but a few days after procured a stranger to 
pretend that he had left Athens ten days ago; and Solon inquiring what 
news there, the man, according to his instructions, replied, "None but 
a young man's funeral, which the whole city attended; for he was the son, 
they said, of an honourable man, the most virtuous of the citizens, who 
was not then at home, but had been travelling a long time." Solon replied, 
"What a miserable man is he! But what was his name?" "I have heard it," 
says the man, "but have now forgotten it, only there was a great talk of 
his wisdom and his justice." Thus Solon was drawn on by every answer, and 
his fears heightened, till at last, being extremely concerned, he mentioned 
his own name, and asked the stranger if that young man was called Solon's 
son; and the stranger assenting, he began to beat his head, and to do and 
say all that is usual with men in transports of grief. But Thales took 
his hand, and, with a smile, said, "These things, Solon, keep me from marriage 
and rearing children, which are too great for even your constancy to support; 
however, be not concerned at the report, for it is a fiction." This Hermippus 
relates, from Pataecus, who boasted that he had Aesop's 
soul.
</p><p>However, it is irrational and poor-spirited not to seek conveniences 
for fear of losing them, for upon the same account we should not allow 
ourselves to like wealth, glory, or wisdom, since we may fear to be deprived 
of all these; nay, even virtue itself, than which there is no greater nor 
more desirable possession, is often suspended by sickness or drugs. Now 
Thales, though unmarried, could not be free from solicitude unless he likewise 
felt no care for his friends, his kinsman, or his country; yet we are told 
be adopted Cybisthus, his sister's son. For the soul, having a principle 
of kindness in itself, and being born to love, as well as perceive, think, 
or remember, inclines and fixes upon some stranger, when a man has none 
of his own to embrace. And alien or illegitimate objects insinuate themselves 
into his affections, as into some estate that lacks lawful heirs; and with 
affection come anxiety and care; insomuch that you may see men that use 
the strongest language against the marriage-bed and the fruit of it, when 
some servant's or concubine's child is sick or dies, almost killed with 
grief, and abjectly lamenting. Some have given way to shameful and desperate 
sorrow at the loss of a dog or horse; others have borne the death of virtuous 
children without any extravagant or unbecoming grief, have passed the rest 
of their lives like men, and according to the principles of reason. It 
is not affection, it is weakness that brings men, unarmed against fortune 
by reason, into these endless pains and terrors; and they indeed have not 
even the present enjoyment of what they dote upon, the possibility of the 
future loss causing them continual pangs, tremors, and distresses. We must 
not provide against the loss of wealth by poverty, or of friends by refusing 
all acquaintance, or of children by having none, but by morality and reason. 
But of this too much.
</p><p>Now, when the Athenians were tired with a tedious and difficult 
war that they conducted against the Megarians for the island Salamis and 
made a law that it should be death for any man, by writing or speaking, 
to assert that the city ought to endeavour to recover it, Solon, vexed 
at the disgrace, and perceiving thousands of the youth wished for somebody 
to begin, but did not dare to stir first for fear of the law, counterfeited 
a distraction, and by his own family it was spread about the city that 
he was mad. He then secretly composed some elegiac verses, and getting 
them by heart, that it might seem extempore, ran out into the market-place 
with a cap upon his head, and, the people gathering about him, got upon 
the herald's stand, and sang that elegy which begins 
thus-
</p><p>"I am a herald come from Salamis the fair,
<br>My news from thence my verses shall declare." The poem is called Salamis; 
it contains an hundred verses very elegantly written; when it had been 
sung, his friends commended it, and especially Pisistratus exhorted the 
citizens to obey his directions; insomuch that they recalled the law, and 
renewed the war under Solon's conduct. The popular tale is, that with Pisistratus 
he sailed to Colias, and, finding the women, according to the custom of 
the country there, sacrificing to Ceres, he sent a trusty friend to Salamis, 
who should pretend himself a renegade, and advise them, if they desired 
to seize the chief Athenian women, to come with him at once to Colias; 
the Megarians presently sent off men in the vessel with him; and Solon, 
seeing it put off from the island, commanded the women to be gone, and 
some beardless youths, dressed in their clothes, their shoes and caps, 
and privately armed with daggers, to dance and play near the shore till 
the enemies had landed and the vessel was in their power. Things being 
thus ordered, the Megarians were lured with the appearance, and, coming 
to the shore, jumped out, eager who should first seize a prize, so that 
not one of them escaped; and the Athenians set sail for the island and 
took it.
</p><p>Others say that it was not taken this way, but that he first received 
this oracle from Delphi:-
</p><p>"Those heroes that in fair Asopia rest,
<br>All buried with their faces to the west,
<br>Go and appease with offerings of the best; and that Solon, sailing 
by night to the island, sacrificed to the heroes Periphemus and Cychreus, 
and then taking five hundred Athenian volunteers (a law having passed that 
those that took the island should be highest in the government), with a 
number of fisher-boats and one thirty-oared ship, anchored in a bay of 
Salamis that looks towards Nisaea; and the Megarians that were then in 
the island, hearing only an uncertain report, hurried to their arms, and 
sent a ship to reconnoiter the enemies. This ship Solon took, and, securing 
the Megarians, manned it with Athenians, and gave them orders to sail to 
the island with as much privacy as possible; meantime he, with the other 
soldiers, marched against the Megarians by land, and whilst they were fighting, 
those from the ship took the city. And this narrative is confirmed by the 
following solemnity, that was afterwards observed: An Athenian ship used 
to sail silently at first to the island, then, with noise and a great shout, 
one leapt out armed, and with a loud cry ran to the promontory Sciradium 
to meet those that approached upon the land. And just by there stands a 
temple which Solon dedicated to Mars. For he beat the Megarians, and as 
many as were not killed in the battle he sent away upon 
conditions.
