ταῦτα τοὺς πολλοὺς καὶ φαύλους περὶ αὐτοῦ πεποίηκε λέγοντας. οὐ μὴν ἀπωσάμενός γε τὴν τυραννίδα τὸν πρᾳότατον ἐχρήσατο τρόπον τοῖς πράγμασιν, οὐδὲ μαλακῶς οὐδʼ ὑπείκων τοῖς δυναμένοις οὐδὲ πρὸς ἡδονὴν τῶν ἑλομένων ἔθετο τοὺς νόμους· ἀλλʼ ᾗ μὲν ἄριστον ἦν, οὐκ ἐπήγαγεν ἰατρείαν οὐδὲ καινοτομίαν, φοβηθεὶς μὴ συγχέας παντάπασι καὶ ταράξας τὴν πόλιν ἀσθενέστερος γένηται τοῦ καταστῆσαι πάλιν καὶ συναρμόσασθαι πρὸς τὸ ἄριστον·
Thus he represents the multitude and men of low degree as speaking of him. However, though he rejected the tyranny, he did not administer affairs in the mildest possible manner, nor in the enactment of his laws did he show a feeble spirit, nor make concessions to the powerful, nor consult the pleasure of his electors. Nay, where a condition was as good as it could well be, he applied no remedy, and introduced no innovation, fearing lest, after utterly confusing and confounding the city, he should be too weak to establish it again and recompose it for the best.
ἃ δὲ καὶ λέγων ἤλπιζε πειθομένοις καὶ προσάγων ἀνάγκην ὑπομένουσι χρήσασθαι, ταῦτʼ ἔπραττεν, ὥς φησιν αὐτός, ὁμοῦ βίην τε καὶ δίκην συναρμόσας. / ὅθεν ὕστερον ἐρωτηθεὶς εἰ τοὺς ἀρίστους Ἀθηναίοις νόμους ἔγραψεν, ὧν ἄν, ἔφη, προσεδέξαντο τοὺς ἀρίστους.
ἃ δʼ οὖ οἱ νεώτεροι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους λέγουσι τὰς τῶν πραγμάτων δυσχερείας ὀνόμασι χρηστοῖς καὶ φιλανθρώποις ἐπικαλύπτοντας ἀστείως ὑποκορίζεσθαι,
But those things wherein he hoped to find them open to persuasion or submissive to compulsion, these he did, Combining both force and justice together, / as he says himself. Therefore when he was afterwards asked if he had enacted the best laws for the Athenians, he replied, The best they would receive.
Now later writers observe that the ancient Athenians used to cover up the ugliness of things with auspicious and kindly terms, giving them polite and endearing names.
τὰς μὲν πόρνας ἑταίρας, τοὺς δὲ φόρους συντάξεις, φυλακὰς δὲ τὰς φρουρὰς τῶν πόλεων, οἴκημα δὲ τὸ δεσμωτήριον καλοῦντας, πρώτου Σόλωνος ἦν, ὡς ἔοικε, σόφισμα τὴν τῶν χρεῶν ἀποκοπὴν σεισάχθειαν ὀνομάσαντος. τοῦτο γὰρ ἐποιήσατο πρῶτον πολίτευμα, γράψας τὰ μὲν ὑπάρχοντα τῶν· χρεῶν ἀνεῖσθαι, πρὸς δὲ τὸ λοιπὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς σώμασι μηδένα δανείζειν.
Thus they called harlots companions, taxes contributions, the garrison of a city its guard, and the prison a chamber. But Solon was the first, it would seem, to use this device, when he called his cancelling of debts a disburdenment. For the first of his public measures was an enactment that existing debts should be remitted, and that in future no one should lend money on the person of a borrower.
καίτοι τινὲς ἔγραψαν, ὧν ἐστὶν Ἀνδροτίων, οὐκ ἀποκοπῇ χρεῶν, ἀλλὰ τόκων μετριότητι κουφισθέντας ἀγαπῆσαι τοὺς πένητας, καὶ σεισάχθειαν ὀνομάσαι τὸ φιλανθρώπευμα τοῦτο καὶ τὴν ἅμα τούτῳ γενομένην τῶν τε μέτρων ἐπαύξησιν καὶ τοῦ νομίσματος τιμήν. ἑκατὸν γὰρ ἐποίησε δραχμῶν τὴν μνᾶν πρότερον ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ τριῶν οὖσαν, ὥστʼ ἀριθμῷ μὲν ἴσον, δυνάμει δʼ ἔλαττον ἀποδιδόντων, ὠφελεῖσθαι μὲν τοὺς ἐκτίνοντας μεγάλα, μηδὲν δὲ βλάπτεσθαι τοὺς κομιζομένους.
