---
title: "Lives of the Eminent Philosophers · Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων"
author: "Diogenes Laertius"
translator: "R. D. Hicks"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Philosophy"
section: 2 of 34
url: https://scriptura.si/works/diogenes-laertius-lives/2/
cite: "Diogenes Laertius, tr. R. D. Hicks, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers · Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων, section 2. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/diogenes-laertius-lives/2/"
---

# Lives of the Eminent Philosophers · Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων

*Diogenes Laertius, tr. R. D. Hicks*

Lives, sayings and doctrines of the Greek philosophers, from Thales to Epicurus.

> Greek: ed. R. D. Hicks, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0004.tlg001, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: R. D. Hicks, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0004.tlg001.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 2. Book I · chapters 1–2

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/diogenes-laertius-lives/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/diogenes-laertius-lives/2/#p-N

[¶0] 1.34. It is said that once, when he was taken out of doors by an old woman in order that he might observe the stars, he fell into a ditch, and his cry for help drew from the old woman the retort, “How can you expect to know all about the heavens, Thales, when you cannot even see what is just before your feet?” Timon too knows him as an astronomer, and praises him in the Silli where he says: “Thales among the Seven the sage astronomer.” His writings are said by Lobon of Argos to have run to some two hundred lines. His statue is said to bear this inscription:
Pride of Miletus and Ionian lands,
Wisest astronomer, here Thales stands.

> Greek: 1.34. λέγεται δʼ ἀγόμενος ὑπὸ γραὸς ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας, ἵνα τὰ ἄστρα κατανοήσῃ, εἰς βόθρον ἐμπεσεῖν καὶ αὐτῷ ἀνοιμώξαντι φάναι τὴν γραῦν· σὺ γάρ, ὦ Θαλῆ, τὰ ἐν ποσὶν οὐ δυνάμενος ἰδεῖν τὰ ἐπὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ οἴει γνώσεσθαι; οἶδε δʼ αὐτὸν ἀστρονομούμενον καὶ Τίμων, καὶ ἐν τοῖς Σίλλοις ἐπαινεῖ αὐτὸν λέγων· οἷόν θʼ ἑπτὰ Θάλητα σοφῶν σοφὸν ἀστρονόμημα. Τὰ δὲ γεγραμμένα ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ φησι Λόβων ὁ Ἀργεῖος εἰς ἔπη τείνειν διακόσια. ἐπιγεγράφθαι δʼ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς εἰκόνος τόδε·
τόνδε Θαλῆν Μίλητος Ἰὰς θρέψασʼ ἀνέδειξεν
ἀστρολόγων πάντων πρεσβύτατον σοφίᾳ.

[¶1] 1.35. Of songs still sung these verses belong to him:
Many words do not declare an understanding heart.
Seek one sole wisdom.
Choose one sole good.
For thou wilt check the tongues of chatterers prating without end. Here too are certain current apophthegms assigned to him:
Of all things that are, the most ancient is God, for he is uncreated.
The most beautiful is the universe, for it is God’s workmanship.
The greatest is space, for it holds all things.
The swiftest is mind, for it speeds everywhere.
The strongest, necessity, for it masters all.
The wisest, time, for it brings everything to light.
He held there was no difference between life and death. “Why then,” said one, “do you not die?” “Because,” said he, “there is no difference.”

> Greek: 1.35. Τῶν τε ᾀδομένων αὐτοῦ τάδε εἶναι·
οὔ τι τὰ πολλὰ ἔπη φρονίμην ἀπεφήνατο δόξαν·
ἕν τι μάτευε σοφόν,
ἕν τι κεδνὸν αἱροῦ·
δήσεις γὰρ ἀνδρῶν κωτίλων γλώσσας ἀπεραντολόγους. Φέρεται δὲ καὶ ἀποφθέγματα αὐτοῦ τάδε·
πρεσβύτατον τῶν ὄντων θεός· ἀγένητον γάρ.
κάλλιστον κόσμος· ποίημα γὰρ θεοῦ.
μέγιστον τόπος· ἅπαντα γὰρ χωρεῖ.
τάχιστον νοῦς· διὰ παντὸς γὰρ τρέχει.
ἰσχυρότατον ἀνάγκη· κρατεῖ γὰρ πάντων.
σοφώτατον χρόνος· ἀνευρίσκει γὰρ πάντα.
οὐδὲν ἔφη τὸν θάνατον διαφέρειν τοῦ ζῆν. σὺ οὖν, ἔφη τις, διὰ τί οὐκ ἀποθνήσκεις; ὅτι, ἔφη, οὐδὲν διαφέρει.