</p><p>The Megarians, however, still contending, and both sides having 
received considerable losses, they chose the Spartans for arbitrators. 
Now, many affirm that Homer's authority did Solon a considerable kindness, 
and that, introducing a line into the Catalogue of Ships, when the matter 
was to be determined, he read the passage as follows:-
</p><p>"Twelve ships from Salamis stout Ajax brought,
<br>And ranked his men where the Athenians fought." The Athenians, however, 
call this but an idle story, and report that Solon made it appear to the 
judges, that Philaeus and Eurysaces, the sons of Ajax, being made citizens 
of Athens, gave them the island, and that one of them dwelt at Brauron 
in Attica, the other at Melite; and they have a township of Philaidae, 
to which Pisistratus belonged, deriving its name from this Philaeus. Solon 
took a farther argument against the Megarians from the dead bodies, which, 
he said, were not buried after their fashion, but according to the Athenian; 
for the Megarians turn the corpse to the east, the Athenians to the west. 
But Hereas the Megarian denies this, and affirms that they likewise turn 
the body to the west, and also that the Athenians have a separate tomb 
for everybody, but the Megarians put two or three into one. However, some 
of Apollo's oracles, where he calls Salamis Ionian, made much for Solon. 
This matter was determined by five Spartans, Critolaidas, Amompharetus, 
Hypsechidas, Anaxilas, and Cleomenes.
</p><p>For this, Solon grew famed and powerful; but his advice in favour 
of defending the oracle at Delphi, to give aid, and not to suffer the Cirrhaeans 
to profane it, but to maintain the honour of the god, got him most repute 
among the Greeks; for upon his persuasion the Amphictyons undertook the 
war, as amongst others, Aristotle affirms, in his enumeration of the victors 
at the Pythian games, where he makes Solon the author of this counsel. 
Solon, however, was not general in that expedition, as Hermippus states, 
out of Evanthes the Samian; for Aeschines the orator says no such thing, 
and, in the Delphian register, Alcmaeon, not Solon, is named as commander 
of the Athenians.
</p><p>Now the Cylonian pollution had a long while disturbed the commonwealth, 
ever since the time when Megacles the archon persuaded the conspirators 
with Cylon that took sanctuary in Minerva's temple to come down and stand 
to a fair trial. And they, tying a thread to the image, and holding one 
end of it, went down to the tribunal; but when they came to the temple 
of the Furies, the thread broke of its own accord, upon which, as if the 
goddess had refused them protection, they were seized by Megacles and the 
other magistrates as many as were without the temples were stoned, these 
that fled for sanctuary were butchered at the altar, and only those escaped 
who made supplication to the wives of the magistrates. But they from that 
time were considered under pollution, and regarded with hatred. The remainder 
of the faction of Cylon grew strong again, and had continual quarrels with 
the family of Megacles; and now the quarrel being at its height, and the 
people divided, Solon, being in reputation, interposed with the chiefest 
of the Athenians, and by entreaty and admonition persuaded the polluted 
to submit to a trial and the decision of three hundred noble citizens. 
And Myron of Phlya being their accuser, they were found guilty, and as 
many as were then alive were banished, and the bodies of the dead were 
dug up, and scattered beyond the confines of the country. In the midst 
of these distractions, the Megarians falling upon them, they lost Nisaea 
and Salamis again; besides, the city was disturbed with superstitious fears 
and strange appearances, and the priests declared that the sacrifices intimated 
some villainies and pollutions that were to be expiated. Upon this, they 
sent for Epimenides the Phaestian from Crete, who is counted the seventh 
wise man by those that will not admit Periander into the number. He seems 
to have been thought a favourite of heaven, possessed of knowledge in all 
the supernatural and ritual parts of religion; and, therefore, the men 
of his age called him a new Curies, and son of a nymph named Balte. When 
he came to Athens, and grew acquainted with Solon, he served him in many 
instances, and prepared the way for his legislation. He made them moderate 
in their forms of worship, and abated their mourning by ordering some sacrifices 
presently after the funeral, and taking off those severe and barbarous 
ceremonies which the women usually practised; but the greatest benefit 
was his purifying and sanctifying the city, by certain propitiatory and 
expiatory lustrations, and foundations of sacred buildings, by that means 
making them more submissive to justice, and more inclined to harmony. It 
is reported that, looking upon Munychia, and considering a long while. 
he said to those that stood by, "How blind is man in future things! for 
did the Athenians foresee what mischief this would do their city, they 
would even eat it with their own teeth to be rid of it." A similar anticipation 
is ascribed to Thales; they say he commanded his friends to bury him in 
an obscure and contemned quarter of the territory of Mileteus, saying that 
it should some day be the market-place of the Milesians. Epimenides, being 
much honoured, and receiving from the city rich offers of large gifts and 
privileges, requested but one branch of the sacred olive, and, on that 
being granted, returned.
</p><p>The Athenians, now the Cylonian sedition was over and the polluted 
gone into banishment fell into their old quarrels about the government, 
there being as many different parties as there were diversities in the 
country. The Hill quarter favoured democracy, the Plain, oligarchy, and 
those that lived by the Seaside stood for a mixed sort of government, and 
so hindered either of the other parties from prevailing. And the disparity 
of fortune between the rich and the poor, at that time, also reached its 
height; so that the city seemed to be in a truly dangerous condition, and 
no other means for freeing it from disturbances and settling it to be possible 
but a despotic power. All the people were indebted to the rich; and either 
they tilled their land for their creditors, paying them a sixth part of 
the increase, and were, therefore, called Hectemorii and Thetes, or else 
they engaged their body for the debt, and might be seized, and either sent 
into slavery at home, or sold to strangers; some (for no law forbade it) 
were forced to sell their children, or fly their country to avoid the cruelty 
of their creditors; but the most part and the bravest of them began to 
combine together and encourage one another to stand to it, to choose a 
leader, to liberate the condemned debtors, divide the land, and change 
the government.
