of popular government; those in the low lands were for an oli garchy; and those that dwelt on the sca-coasts, were for having a mixed government, composed of those two forms blended together and these hindered the other two contending parties from getting any ground of each other. Besides these, there was a fourth party which consisted only of the poor, who were grievously harassed and oppressed by the rich, on account of their debts, which they were not able to discharge. This unhappy party was determined to choose themselves a chief, who should deliver them from the inhuman severity of their creditors, and make an entire change in the form of their government, by making a new division of the lands.' : In this extreme danger all the wise Athenians cast their eyes upon Solon, who was obnoxious to neither party; because he had never sided either with the injustice of the rich, or the rebellion of the poor; and they solicited him very earnestly to take the management of affairs, and to endeavour to put an end to these differences and disorders. He was very unwilling to take upon him so dangerous a commission: however, he was at last chosen Archon, and was constituted supreme arbiter and legislator, with the unanimous consent of all parties; the rich liking him, as he was rich; and the poor, because he was honest. He now had it in his power to make himself king several of the citizens advised him to it; and even the wisest among them, not thinking it was in the power of human reason to bring about a favourable change consistent with the laws, were not unwilling that the supreme power should be vested in one man, who was so eminently distinguished for his prudence and jus tice. But, notwithstanding all the remonstrances that were made to him, and all the solicitations and reproaches of his friends, who treated his refusal of the diadem as an effect of pusillanimity and meanness of spirit, he was still firm and unchangeable in his purpose, and thought only of settling a form of government in his country, that should be the parent of a just and reasonable liberty. Not venturing to meddle with certain disorders and evils which he looked upon as incurable, he undertook to bring about no other. alterations or changes, than such as he thought he could persuade the citizens to comply with, by the influence of reason; or bring them into, by the weight of this authority; wisely mixing, as he himself said, authority and power with reason and justice. Wherefore, when one afterwards asked him, if the laws which he had made for the Athenians, were the best that could be given them; Yes, said he, the best they were capable of receiving. 1 The soul of popular states is equality. But, for fear of disgusting the rich, Solon durst not propose any equality of lands and wealth; whereby Attica, as well as Laconia, would have resembled a paternal inheritance divided among a number of brethren. How ever, he went so far as to put an end to the slavery and oppression of those poor citizens, whose excessive debts and accumulated ar. rears had forced them to sell their persons and liberty, and reduce themselves to a state of servitude and bondage. An express law was made, which declared all debtors discharged and acquitted of all their debts. * This affair drew Solon into a troublesome scrape, which gave him a great deal of vexation and concern. When he first determined to cancel the debts, he foresaw, that such an ediet, which had something in it contrary to justice, would be extremely offensive. For which reason, he endeavoured in some measure to rectify the tenor of it, by introducing it with a specious preamble, which set forth a great many very plausible pretexts, and gave a colour of equity and reason to the law, which in reality it had not. But in order hereto, he first disclosed his design to some particular friends, whom he used to consult in all his affairs, and concerted with them the form and the terms in which this ediet should be expressed. Now, before it was published, his friends, who were more interested than faithful, secretly borrowed large sums of money of their rich acquaintance, which they laid out in purchasing of lands, as knowing they would not be affected by the edict. When the edict was published, the general indignation, that was raised by such a base and flagrant knavery, fell upon Solon, though in fact he had no hand in it. But it is not enough for a man in office to bey disinterested and upright himself; all that surround and approach him ought to be so too; wife, relations, friends, secretaries, and servants. The faults of others are charged to his account: all the wrongs, all the rapine, that may be committed either through his negligence or connivance, are justly imputed to him; because it is his business, and one of the principal designs of his being. put into such trust, to prevent those corruptions and abuses. bThis ordinance at first pleased neither of the two parties; it disgusted the rich, because it abolished the debts; and dissatisfied the poor, because it did not ordain a new division of the lands, as they had expected, and as Lycurgus had actually effected at Sparta. But Solon's influence at Athens fell very short of that which Lycurgus had acquired in Sparta; for he had no other authority over the Athenians, than what the reputation of his wisdom, and the confidence of the people in his integrity, had procured him. However, in a little time afterwards, this ordinance was generally approved, and the same powers as before were continued to Solon. He repealed all the laws that had been made by Draco,.except those against murder. The reason of his doing this, was the exces sive rigour of those laws, which inflicted death alike upon all sorts of offenders; so that they who were convicted of sloth and idleness, or they that had stolen only a few herbs or a little fruit out of a gar den, were as severely punished as those that were guilty of murder or sacrilege. ༢། of bus str He then proceeded to the regulation of offices, employments, and magistracies, all which he left in the hands of the rich; for which reason he distributed the rich citizens into three classes, ranging them according to the difference of their incomes and revenues, and according to the value and estimation of each particular man's estate. Those that were found to have 500 measures per annum, as well in corn as in liquids, were placed in the first rank; those that had 300 were placed in the second; and those that had but 200 made up the third. All the rest of the citizens, whose income fell short of 200 measures, were comprised in a fourth and last class, and were never admitted into any employments.* But, in order to make amends for this exclusion from offices, he left them a right to vote in the assemblies and judgments of the people; which at first seemed to be a matter of little consequence, but in time became extremely advantageous, and made them masters of all the affairs of the city; for most of the law-suits and differences were ultimately referred to the people, to whom an appeal lay from all the judgments of the magistrates; and in the assemblies of the people the greatest and most important af fairs of the state, relating to peace or war, were also determined. The Areopagus, so called from the place where its assemblies were held,† had been a long time established. Solon restored and augmented its authority, leaving to that tribunal, as the supreme court of judicature, a general inspection and superintendency over all affairs, as also the care of causing the laws (of which he made that body the guardian) to be observed and put in execution. Before his time, the citizens of the greatest probity and worth were made the judges of the Areopagus. Solon was the first that thought it convenient that none should be honoured with that dignity, except such as had passed through the office of archon. Nothing was so august as this senate and its reputation for judgment and integrity became so very great, that the Romans sometimes referred causes, which were too intricate for their own decision, to the determination of this tribunal. Nothing was regarded or attended to here, but truth alone; and to the end that no external objects might divert the attention of the judges, their tribunal was always held at night, or in the dark; and the orators were not allowed to make use of any exordium, digres sion, or peroration. Solon, to prevent as much as possible the abuse which the people might make of the great authority he left them, created a second council, consisting of 400 men, 100 out of every tribe; and ordered all causes and affairs, to be brought before this council, and to be maturely examined by them, before they were proposed to the gene*Plut. in Solon. p. 88. 1 This was a hill hear the citadel of Athens, called Areopagus, that is to say, the hill of Mars; because it was there Mars had been tried for the murder of Halirrothius, the son of Neptune. Val. Max. 1. viii. c. 1. Lucian in Hermot. p. 595. Quintil. L. vi. c. 1. ral assembly of the people; to the judgment of which the sentiments of the other were to submit, and to which alone belonged the right of giving a final sentence and decision. It was upon this subject that Anacharsis (whom the reputation of the sages of Greece had brought from the heart of Scythia) said one day to Solon, I wonder you should empower wise men only to deliberate and debate upon af- ・ fairs, and leave the determination and decision of them wholly to fools. Upon another occasion, when Solon was conversing with him upon some other regulations he had in view, Anacharsis, astonished that he could expect to succeed in his designs of restraining the avarice and injustice of the citizens by written laws, answered him in this manner: Give me leave to tell you, that these written laws are just like spiders' webs: the weak and small may be caught and entangled in them; but the rich and powerful will break through them and despise them. Solon, who was an able and prudent man, was very sensible of the inconveniences that attend a democracy, or popular government: but, having thoroughly studied, and being perfectly well acquainted with, the character and disposition of the Athenians, he knew it would be a vain attempt to take the sovereignty out of the people's hands; and that if they parted with it at one time, they would soon resume it at another by force and violence. He therefore contented himself with limiting their power by the authority of the Areopagus and the council of Four Hundred; judging, that the state, being supported and strengthened by these two powerful bodies, as by two good anchors, would not be so liable to commotions and disorders as it had been, and that the people would enjoy more tran quillity. I shall mention only some of the laws which Solon made, by which the reader may be able to form a judgment of the rest. In the first place, every particular person was authorised to espouse the quarrel of any one that was injured and insulted; so that the first comer might prosecute the offender, and bring him to justice for the outrage he had committed. d むさ The design of this wise legislator by this ordinance was, to accustom his citizens to have a fellow-feeling of one another's sufferings and misfortunes, as they were all members of one and the same body... 19 de cau lum By another law, those persons that in public differences and dissensions did not declare themselves of one party or other, but waited to see how things would go before they determined, were declared infamous, condemned to perpetual.banishment, and to have all their estates confiscated. Solon had learnt, from long experience and deep reflection, that the rich, the powerful, and even the wise and virtuous, are usually the most backward to expose themselves to the inconveniences which public dissensions and troubles produce in so ciety and that their zeal for the public good does not render them so vigilant and active in the defence of it, as the passions of the factious render them industrious to destroy it; that the right side being thus abandoned by those that are capable of giving, more weight, authority, and strength to it by their union and concurrence, becomes unable to grapple with the audacious and violent enterprises of a few daring innovators. To prevent this misfortune, which may be attended with the most fatal consequences to a state, Solon judged it proper to force the well affected, by the fear of greater inconveniences to themselves, to declare at the very beginning of any commotion, for the party that was in the right, and to animate the spirit and courage of the best citizens by engaging with them in the common danger. By this method of accustoming the minds of the people to look upon that man almost as an enemy and a traitor, that should appear indifferent to, and unconcerned at, the misfortunes of the public, he provided the state with a quick and sure resource against the sudden enterprises of wicked and profligate citizens. Solon abolished the giving of portions in marriage with young women, unless they were only daughters;* and ordered that the bride should carry no other fortune to her husband than three suits of clothes, and some household goods of little value: for he would not have matrimony become a traffic, and a mere commerce of interest; but desired, that it should be regarded as an honourable fellowship and society, in order to raise subjects to the state, to make the married pair live agreeably and harmoniously together, and to give continual testimony of mutual love and tenderness to each other.' Before Solon's time, the Athenians were not allowed to make their wills: the wealth of the deceased always devolved upon hia children and family. Solon's law allowed every one that was childless, to dispose of his whole estate as he thought fit; preferring by that means friendship to kindred, and choice to necessity and constraint, and rendering every man truly master of his own fortune, by leaving him at liberty to bestow it where he pleased. This law however did not authorise indifferently all sorts of donations: it justified and approved of none but those that were made freely and without any compulsion; without having the mind distempered and intoxicated by potions or charms, or perverted and seduced by the 'allurements and caresses of a woman; for this wise lawgiver was justly persuaded, that there is no difference to be made between being seduced and being forced, looking upon artifice and violence, pleasure and pain, in the same light, when they are made use of as means to impose upon men's reason, and to captivate the liberty of their understandings. dididi Another regulation he made was to lessen the rewards of the * Plut. in Solon. p. 89. |