[¶2] 1.36. To the question which is older, day or night, he replied: “Night is the older by one day.” Some one asked him whether a man could hide an evil deed from the gods: “No,” he replied, “nor yet an evil thought.” To the adulterer who inquired if he should deny the charge upon oath he replied that perjury was no worse than adultery. Being asked what is difficult, he replied, “To know oneself.” “What is easy?” “To give advice to another.” “What is most pleasant?” “Success.” “What is the divine?” “That which has neither beginning nor end.” To the question what was the strangest thing he had ever seen, his answer was, “An aged tyrant.” “How can one best bear adversity?” “If he should see his enemies in worse plight.” “How shall we lead the best and most righteous life?” “By refraining from doing what we blame in others.”

> Greek: 1.36. πρὸς τὸν πυθόμενον τί πρότερον γεγόνοι, νὺξ ἢ ἡμέρα, ἡ νύξ, ἔφη, μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ πρότερον. ἠρώτησέ τις αὐτὸν εἰ λήθοι θεοὺς ἄνθρωπος ἀδικῶν· ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ διανοούμενος, ἔφη. πρὸς τὸν μοιχὸν ἐρόμενον εἰ ὀμόσειε μὴ μεμοιχευκέναι, οὐ χεῖρον, ἔφη, μοιχείας ἐπιορκία. ἐρωτηθεὶς τί δύσκολον, ἔφη, τὸ ἑαυτὸν γνῶναι· τί δὲ εὔκολον, τὸ ἄλλῳ ὑποθέσθαι· τί ἥδιστον, τὸ ἐπιτυγχάνειν· τί τὸ θεῖον, τὸ μήτε ἀρχὴν ἔχον μήτε τελευτήν. τί δὲ καινὸν εἴη τεθεαμένος ἔφη· γέροντα τύραννον. πῶς ἄν τις ἀτυχίαν ῥᾷστα φέροι, εἰ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς χεῖρον πράσσοντας βλέποι· πῶς ἂν ἄριστα καὶ δικαιότατα βιώσαιμεν, ἐὰν ἃ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπιτιμῶμεν, αὐτοὶ μὴ δρῶμεν·

[¶3] 1.37. “What man is happy?” “He who has a healthy body, a resourceful mind and a docile nature.” He tells us to remember friends, whether present or absent; not to pride ourselves upon outward appearance, but to study to be beautiful in character. “Shun ill-gotten gains,” he says. “Let not idle words prejudice thee against those who have shared thy confidence.” “Whatever provision thou hast made for thy parents, the same must thou expect from thy children.” He explained the overflow of the Nile as due to the etesian winds which, blowing in the contrary direction, drove the waters upstream. Apollodorus in his Chronology places his birth in the first year of the 35th Olympiad [640 B.C.].

> Greek: 1.37. τίς εὐδαίμων, ὁ τὸ μὲν σῶμα ὑγιής, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν εὔπορος, τὴν δὲ φύσιν εὐπαίδευτος. φίλων παρόντων καὶ ἀπόντων μεμνῆσθαί φησι· μὴ τὴν ὄψιν καλλωπίζεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασιν εἶναι καλόν. μὴ πλούτει, φησί, κακῶς, μηδὲ διαβαλλέτω σε λόγος πρὸς τοὺς πίστεως κεκοινωνηκότας. οὓς ἂν ἐράνους εἰσενέγκῃς, φησί, τοῖς γονεῦσιν, τοὺς αὐτοὺς προσδέχου καὶ παρὰ τῶν τέκνων. τὸν Νεῖλον εἶπε πληθύειν ἀνακοπτομένων τῶν ῥευμάτων ὑπὸ τῶν ἐτησίων ἐναντίων ὄντων. Φησὶ δʼ Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν τοῖς Χρονικοῖς γεγενῆσθαι αὐτὸν κατὰ τὸ πρῶτον ἔτος τῆς τριακοστῆς πέμπτης [ἐνάτης?] Ὀλυμπιάδος.