</p><p>Then the wisest of the Athenians, perceiving Solon was of all men 
the only one not implicated in the troubles, that he had not joined in 
the exactions of the rich and was not involved in the necessities of the 
poor, pressed him to succour the commonwealth and compose the differences. 
Though Phanias the Lesbian affirms, that Solon, to save his country' put 
a trick upon both parties, and privately promised the poor a division of 
the lands, and the rich security for their debts. Solon, however, himself 
says, that it was reluctantly at first that he engaged in state affairs, 
being afraid of the pride of one party and the greediness of the other; 
he was chosen archon, however, after Philombrotus, and empowered to be 
an arbitrator and lawgiver; the rich consenting because he was wealthy, 
the poor because he was honest. There was a saying of his current before 
the election, that when things are even there never can be war, and this 
pleased both parties, the wealthy and the poor; the one conceiving him 
to mean, when all have their fair proportion; the others, when all are 
absolutely equal. Thus, there being great hopes on both sides, the chief 
men pressed Solon to take the government into his own hands, and, when 
he was once settled, manage the business freely and according to his pleasure; 
and many of the commons, perceiving it would be a difficult change to be 
effected by law and reason, were willing to have one wise and just man 
set over the affairs; and some say that Solon had this oracle from 
Apollo-
</p><p>"Take the mid-seat, and be the vessel's guide;
<br>Many in Athens are upon your side." But chiefly his familiar friends 
chid him for disaffecting monarchy only because of the name, as if the 
virtue of the ruler could not make it a lawful form; Euboea had made this 
experiment when it chose Tynnondas, and Mitylene, which had made Pittacus 
its prince; yet this could not shake Solon's resolution; but, as they say, 
he replied to his friends, that it was true a tyranny was a very fair spot, 
but it had no way down from it; and in a copy of verses to Phocus he 
writes"-
</p><p>that I spared my land,
<br>And withheld from usurpation and from violence my 
hand,
<br>And forbore to fix a stain and a disgrace on my good 
name,
<br>I regret not; I believe that it will be my chiefest fame." From which 
it is manifest that he was a man of great reputation before he gave his 
laws. The several mocks that were put upon him for refusing the power, 
he records in these words:-
</p><p>"Solon surely was a dreamer, and a man of simple 
mind;
<br>When the gods would give him fortune, he of his own will 
declined;
</p><p>When the net was full of fishes, over-heavy thinking 
it,
<br>He declined to haul it up, through want of heart and want of 
wit.
<br>Had but I that chance of riches and of kingship, for one 
day,
<br>I would give my skin for flaying, and my house to die 
away."
</p><p>Thus he makes the many and the low people speak of him. Yet, though 
he refused the government, he was not too mild in the affair; he did not 
show himself mean and submissive to the powerful, nor make his laws to 
pleasure those that chose him. For where it was well before, he applied 
no remedy, nor altered anything, for fear lest-
</p><p>"Overthrowing altogether and disordering the state," he should 
be too weak to new-model and recompose it to a tolerable condition; but 
what he thought he could effect by persuasion upon the pliable, and by 
force upon the stubborn, this he did, as he himself 
says-
</p><p>"With force and justice working both in one." And, therefore, when 
he was afterwards asked if he had left the Athenians the best laws that 
could be given, he replied, "The best they could receive." The way which, 
the moderns say, the Athenians have of softening the badness of a thing, 
by ingeniously giving it some pretty and innocent appellation, calling 
harlots, for example, mistresses, tributes customs, a garrison a guard, 
and the jail the chamber, seem originally to have been Solon's contrivance, 
who called cancelling debts Seisacthea, a relief, or disencumbrance. For 
the first thing which he settled was, that what debts remained should be 
forgiven, and no man, for the future, should engage the body of his debtor 
for security. Though some, as Androtion, affirm that the debts were not 
cancelled, but the interest only lessened, which sufficiently pleased the 
people; so that they named this benefit the Seisacthea, together with the 
enlarging their measures and raising the value of their money; for he made 
a pound, which before passed for seventy-three drachmas, go for a hundred; 
so that, though the number of pieces in the payment was equal, the value 
was less; which proved a considerable benefit to those that were to discharge 
great debts, and no loss to the creditors. But most agree that it was the 
taking off the debts that was called Seisacthea, which is confirmed by 
some places in his poem, where he takes honour to himself, 
that-
</p><p>"The mortgage-stones that covered her, by me
<br>Removed,- the land that was a slave is free: that some who had been 
seized for their debts he had brought back from other countries, 
where-
</p><p>"-so far their lot to roam,
<br>They had forgot the language of their home; and some he had set at 
liberty-
</p><p>"Who here in shameful servitude were held."
</p><p>While he was designing this, a most vexatious thing happened; for 
when he had resolved to take off the debts, and was considering the proper 
form and fit beginning for it, he told some of his friends, Conon, Clinias, 
and Hipponicus, in whom he had a great deal of confidence, that he would 
not meddle with the lands, but only free the people from their debts; upon 
which they, using their advantage, made haste and borrowed some considerable 
sums of money, and purchased some large farms; and when the law was enacted, 
they kept the possessions, and would not return the money; which brought 
Solon into great suspicion and dislike, as if he himself had not been abused, 
but was concerned in the contrivance. But he presently stopped this suspicion, 
by releasing his debtors of five talents (for he had lent so much), according 
to the law; others, as Polyzelus the Rhodian, say fifteen; his friends, 
however, were ever afterward called Chreocopidae, repudiators.
