to military service, the former as horsemen, and the latter as heavy-armed soldiers on foot. The fourth class were excluded from all public offices, and served in the army only as lightarmed troops. Solon, however, admitted them to a share in the political power by allowing them to vote in the public assembly, where they must have constituted by far the largest number. He gave the assembly the right of electing the archons and the other officers of the state; and he also made the archons accountable to the assembly at the expiration of their year of office. Solon thus greatly enlarged the functions of the public assembly, which, under the government of the Eupatrids, probably possessed little more power than the agora, described in the poems of Homer.

§ 14. This extension of the duties of the public assembly led to the institution of a new body. Solon created the Senate, or Council of Four Hundred, with the special object of preparing all matters for the discussion of the public assembly, of presiding at its meetings, and of carrying its resolutions into effect. No subject could be introduced before the people, except by a previous resolution of the Senate.+ The members of the Senate were elected by the public assembly, one hundred from each of the four ancient tribes, which were left untouched by Solon. They held their office for a year, and were accountable at its expiration to the public assembly for the manner in which they had discharged their duties.

Solon, however, did not deprive the ancient Senate of the Areopagus of any of its functions. On the contrary, he enlarged its powers, and entrusted it with the general supervision of the institutions and laws of the state, and imposed upon it the duty of inspecting the lives and occupations of the citizens.

These are the only political institutions which can be safely ascribed to Solon. At a later period it became the fashion among the Athenians to regard Solon as the author of all their democratical institutions, just as some of the orators referred them even to Theseus. Thus the creation of jury-courts and of the periodical revision of the laws by the Nomothetæ belongs to a later age, although frequently attributed to Solon. This legislator only laid the foundation of the Athenian democracy by giving the poorer classes a vote in the popular assembly, and by enlarging the power of the latter; but he left the government exclusively in the hands of the wealthy. For many years after his time the government continued to be an oligarchy, but * Called Heliaea (Halaa) in the time of Solon, but subsequently Ecclesia (ἐκκλησία).

+ Called Probouleuma (πpsßovλsvμa).

See p. 91.

was exercised with more moderation and justice than formerly. The establishment of the Athenian democracy was the work of Clisthenes, and not of Solon.

§ 15. The laws of Solon were inscribed on wooden rollers and triangular tablets,* and were preserved first in the Acropolis, and afterwards in the Prytaneum or Town-hall. They were very numerous, and contained regulations on almost all subjects connected with the public and private life of the citizens. But they do not seem to have been arranged in any systematic manner; and such small fragments have come down to us, that it is impossible to give any general view of them.

The most important of all these laws were those relating to debtor and creditor, of which we have already spoken. Several of Solon's enactments had for their object the encouragement of trade and manufactures. He invited foreigners to settle in Athens by the promise of protection and valuable privileges. The Council of the Areopagus was, as we have seen, intrusted by him with the duty of examining into every man's mode of life, and of punishing the idle and profligate. To discourage idleness a son was not obliged to support his father in old age, if the latter had neglected to teach him some trade or occupation.

Solon punished theft by compelling the guilty party to restore double the value of the property stolen. He forbade speaking evil either of the dead or of the living. He either established or regulated the public dinners in the Prytaneum, of which the archons and a few others partook.

The rewards which he bestowed upon the victors in the Olympic and Isthmian games were very large for that age: to the former he gave 500 drachmas, and to the latter 100.

One of the most singular of Solon's regulations was that which declared a man dishonoured and disfranchised who, in a civil sedition, stood aloof and took part with neither side. The object of this celebrated law was to create a public spirit in the citizens, and a lively interest in the affairs of the state. The ancient governments, unlike those of modern times, could not summon to their assistance any regular police or military force; and unless individual citizens came forward in civil commotions, any ambitious man, supported by a powerful party, might easily make himself master of the state.

§ 16. Solon is said to have been aware that he had left many imperfections in his laws. He described them not as the best laws which he could devise, but as the best which the Athenians could receive. He bound the government and people

* Called "Ažoves and Kugßes.

of Athens by a solemn oath to observe his institutions for at least ten years. But as soon as they came into operation he was constantly besieged by a number of applicants, who came to ask his advice respecting the meaning of his enactments, or to suggest improvements and alterations in them. Seeing that if he remained in Athens, he should be obliged to introduce changes into his code, he resolved to leave his native city for the period of ten years, during which the Athenians were bound to maintain his laws inviolate. He first visited Egypt, and then proceeded to Cyprus, where he was received with great distinction by Philocyprus, king of the small town of Æpia. He persuaded this prince to remove his city from the old site, and found a new one on the plain, which Philocyprus called Soli, in honour of his illustrious visitor.