Some writers, however, and Androtion is one of them, affirm that the poor were relieved not by a cancelling of debts, but by a reduction of the interest upon them, and showed their satisfaction by giving the name of disburdenment to this act of humanity, and to the augmentation of measures and the purchasing power of money which accompanied it. For he made the mina to consist of a hundred drachmas, which before has contained only seventy-three, so that by paying the same amount of money, but money of a lesser value, those who had debts to discharge were greatly benefited, and those who accepted such payments were no losers.
οἱ δὲ πλεῖστοι πάντων ὁμοῦ φασι τῶν συμβολαίων ἀναίρεσιν γενέσθαι τὴν σεισάχθειαν, καὶ τούτοις συνᾴδει μᾶλλον τὰ ποιήματα. σεμνύνεται γὰρ Σόλων ἐν τούτοις ὅτι τῆς τε προϋποκειμένης γῆς ὅρους ἀνεῖλε πολλαχῆ πεπηγότας· / πρόσθεν δὲ δουλεύουσα, νῦν ἐλευθέρα· / καὶ τῶν ἀγωγίμων πρὸς ἀργύριον γεγονότων πολιτῶν τοὺς μὲν ἀνήγαγεν ἀπὸ ξένης, γλῶσσαν οὐκέτʼ Ἀττικὴν / ἱέντας, ὡς ἂν πολλαχῆ πλανωμένους· / τοὺς δʼ ἐνθάδʼ αὐτοῦ δουλίην ἀεικέα ἔχοντας / ἐλευθέρους φησὶ ποιῆσαι.
But most writers agree that the disburdenment was a removal of all debt, and with such the poems of Solon are more in accord For in these he proudly boasts that from the mortgaged lands He took away the record-stones that everywhere were planted / Before, Earth was in bondage, now she is free / And of the citizens whose persons had been seized for debt, some he brought back from foreign lands, uttering no longer Attic speech, / So long and far their wretched wanderings / And some who here at home in shameful servitude / Were held / he says he set free
πρᾶγμα δʼ αὐτῷ συμπεσεῖν λέγεται πάντων ἀνιαρότατον ἀπὸ τῆς πράξεως ἐκείνης. ὡς γὰρ ὥρμησεν ἀνιέναι τὰ χρέα καὶ λόγους ἁρμόττοντας ἐζήτει καὶ πρέπουσαν ἀρχήν, ἐκοινώσατο τῶν φίλων οἷς μάλιστα πιστεύων καὶ χρώμενος ἐτύγχανε, τοῖς περὶ Κόνωνα καὶ Κλεινίαν καὶ Ἱππόνικον, ὅτι γῆν μὲν οὐ μέλλει κινεῖν, χρεῶν δὲ ποιεῖν ἀποκοπὰς ἔγνωκεν. οἱ δὲ προλαβόντες εὐθὺς καὶ φθάσαντες ἐδανείσαντο συχνὸν ἀργύριον παρὰ τῶν πλουσίων καὶ μεγάλας συνεωνήσαντο χώρας.
This undertaking is said to have involved him in the most vexatious experience of his life. For when he had set out to abolish debts, and was trying to find fitting arguments and a suitable occasion for the step, he told some of his most trusted and intimate friends, namely, Conon, Cleinias, and Hipponicus, that he was not going to meddle with the land, but had determined to cancel debts. They immediately took advantage of this confidence and anticipated Solon’s decree by borrowing large sums from the wealthy and buying up great estates.
εἶτα τοῦ δόγματος ἐξενεχθέντος τὰ μὲν κτήματα καρπούμενοι, τὰ δὲ χρήματα τοῖς δανείσασιν οὐκ ἀποδιδόντες, εἰς αἰτίαν τὸν Σόλωνα μεγάλην καὶ διαβολήν, ὥσπερ οὐ συναδικούμενον, ἀλλὰ συναδικοῦντα, κατέστησαν. ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν εὐθὺς ἐλύθη τὸ ἔγκλημα τοῖς πέντε ταλάντοις· τοσαῦτα γὰρ εὑρέθη δανείζων, καὶ ταῦτα πρῶτος ἀφῆκε κατὰ τὸν νόμον. ἔνιοι δὲ πεντεκαίδεκα λέγουσιν, ὧν καὶ Πολύζηλος ὁ Ῥόδιός ἐστι. τοὺς μέντοι φίλους αὐτοῦ χρεωκοπίδας καλοῦντες διετέλεσαν.
Then when the decree was published, they enjoyed the use of their properties, but refused to pay the moneys due their creditors. This brought Solon into great condemnation and odium, as if he had not been imposed upon with the rest, but were a party to the imposition. However, this charge was at once dissipated by his well-known sacrifice of five talents. For it was found that he had lent so much, and he was the first to remit this debt in accordance with his law. Some say that the sum was fifteen talents, and among them is Polyzelus the Rhodian. But his friends were ever after called chreocopidae, or debt-cutters.
ἤρεσε δʼ οὐδετέροις, ἀλλʼ ἐλύπησε καὶ τοὺς πλουσίους ἀνελὼν τὰ συμβόλαια, καὶ μᾶλλον ἔτι τοὺς πένητας, ὅτι γῆς ἀναδασμὸν οὐκ ἐποίησεν ἐλπίσασιν αὐτοῖς, οὐδὲ παντάπασιν, ὥσπερ ὁ Λυκοῦργος, ὁμαλοὺς τοῖς βίοις καὶ ἴσους κατέστησεν. ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνος μὲν ἑνδέκατος ὢν ἀφʼ Ἡρακλέους καὶ βεβασιλευκὼς ἔτη πολλὰ τῆς Λακεδαίμονος, ἀξίωμα μέγα καὶ φίλους καὶ δύναμιν οἷς ἔγνω καλῶς περὶ τῆς πολιτείας ὑπηρετοῦσαν εἶχε, καὶ βίᾳ μᾶλλον ἢ πειθοῖ χρησάμενος, ὥστε καὶ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἐκκοπῆναι, κατειργάσατο τὸ μέγιστον εἰς σωτηρίαν πόλεως καὶ ὁμόνοιαν, μηδένα πένητα μηδὲ πλούσιον εἶναι τῶν πολιτῶν·
He pleased neither party, however; the rich were vexed because he took away their securities for debt, and the poor still more, because he did not redistribute the land, as they had expected, nor make all men equal and alike in their way of living, as Lycurgus did. But Lycurgus was eleventh in descent from Heracles, and had been king in Lacedaemon for many years. He therefore had great authority, many friends, and power to support his reforms in the commonwealth. He also employed force rather than persuasion, insomuch that he actually lost his eye thereby, and most effectually guaranteed the safety and unanimity of the city by making all its citizens neither poor nor rich.
σόλων δὲ τούτου μὲν οὐκ ἐφίκετο τῇ πολιτεία δημοτικὸς ὢν καὶ μέσος, ἐνδεέστερον δὲ τῆς ὑπαρχούσης δυνάμεως οὐδὲν ἔπαξεν, ὁρμώμενος ἐκ μόνου τοῦ βούλεσθαι καὶ πιστεύειν αὐτῷ τοὺς πολίτας. ὅτι δʼ οὖν προσέκρουσε τοῖς πλείστοις ἕτερα προσδοκήσασιν, αὐτὸς εἴρηκε περὶ αὐτῶν, ὡς χαῦνα μὲν τότʼ ἐφράσαντο, νῦν δέ μοι χολούμενοι / λοξὸν ὀφθαλμοῖς ὁρῶσι πάντες ὥστε δήϊον. / καίτοι φησὶν ὡς, εἴ τις ἄλλος ἔσχε τὴν αὐτὴν δύναμιν, οὐκ ἂν κατέσχε δῆμον, οὐδʼ ἐπαύσατο, / πρὶν ἀνταράξας, πῖαρ ἐξεῖλεν γάλα. /
Solon, on the contrary, could not secure this feature in his commonwealth, since he was a man of the people and of modest station; yet he in no wise acted short of his real power, relying as he did only on the wishes of the citizens and their confidence in him. Nevertheless he gave offence to the greater part of them, who expected different results, as he himself says of them in the lines— Then they had extravagant thoughts of me, but now, incensed, / All look askance at me, as if I were their foe / And yet had any other man, he says, acquired the same power, He had not held the people down, nor made an end / Until he had confounded all, and skimmed the cream. /
ταχὺ μέντοι τοῦ συμφέροντος αἰσθόμενοι καὶ τὰς ἰδίας αὑτῶν μέμψεις ἀφέντες ἔθυσάν τε κοινῇ, σεισάχθειαν τὴν θυσίαν ὀνομάσαντες, καὶ τὸν Σόλωνα τῆς πολιτείας διορθωτὴν καὶ νομοθέτην ἀπέδειξαν, οὐ τὰ μέν, τὰ δʼ οὐχί, πάντα δʼ ὁμαλῶς ἐπιτρέψαντες, ἀρχάς, ἐκκλησίας, δικαστήρια, βουλάς, καί τίμημα τούτων ἑκάστου καὶ ἀριθμὸν καὶ καιρὸν ὁρίσαι, λύοντα καὶ φυλάττοντα τῶν ὑπαρχόντων καὶ καθεστώτων ὅ τι δοκοίη.
Soon, however, they perceived the advantages of his measure, ceased from their private fault-finding, and offered a public sacrifice, which they called Seisactheia, or Disburdenment. They also appointed Solon to reform the constitution and make new laws, laying no restrictions whatever upon him, but putting everything into his hands, magistracies, assemblies, courts-of-law, and councils. He was to fix the property qualification for each of these, their numbers, and their times of meeting, abrogating and maintaining existing institutions at his pleasure
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