</p><p>In this he pleased neither party, for the rich were angry for their 
money, and the poor that the land was not divided, and, as Lycurgus ordered 
in his commonwealth, all men reduced to equality. He, it is true, being 
the eleventh from Hercules, and having reigned many years in Lacedaemon, 
had got a great reputation and friends and power, which he could use in 
modelling his state; and applying force more than persuasion, insomuch 
that he lost his eye in the scuffle, was able to employ the most effectual 
means for the safety and harmony of a state, by not permitting any to be 
poor or rich in his commonwealth. Solon could not rise to that in his polity, 
being but a citizen of the middle classes; yet he acted fully up to the 
height of his power, having nothing but the good-will and good opinion 
of his citizens to rely on; and that he offended the most part, who looked 
for another result, he declares in the words-
</p><p>"Formerly they boasted of me vainly; with averted 
eyes
<br>Now they look askance upon me; friends no more, but enemies." And yet 
had any other man, he says, received the same power-
</p><p>"He would not have forborne, nor let alone,
<br>But made the fattest of the milk his own." Soon, however, becoming 
sensible of the good that was done, they laid by their grudges, made a 
public sacrifice, calling it Seisacthea, and chose Solon to new-model and 
make laws for the commonwealth, giving him the entire power over everything, 
their magistracies, their assemblies, courts, and councils; that he should 
appoint the number, times of meeting, and what estate they must have that 
could be capable of these, and dissolve or continue any of the present 
constitutions, according to his pleasure.
</p><p>First, then, he repealed all Draco's laws, except those concerning 
homicide, because they were too severe, and the punishment too great; for 
death was appointed for almost all offences, insomuch that those that were 
convicted of idleness were to die, and those that stole a cabbage or an 
apple to suffer even as villains that committed sacrilege or murder. So 
that Demades, in after time, was thought to have said very happily, that 
Draco's laws were written not with ink but blood; and he himself, being 
once asked why be made death the punishment of most offences, replied, 
"Small ones deserve that, and I have no higher for the greater 
crimes."
</p><p>Next, Solon, being willing to continue the magistracies in the 
hands of the rich men, and yet receive the people into the other part of 
the government, took an account of the citizens' estates, and those that 
were worth five hundred measures of fruit, dry and liquid, he placed in 
the first rank, calling them Pentacosiomedimni; those that could keep an 
horse, or were worth three hundred measures, were named Hippada Teluntes, 
and made the second class; the Zeugitae, that had two hundred measures, 
were in the third; and all the others were called Thetes, who were not 
admitted to any office, but could come to the assembly, and act as jurors; 
which at first seemed nothing, but afterwards was found an enormous privilege, 
as almost every matter of dispute came before them in this latter capacity. 
Even in the cases which he assigned to the archon's cognisance, he allowed 
an appeal to the courts. Besides, it is said that he was obscure and ambiguous 
in the wording of his laws, on purpose to increase the honour of his courts; 
for since their differences could not be adjusted by the letter, they would 
have to bring all their causes to the judges, who thus were in a manner 
masters of the laws. Of this equalisation he himself makes mention in this 
manner:-
</p><p>"Such power I gave the people as might do,
<br>Abridged not what they had, now lavished new,
<br>Those that were great in wealth and high in place
<br>My counsel likewise kept from all disgrace.
<br>Before them both I held my shield of might,
<br>And let not either touch the other's right." And for the greater security 
of the weak commons, he gave general liberty of indicting for an act of 
injury; if any one was beaten, maimed, or suffered any violence, any man 
that would and was able might prosecute the wrong-doer; intending by this 
to accustom the citizens, like members of the same body, to resent and 
be sensible of one another's injuries. And there is a saying of his agreeable 
to his law, for, being asked what city was best modelled, "That," said 
he, "where those that are not injured try and punish the unjust as much 
as those that are."
</p><p>When he had constituted the Areopagus of those who had been yearly 
archons, of which he himself was a member therefore, observing that the 
people, now free from their debts, were unsettled and imperious, he formed 
another council of four hundred, a hundred out of each of the four tribes, 
which was to inspect all matters before they were propounded to the people, 
and to take care that nothing but what had been first examined should be 
brought before the general assembly. The upper council, or Areopagus, he 
made inspectors and keepers of the laws, conceiving that the commonwealth, 
held by these two councils, like anchors, would be less liable to be tossed 
by tumults, and the people be more quiet. Such is the general statement, 
that Solon instituted the Areopagus; which seems to be confirmed, because 
Draco makes no mention of the Areopagites, but in all causes of blood refers 
to the Ephetae; yet Solon's thirteenth table contains the eighth law set 
down in these very words: "Whoever before Solon's archonship were disfranchised, 
let them be restored, except those that, being condemned by the Areopagus, 
Ephetae, or in the Prytaneum by the kings, for homicide, murder, or designs 
against the government, were in banishment when this law was made; and 
these words seem to show that the Areopagus existed before Solon's laws, 
for who could be condemned by that council before his time, if he was the 
first that instituted the court? unless, which is probable, there is some 
ellipsis, or want of precision in the language, and it should run thus:- 
"Those that are convicted of such offences as belong to the cognisance 
of the Areopagites, Ephetae, or the Prytanes, when this law was made," 
shall remain still in disgrace, whilst others are restored; of this the 
reader must judge.