[¶4] 1.38. He died at the age of 78 (or, according to Sosicrates, of 90 years); for he died in the 58th Olympiad, being contemporary with Croesus, whom he undertook to take across the Halys without building a bridge, by diverting the river. There have lived five other men who bore the name of Thales, as enumerated by Demetrius of Magnesia in his Dictionary of Men of the Same Name:
1. A rhetorician of Callatia, with an affected style.
2. A painter of Sicyon, of great gifts.
3. A contemporary of Hesiod, Homer and Lycurgus, in very early times.
4. A person mentioned by Duris in his work On Painting.
5. An obscure person in more recent times who is mentioned by Dionysius in his Critical Writings.

> Greek: 1.38. ἐτελεύτησε δʼ ἐτῶν ἑβδομήκοντα ὀκτώ, 〈ἤ, ὡς Σωσικράτης φησίν, ἐνενήκοντα〉· τελευτῆσαι γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς πεντηκοστῆς ὀγδόης Ὀλυμπιάδος, γεγονότα κατὰ Κροῖσον, ᾧ καὶ τὸν Ἅλυν ὑποσχέσθαι ἄνευ γεφύρας περᾶσαι, τὸ ῥεῖθρον παρατρέψαντα. Γεγόνασι δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι Θαλαῖ, καθά φησι Δημήτριος ὁ Μάγνης ἐν τοῖς Ὁμωνύμοις, πέντε·
ῥήτωρ Καλλατιανός, κακόζηλος·
ζωγράφος Σικυώνιος, μεγαλοφυής·
τρίτος ἀρχαῖος πάνυ, κατὰ Ἡσίοδον καὶ Ὅμηρον καὶ Λυκοῦργον·
τέταρτος οὗ μέμνηται Δοῦρις ἐν τῷ Περὶ ζωγραφίας·
πέμπτος νεώτερος, ἄδοξος, οὗ μνημονεύει Διονύσιος ἐν Κριτικοῖς.

[¶5] 1.39. Thales the Sage died as he was watching an athletic contest from heat, thirst, and the weakness incident to advanced age. And the inscription on his tomb is:
Here in a narrow tomb great Thales lies;
Yet his renown for wisdom reached the skies.
I may also cite one of my own, from my first book, Epigrams in Various Metres:
As Thales watched the games one festal day
The fierce sun smote him, and he passed away;
Zeus, thou didst well to raise him; his dim eyes
Could not from earth behold the starry skies.

> Greek: 1.39. Ὁ δʼ οὖν σοφὸς ἐτελεύτησεν ἀγῶνα θεώμενος γυμνικὸν ὑπό τε καύματος καὶ δίψους καὶ ἀσθενείας, ἤδη γηραιός. καὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπιγέγραπται τῷ μνήματι·
ἦ ὀλίγον τόδε σᾶμα — τὸ δὲ κλέος οὐρανόμακες —
τῶ πολυφροντίστω τοῦτο Θάλητος ὅρη.
ἔστι καὶ παρʼ ἡμῖν ἐς αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Ἐπιγραμμάτων ἢ Παμμέτρῳ τόδε τὸ ἐπίγραμμα·
γυμνικὸν αὖ ποτʼ ἀγῶνα θεώμενον, ἠέλιε Ζεῦ,
τὸν σοφὸν ἄνδρα Θαλῆν ἥρπασας ἐκ σταδίου.
αἰνέω ὅττι μιν ἐγγὺς ἀπήγαγες· ἦ γὰρ ὁ πρέσβυς
οὐκέθʼ ὁρᾶν ἀπὸ γῆς ἀστέρας ἠδύνατο.

[¶6] 1.40. To him belongs the proverb “Know thyself,” which Antisthenes in his Successions of Philosophers attributes to Phemonoë, though admitting that it was appropriated by Chilon. This seems the proper place for a general notice of the Seven Sages, of whom we have such accounts as the following. Damon of Cyrene in his History of the Philosophers carps at all sages, but especially the Seven. Anaximenes remarks that they all applied themselves to poetry; Dicaearchus that they were neither sages nor philosophers, but merely shrewd men with a turn for legislation. Archetimus of Syracuse describes their meeting at the court of Cypselus, on which occasion he himself happened to be present; for which Ephorus substitutes a meeting without Thales at the court of Croesus. Some make them meet at the Pan-Ionian festival, at Corinth, and at Delphi.

> Greek: 1.40. Τούτου ἐστὶν τὸ Γνῶθι σαυτόν, ὅπερ Ἀντισθένης ἐν ταῖς Διαδοχαῖς Φημονόης εἶναί φησιν, ἐξιδιοποιήσασθαι δὲ αὐτὸ Χίλωνα. Περὶ δὴ τῶν ἑπτά—ἄξιον γὰρ ἐνταῦθα καθολικῶς κἀκείνων ἐπιμνησθῆναι—λόγοι φέρονται τοιοῦτοι. Δάμων ὁ Κυρηναῖος, γεγραφὼς Περὶ τῶν φιλοσόφων, πᾶσιν ἐγκαλεῖ, μάλιστα δὲ τοῖς ἑπτά. Ἀναξιμένης δέ φησι πάντας ἐπιθέσθαι ποιητικῇ· ὁ δὲ Δικαίαρχος οὔτε σοφοὺς οὔτε φιλοσόφους φησὶν αὐτοὺς γεγονέναι, συνετοὺς δέ τινας καὶ νομοθετικούς. Ἀρχέτιμος δὲ ὁ Συρακούσιος ὁμιλίαν αὐτῶν ἀναγέγραφε παρὰ Κυψέλῳ, ᾗ καὶ αὐτός φησι παρατυχεῖν· Ἔφορος δὲ παρὰ Κροίσῳ πλὴν Θαλοῦ. φασὶ δέ τινες καὶ ἐν Πανιωνίῳ καὶ ἐν Κορίνθῳ καὶ ἐν Δελφοῖς συνελθεῖν αὐτούς.

[¶7] 1.41. Their utterances are variously reported, and are attributed now to one now to the other, for instance the following:
Chilon of Lacedaemon’s words are true:
Nothing too much; good comes from measure due.
Nor is there any agreement how the number is made up; for Maeandrius, in place of Cleobulus and Myson, includes Leophantus, son of Gorgiadas, of Lebedus or Ephesus, and Epimenides the Cretan in the list; Plato in his Protagoras admits Myson and leaves out Periander; Ephorus substitutes Anacharsis for Myson; others add Pythagoras to the Seven. Dicaearchus hands down four names fully recognized: Thales, Bias, Pittacus and Solon; and appends the names of six others, from whom he selects three: Aristodemus, Pamphylus, Chilon the Lacedaemonian, Cleobulus, Anacharsis, Periander. Others add Acusilaus, son of Cabas or Scabras, of Argos.

> Greek: 1.41. διαφωνοῦνται δὲ καὶ αἱ ἀποφάσεις αὐτῶν καὶ ἄλλου ἄλλο φασίν, ὡς ἐκεῖνο·
ἦν Λακεδαιμόνιος Χίλων σοφός, ὃς τάδʼ ἔλεξε·
μηδὲν ἄγαν· καιρῷ πάντα πρόσεστι καλά.
στασιάζεται δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ αὐτῶν. Μαιάνδριος μὲν γὰρ ἀντὶ Κλεοβούλου καὶ Μύσωνος Λεώφαντον Γοργιάδα, Λεβέδιον ἢ Ἐφέσιον, ἐγκρίνει καὶ Ἐπιμενίδην τὸν Κρῆτα· Πλάτων δὲ ἐν Πρωταγόρᾳ Μύσωνα ἀντὶ Περιάνδρου· Ἔφορος δὲ ἀντὶ Μύσωνος Ἀνάχαρσιν· οἱ δὲ καὶ Πυθαγόραν προσγράφουσιν. Δικαίαρχος δὲ τέσσαρας ὡμολογημένους ἡμῖν παραδίδωσι, Θαλῆν, Βίαντα, Πιττακόν, Σόλωνα. ἄλλους δὲ ὀνομάζει ἕξ, ὧν ἐκλέξασθαι τρεῖς, Ἀριστόδημον, Πάμφυλον, Χίλωνα Λακεδαιμόνιον, Κλεόβουλον, Ἀνάχαρσιν, Περίανδρον. ἔνιοι προστιθέασιν Ἀκουσίλαον Κάβα ἢ Σκάβρα Ἀργεῖον.

[¶8] 1.42. Hermippus in his work On the Sages reckons seventeen, from which number different people make different selections of seven. They are: Solon, Thales, Pittacus, Bias, Chilon, Myson, Cleobulus, Periander, Anacharsis, Acusilaus, Epimenides, