Solon

Summary

Solon, one of the legendary seven wise men of ancient Greece, was a poet and a lawgiver to his native Athens in the seventh and sixth centuries. He was archōn with special powers in about 590 and instituted reforms to the economy and to the constitution. He provided for the relief of debts (the seisachtheia) and rewrote most of the laws enacted by his predecessor Draco.

Though a model for later reformers, Solons's laws were not an unqualified success, and in 561 a series of disturbances led to the tyranny of Peisistratus (died in 527), who rose to power on the basis of popular support.

Fragments of Solon's poems have come down to us as quotations in later works. We have translated here all the passages relevant to political theory. For a famous anecdote about Solon see Herodotus, 1.

The importance of good government, or eunomia (W 4, lines 1–10, 26–39)

Our city will never be destroyed by the fate

of Zeus or the plans of immortal gods,

for Pallas Athena our protector, great-spirited daughter

of a mighty god, holds her hands over us.

But the citizens themselves, lured by wealth, want to bring

this great city down with their stupidities.

The common people's leaders have a mind to do injustice,

and much grief is about to come from their great hubris,

for they do not know how to hold excess in check, nor to give order to

the pleasures of their present feast in peace. […]