</p><p>Amongst his other laws, one is very peculiar and surprising, which 
disfranchises all who stand neuter in a sedition; for it seems he would 
not have any one remain insensible and regardless of the public good, and 
securing his private affairs, glory that he has no feeling of the distempers 
of his country; but at once join with the good party and those that have 
the right upon their side, assist and venture with them, rather than keep 
out of harm's way and watch who would get the better. It seems an absurd 
and foolish law which permits an heiress, if her lawful husband fail her, 
to take his nearest kinsman; yet some say this law was well contrived against 
those who, conscious of their own unfitness, yet, for the sake of the portion, 
would match with heiresses, and make use of law to put a violence upon 
nature; for now, since she can quit him for whom she pleases, they would 
either abstain from such marriages, or continue them with disgrace, and 
suffer for their covetousness and designed affront; it is well done, moreover, 
to confine her to her husband's nearest kinsman, that the children may 
be of the same family. Agreeable to this is the law that the bride and 
bridegroom shall be shut into a chamber, and eat a quince together; and 
that the husband of an heiress shall consort with her thrice a month; for 
though there be no children, yet it is an honour and due affection which 
an husband ought to pay to a virtuous, chaste wife; it takes off all petty 
differences, and will not permit their little quarrels to proceed to a 
rupture.
</p><p>In all other marriages he forbade dowries to be given; the wife 
was to have three suits of clothes, a little inconsiderable household stuff, 
and that was all; for he would not have marriages contracted for gain or 
an estate, but for pure love, kind affection, and birth of children. When 
the mother of Dionysius desired him to marry her to one of his citizens, 
"Indeed," said he, "by my tyranny I have broken my country's laws, but 
cannot put a violence upon those of nature by an unseasonable marriage." 
Such disorder is never to be suffered in a commonwealth, nor such unseasonable 
and unloving and unperforming marriages, which attain no due end or fruit; 
any provident governor or lawgiver might say to an old man that takes a 
young wife what is said to Philoctetes in the tragedy-
</p><p>"Truly, in a fit state thou to marry! and if he find a young man, 
with a rich and elderly wife, growing fat in his place, like the partridges, 
remove him to a young woman of proper age. And of this 
enough.
</p><p>Another commendable law of Solon's is that which forbids men to 
speak evil of the dead; for it is pious to think the deceased sacred, and 
just, not to meddle with those that are gone, and politic, to prevent the 
perpetuity of discord. He likewise forbade them to speak evil of the living 
in the temples, the courts of justice, the public offices, or at the games, 
or else to pay three drachmas to the person, and two to the public. For 
never to be able to control passion shows a weak nature and ill-breeding; 
and always to moderate it is very hard, and to some impossible. And laws 
must look to possibilities, if the maker designs to punish few in order 
to their amendment, and not many to no purpose.
</p><p>He is likewise much commended for his law concerning wills; before 
him none could be made, but all the wealth and estate of the deceased belonged 
to his family; but he by permitting them, if they had no children to bestow 
it on whom they pleased, showed that he esteemed friendship a stronger 
tie than kindred, affection than necessity; and made every man's estate 
truly his own. Yet he allowed not all sorts of legacies, but those only 
which were not extorted by the frenzy of a disease, charms, imprisonment, 
force, or the persuasions of a wife; with good reason thinking that being 
seduced into wrong was as bad as being forced, and that between deceit 
and necessity, flattery and compulsion, there was little difference, since 
both may equally suspend the exercise of reason.
</p><p>He regulated the walks, feasts, and mourning of the women and took 
away everything that was either unbecoming or immodest; when they walked 
abroad, no more than three articles of dress were allowed them; an obol's 
worth of meat and drink; and no basket above a cubit high; and at night 
they were not to go about unless in a chariot with a torch before them. 
Mourners tearing themselves to raise pity, and set wailings, and at one 
man's funeral to lament for another, he forbade. To offer an ox at the 
grave was not permitted, nor to bury above three pieces of dress with the 
body, or visit the tombs of any besides their own family, unless at the 
very funeral; most of which are likewise forbidden by our laws, but this 
is further added in ours, that those that are convicted of extravagance 
in their mournings are to be punished as soft and effeminate by the censors 
of women.
</p><p>Observing the city to be filled with persons that flocked from 
all parts into Attica for security of living, and that most of the country 
was barren and unfruitful, and that traders at sea import nothing to those 
that could give them nothing in exchange, he turned his citizens to trade, 
and made a law that no son be obliged to relieve a father who had not bred 
him up to any calling. It is true, Lycurgus, having a city free from all 
strangers, and land, according to Euripides-
</p><p>"Large for large hosts, for twice their number much," and, above 
all, an abundance of labourers about Sparta, who should not be left idle, 
but be kept down with continual toil and work, did well to take off his 
citizens from laborious and mechanical occupations, and keep them to their 
arms, and teach them only the art of war. But Solon, fitting his laws to 
the state of things, and not making things to suit his laws, and finding 
the ground scarce rich enough to maintain the husbandmen, and altogether 
incapable of feeding an unoccupied and leisured multitude, brought trades 
into credit, and ordered the Areopagites to examine how every man got his 
living, and chastise the idle. But that law was yet more rigid which, as 
Heraclides Ponticus delivers, declared the sons of unmarried mothers not 
obliged to relieve their fathers; for he that avoids the honourable form 
of union shows that he does not take a woman for children, but for pleasure, 
and thus gets his just reward, and has taken away from himself every title 
to upbraid his children, to whom he has made their very birth a scandal 
and reproach.