Solon is also related to have remained some time at Sardis, the capital of Lydia. His interview with Croesus, the Lydian king, is one of the most celebrated events in his life. The Lydian monarchy was then at the height of its prosperity and glory. Croesus, after exhibiting to the Grecian sage all his treasures, asked him who was the happiest man he had ever known, nothing doubting of the reply. But Solon, without flattering his royal guest, named two obscure Greeks; and when the king expressed his surprise and mortification that his visitor took no account of his great glory and wealth, Solon replied that he esteemed no man happy till he knew how he ended his life, since the highest prosperity was frequently followed by the darkest adversity. Cræsus at the time treated the admonition of the sage with contempt; but when the Lydian monarchy was afterwards overthrown by Cyrus, and Croesus was condemned by his savage conqueror to be burnt to death, the warnings of the Greek philosopher came to his mind, and he called in a loud voice upon the name of Solon. Cyrus inquired the cause of this strange invocation, and upon learning it, was struck with the vicissitudes of fortune, set the Lydian monarch free, and made him his confidential friend.

It is impossible not to regret that the stern laws of chronology compel us to reject this beautiful tale. Crœsus did not ascend the throne till B. c. 560, and Solon had returned to Athens before that date. The story has been evidently invented to convey an important moral lesson, and to draw a striking contrast between Grecian republican simplicity and Oriental splendour and pomp.

§ 17. During the absence of Solon, the old dissensions between the Plain, the Shore, and the Mountain had broken out afresh with more violence than ever. The first was headed by Lycurgus, the second by Megacles, the Alcmæonid and the grandson of the

archon who had suppressed the conspiracy of Cylon, and the third by Pisistratus, the cousin of Solon. Of these leaders, Pisistratus was the ablest and the most dangerous. He had gained renown in war; he possessed remarkable fluency of speech; and he had espoused the cause of the Mountain, which was the poorest of the three classes, in order to gain popularity with the great mass of the people. Of these advantages he resolved to avail himself in order to become master of Athens.

Solon returned to Athens about B. C. 562, when these dissensions were rapidly approaching a crisis. He soon detected the ambitious designs of his kinsman, and attempted to dissuade him from them. Finding his remonstrances fruitless, he next denounced his projects in verses addressed to the people. Few, however, gave any heed to his warnings; and Pisistratus, at length finding his schemes ripe for action, had recourse to a memorable stratagem to secure his object. One day he appeared in the market-place in a chariot, his mules and his own person bleeding with wounds inflicted with his own hands. These he exhibited to the people, telling them that he had been nearly murdered in consequence of defending their rights. The popular indignation was excited; an assembly was forthwith called, and one of his friends proposed that a guard of fifty club-men should be granted him for his future security. It was in vain that Solon used all his authority to oppose so dangerous a request; his resistance was overborne; and the guard was voted.

Pisistratus thus gained the first and most important step. He gradually increased the number of his guard, and soon found himself strong enough to throw off the mask and seize the Acropolis, B. C. 560. Megacles and the Alcmæonidæ left the city. Solon alone had the courage to oppose the usurpation, and upbraided the people with their cowardice and their treachery. "You might," said he, "with ease have crushed the tyrant in the bud; but nothing now remains but to pluck him up by the roots." But no one responded to his appeal. He refused to fly; and when his friends asked him on what he relied for protection, "On my old age," was his reply. It is creditable to Pisistratus that he left his aged relative unmolested, and even asked his advice in the administration of the government.

Solon did not long survive the overthrow of the constitution. He died a year or two afterwards at the advanced age of eighty. His ashes are said to have been scattered, by his own direction, round the island of Salamis, which he had won for the Athenian people.

HISTORY OF ATHENS FROM THE USURPATION OF PISISTRATUS TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DEMOCRACY BY CLISTHENES.

§ 1. Despotism of Pisistratus. His first expulsion and restoration. § 2. His second expulsion and restoration. § 3. Government of Pisistratus after his final restoration to his death, B.C. 527. § 4. Government of Hippias and Hipparchus. Conspiracy of Harmodius and Aristogiton, and assassination of Hipparchus, B.C. 514. § 5. Sole government of Hippias. His expulsion by the Alcmæonidæ and the Lacedæmonians, B.C. 510. § 6. Honours paid to Harmodius and Aristogiton. § 7. Party struggles at Athens between Clisthenes and Isagoras. Establishment of the Athenian democracy. § 8. Reforms of Clisthenes. Institution of ten new tribes and of the demes. § 9. Increase of the number of the Senate to Five Hundred. § 10. Enlargement of the functions and authority of the Senate and the Ecclesia. § 11. Introduction of the judicial functions of the people. Institution of the Ten Strategi or Generals. § 12. Ostracism. § 13. First attempt of the Lacedæmonians to overthrow the Athenian democracy. Invasion of Attica by Cleomenes, followed by his expulsion with that of