</p><p>Solon's laws in general about women are his strangest; for he permitted 
any one to kill an adulterer that found him in the act- but if any one 
forced a free woman, a hundred drachmas was the fine; if he enticed her, 
twenty; except those that sell themselves openly, that is, harlots, who 
go openly to those that hire them. He made it unlawful to sell a daughter 
or a sister, unless, being yet unmarried, she was found wanton. Now it 
is irrational to punish the same crime sometimes very severely and without 
remorse, and sometimes very lightly, and as it were in sport, with a trivial 
fine; unless there being little money then in Athens, scarcity made those 
mulcts the more grievous punishment. In the valuation for sacrifices, a 
sheep and a bushel were both estimated at a drachma; the victor in the 
Isthmian games was to have for reward an hundred drachmas; the conqueror 
in the Olympian, five hundred; he that brought a wolf, five drachmas; for 
a whelp, one; the former sum, as Demetrius the Phalerian asserts, was the 
value of an ox, the latter, of a sheep. The prices which Solon, in his 
sixteenth table, sets on choice victims, were naturally far greater; yet 
they, too, are very low in comparison of the present. The Athenians were, 
from the beginning, great enemies to wolves, their fields being better 
for pasture than corn. Some affirm their tribes did not take their names 
from the sons of Ion, but from the different sorts of occupation that they 
followed; the soldiers were called Hoplitae, the craftsmen Ergades, and, 
of the remaining two, the farmers Gedeontes, and the shepherds and graziers 
Aegicores.
</p><p>Since the country has but few rivers, lakes, or large springs, 
and many used wells which they had dug, there was a law made, that, where 
there was a public well within a hippicon, that is, four furlongs, all 
should draw at that; but when it was farther off, they should try and procure 
a well of their own; and if they had dug ten fathoms deep and could find 
no water, they had liberty to fetch a pitcherful of four gallons and a 
half in a day from their neighbours'; for he thought it prudent to make 
provision against want, but not to supply laziness. He showed skill in 
his orders about planting, for any one that would plant another tree was 
not to set it within five feet of his neighbour's field; but if a fig or 
an olive not within nine; for their roots spread farther, nor can they 
be planted near all sorts of trees without damage, for they draw away the 
nourishment, and in some cases are noxious by their effluvia. He that would 
dig a pit or a ditch was to dig it at the distance of its own depth from 
his neighbour's ground; and he that would raise stocks of bees was not 
to place them within three hundred feet of those which another had already 
raised.
</p><p>He permitted only oil to be exported, and those that exported any 
other fruit, the archon was solemnly to curse, or else pay an hundred drachmas 
himself; and this law was written in his first table, and, therefore, let 
none think it incredible, as some affirm, that the exportation of figs 
was once unlawful, and the informer against the delinquents called a sycophant. 
He made a law, also, concerning hurts and injuries from beasts, in which 
he commands the master of any dog that bit a man to deliver him up with 
a log about his neck, four and a half feet long; a happy device for men's 
security. The law concerning naturalizing strangers is of doubtful character; 
he permitted only those to be made free of Athens who were in perpetual 
exile from their own country, or came with their whole family to trade 
there; this he did, not to discourage strangers, but rather to invite them 
to a permanent participation in the privileges of the government; and, 
besides, he thought those would prove the more faithful citizens who had 
been forced from their own country, or voluntarily forsook it. The law 
of public entertainment (parasitein is his name for it) is also peculiarly 
Solon's; for if any man came often, or if he that was invited refused, 
they were punished, for he concluded that one was greedy, the other a contemner 
of the state.
</p><p>All his laws he established for an hundred years, and wrote them 
on wooden tables or rollers, named axones, which might be turned round 
in oblong cases; some of their relics were in my time still to be seen 
in the Prytaneum, or common hall at Athens. These, as Aristotle states, 
were called cyrbes, and there is a passage of Cratinus the 
comedian-
</p><p>"By Solon, and by Draco, if you please,
<br>Whose Cyrbes make the fires that parch our peas." But some say those 
are properly cyrbes, which contain laws concerning sacrifices and the rites 
of religion, and all the others axones. The council all jointly swore to 
confirm the laws, and every one of the Thesmothetae vowed for himself at 
the stone in the market-place, that if he broke any of the statutes, he 
would dedicate a golden statue, as big as himself, at 
Delphi.
</p><p>Observing the irregularity of the months, and that the moon does 
not always rise and set with the sun, but often in the same day overtakes 
and gets before him, he ordered the day should be named the Old and New, 
attributing that part of it which was before the conjunction to the old 
moon, and the rest to the new, he being the first, it seems, that understood 
that verse of Homer-
</p><p>"The end and the beginning of the month," and the following day 
he called the new moon. After the twentieth he did not count by addition, 
but, like the moon itself in its wane, by subtraction; thus up to the 
thirtieth.
</p><p>Now when these laws were enacted, and some came to Solon every 
day, to commend or dispraise them, and to advise, if possible, to leave 
out or put in something, and many criticized and desired him to explain, 
and tell the meaning of such and such a passage, he, knowing that to do 
it was useless, and not to do it would get him ill-will, and desirous to 
bring himself out of all straits, and to escape all displeasure and exceptions, 
it being a hard thing, as he himself says-
</p><p>"In great affairs to satisfy all sides," as an excuse for travelling, 
bought a trading vessel, and, having leave for ten years' absence, departed, 
hoping that by that time his laws would have become 
familiar.
</p><p>His first voyage was for Egypt, and he lived, as he himself 
says-
</p><p>"Near Nilus' mouth, by fair Canopus' shore," and spent some time 
in study with Psenophis of Heliopolis, and Sonchis the Saite, the most 
learned of all the priests; from whom, as Plato says, getting knowledge 
of the Atlantic story, he put it into a poem, and proposed to bring it 
to the knowledge of the Greeks. From thence he sailed to Cyprus, where 
he was made much of by Philocyprus, one of the kings there, who had a small 
city built by Demophon, Theseus's son, near the river Clarius, in a strong 
situation, but incommodious and uneasy of access. Solon persuaded him, 
since there lay a fair plain below, to remove, and build there a pleasanter 
and more spacious city. And he stayed himself, and assisted in gathering 
inhabitants, and in fitting it both for defence and convenience of living; 
insomuch that many flocked to Philocyprus, and the other kings imitated 
the design; and, therefore, to honour Solon, he called the city Soli, which 
was formerly named Aepea. And Solon himself, in his Elegies, addressing 
Philocyprus, mentions this foundation in these words:-
</p><p>"Long may you live, and fill the Solian throne,
<br>Succeeded still by children of your own;
<br>And from your happy island while I sail,
<br>Let Cyprus send for me a favouring gale;
<br>May she advance, and bless your new command,
<br>Prosper your town, and send me safe to land."
</p><p>That Solon should discourse with Croesus, some think not agreeable 
with chronology; but I cannot reject so famous and well-attested a narrative, 
and, what is more, so agreeable to Solon's temper, and so worthy his wisdom 
and greatness of mind, because, forsooth, it does not agree with some chronological 
canons, which thousands have endeavoured to regulate, and yet, to this 
day, could never bring their differing opinions to any agreement. They 
say, therefore, that Solon, coming to Croesus at his request, was in the 
same condition as an inland man when first he goes to see the sea; for 
as he fancies every river he meets with to be the ocean, so Solon, as he 
passed through the court, and saw a great many nobles richly dressed, and 
proudly attended with a multitude of guards and footboys, thought every 
one had been the king, till he was brought to Croesus, who was decked with 
every possible rarity and curiosity, in ornaments of jewels, purple, and 
gold, that could make a grand and gorgeous spectacle of him. Now when Solon 
came before him, and seemed not at all surprised, nor gave Croesus those 
compliments he expected, but showed himself to all discerning eyes to be 
a man that despised the gaudiness and petty ostentation of it, he commanded 
them to open all his treasure houses, and carry him to see his sumptuous 
furniture and luxuries, though he did not wish it; Solon could judge of 
him well enough by the first sight of him; and, when he returned from viewing 
all, Croesus asked him if ever he had known a happier man than he. And 
when Solon answered that he had known one Tellus, a fellow-citizen of his 
own, and told him that this Tellus had been an honest man, had had good 
children, a competent estate, and died bravely in battle for his country, 
Croesus took him for an ill-bred fellow and a fool, for not measuring happiness 
by the abundance of gold and silver, and preferring the life and death 
of a private and mean man before so much power and empire. He asked him, 
however, again, if, besides Tellus, he knew any other man more happy. And 
Solon replying, Yes, Cleobis and Biton, who were loving brothers, and extremely 
dutiful sons to their mother, and, when the oxen delayed her, harnessed 
themselves to the wagon, and drew her to Juno's temple, her neighbours 
all calling her happy, and she herself rejoicing; then, after sacrificing 
and feasting, they went to rest, and never rose again, but died in the 
midst of their honour a painless and tranquil death. "What," said Croesus, 
angrily, "and dost not thou reckon us amongst the happy men at all?" Solon, 
unwilling either to flatter or exasperate him more, replied, "The gods, 
O king, have given the Greeks all other gifts in moderate degree; and so 
our wisdom, too, is a cheerful and a homely, not a noble and kingly wisdom; 
and this, observing the numerous misfortunes that attend all conditions, 
forbids us to grow insolent upon our present enjoyments, or to admire any 
man's happiness that may yet, in course of time, suffer change. For the 
uncertain future has yet to come, with every possible variety of fortune; 
and him only to whom the divinity has continued happiness unto the end 
we call happy; to salute as happy one that is still in the midst of life 
and hazard, we think as little safe and conclusive as to crown and proclaim 
as victorious the wrestler that is yet in the ring." After this, he was 
dismissed, having given Croesus some pain, but no instruction.
</p><p>Aesop, who wrote the fables, being then at Sardis upon Croesus's 
invitation, and very much esteemed, was concerned that Solon was so ill 
received, and gave him this advice: "Solon, let your converse with kings 
be either short or seasonable." "Nay, rather," replied Solon, "either short 
or reasonable." So at this time Croesus despised Solon; but when he was 
overcome by Cyrus, had lost his city, was taken alive, condemned to be 
burnt, and laid bound upon the pile before all the Persians and Cyrus himself, 
he cried out as loud as possibly he could three times, "O Solon!" and Cyrus 
being surprised, and sending some to inquire what man or god this Solon 
was, who alone he invoked in this extremity, Croesus told him the whole 
story, saying, "He was one of the wise men of Greece, whom I sent for, 
not to be instructed, or to learn anything that I wanted, but that he should 
see and be a witness of my happiness; the loss of which was, it seems, 
to be a greater evil than the enjoyment was a good; for when I had them 
they were goods only in opinion, but now the loss of them has brought upon 
me intolerable and real evils. And he, conjecturing from what then was, 
this that now is, bade look to the end of my life, and not rely and grow 
proud upon uncertainties." When this was told Cyrus, who was a wiser man 
than Croesus, and saw in the present example Solon's maxim confirmed, he 
not only freed Croesus from punishment, but honoured him as long as he 
lived; and Solon had the glory, by the same saying, to save one king and 
instruct another.
</p><p>When Solon was gone, the citizens began to quarrel; Lycurgus headed 
the Plain; Megacles, the son of Alcmaeon, those to the Seaside; and Pisistratus 
the Hill-party, in which were the poorest people, the Thetes, and greatest 
enemies to the rich; insomuch that, though the city still used the new 
laws, yet all looked for and desired a change of government, hoping severally 
that the change would be better for them, and put them above the contrary 
faction. Affairs standing thus, Solon returned, and was reverenced by all, 
and honoured; but his old age would not permit him to be as active, and 
to speak in public, as formerly; yet, by privately conferring with the 
heads of the factions, he endeavoured to compose the differences, Pisistratus 
appearing the most tractable; for he was extremely smooth and engaging 
in his language, a great friend to the poor, and moderate in his resentments; 
and what nature had not given him, he had the skill to imitate; so that 
he was trusted more than the others, being accounted a prudent and orderly 
man, one that loved equality, and would be an enemy to any that moved against 
the present settlement. Thus he deceived the majority of people; but Solon 
quickly discovered his character, and found out his design before any one 
else; yet did not hate him upon this, but endeavoured to humble him, and 
bring him off from his ambition, and often told him and others, that if 
any one could banish the passion for pre-eminence from his mind, and cure 
him of his desire of absolute power, none would make a more virtuous man 
or a more excellent citizen. Thespis, at this time, beginning to act tragedies, 
and the thing, because it was new, taking very much with the multitude, 
though it was not yet made a matter of competition, Solon, being by nature 
fond of hearing and learning something new, and now, in his old age, living 
idly, and enjoying himself, indeed, with music and with wine, went to see 
Thespis himself, as the ancient custom was, act: and after the play was 
done, he addressed him, and asked him if he was not ashamed to tell so 
many lies before such a number of people; and Thespis replying that it 
was no harm to say or do so in play, Solon vehemently struck his staff 
against the ground: "Ah," said he, "if we honour and commend such play 
as this, we shall find it some day in our business."
</p><p>Now when Pisistratus, having wounded himself, was brought into 
the market-place in a chariot, and stirred up the people, as if he had 
been thus treated by his opponents because of his political conduct, and 
a great many were enraged and cried out, Solon, coming close to him, said, 
"This, O son of Hippocrates, is a bad copy of Homer's Ulysses; you do, 
to trick your countrymen, what he did to deceive his enemies." After this, 
the people were eager to protect Pisistratus, and met in an assembly, where 
one Ariston making a motion that they should allow Pisistratus fifty clubmen 
for a guard to his person, Solon opposed it, and said much to the same 
purport as what he has left us in his poems-
</p><p>"You dote upon his words and taking phrase;" and 
again-
</p><p>"True, you are singly each a crafty soul,
<br>But all together make one empty fool." But observing the poor men bent 
to gratify Pisistratus, and tumultuous, and the rich fearful and getting 
out of harm's way, he departed, saying he was wiser than some and stouter 
than others; wiser than those that did not understand the design, stouter 
than those that, though they understood it, were afraid to oppose the tyranny. 
Now, the people, having passed the law, were not nice with Pisistratus 
about the number of his clubmen, but took no notice of it, though he enlisted 
and kept as many as he would, until he seized the Acropolis. When that 
was done, and the city in an uproar, Megacles, with all his family, at 
once fled; but Solon, though he was now very old, and had none to back 
him, yet came into the marketplace and made a speech to the citizens, partly 
blaming their inadvertency and meanness of spirit, and in part urging and 
exhorting them not thus tamely to lose their liberty; and likewise then 
spoke that memorable saying, that, before, it was an easier task to stop 
the rising tyranny, but now the great and more glorious action to destroy 
it, when it was begun already, and had gathered strength. But all being 
afraid to side with him, he returned home, and, taking his arms, he brought 
them out and laid them in the porch before his door, with these words: 
"I have done my part to maintain my country and my laws," and then he busied 
himself no more. His friends advising him to fly, he refused, but wrote 
poems, and thus reproached the Athenians in them:-
</p><p>"If now you suffer, do not blame the Powers,
<br>For they are good, and all the fault was ours,
<br>All the strongholds you put into his hands,
<br>And now his slaves must do what he commands." And many telling him 
that the tyrant would take his life for this, and asking what he trusted 
to, that he ventured to speak so boldly, he replied, "To my old age." But 
Pisistratus, having got the command, so extremely courted Solon, so honoured 
him, obliged him, and sent to see him, that Solon gave him his advice, 
and approved many of his actions; for he retained most of Solon's laws, 
observed them himself, and compelled his friends to obey. And he himself, 
though already absolute ruler, being accused of murder before the Areopagus, 
came quietly to clear himself; but his accuser did not appear. And he added 
other laws, one of which is that the maimed in the wars should be maintained 
at the public charge; this Heraclides Ponticus records, and that Pisistratus 
followed Solon's example in this, who had decreed it in the case of one 
Thersippus, that was maimed; and Theophrastus asserts that it was Pisistratus, 
not Solon, that made that law against laziness, which was the reason that 
the country was more productive, and the city tranquiller.
</p><p>Now Solon, having begun the great work in verse, the history or 
fable of the Atlantic Island, which he had learned from the wise men in 
Sais, and thought convenient for the Athenians to know, abandoned it; not, 
as Plato says, by reason of want of time, but because of his age, and being 
discouraged at the greatness of the task; for that he had leisure enough, 
such verses testify, as-
</p><p>"Each day grow older, and learn something new;" and 
again-
</p><p>"But now the Powers, of Beauty, Song, and Wine,
<br>Which are most men's delights, are also mine." Plato, willing to improve 
the story of the Atlantic Island, as if it were a fair estate that wanted 
an heir and came with some title to him, formed, indeed, stately entrances, 
noble enclosures, large courts, such as never yet introduced any story, 
fable, or poetic fiction; but, beginning it late, ended his life before 
his work; and the reader's regret for the unfinished part is the greater, 
as the satisfaction he takes in that which is complete is extraordinary. 
For as the city of Athens left only the temple of Jupiter Olympius unfinished, 
so Plato, amongst all his excellent works, left this only piece about the 
Atlantic Island imperfect. Solon lived after Pisistratus seized the government, 
as Heraclides Ponticus asserts, a long time; but Phanias the Eresian says 
not two full years; for Pisistratus began his tyranny when Comias was archon, 
and Phanias says Solon died under Hegestratus, who succeeded Comias. The 
story that his ashes were scattered about the island Salamis is too strange 
to be easily believed, or be thought anything but a mere fable; and yet 
it is given, amongst other good authors, by Aristotle, the 
philosopher.
</p>

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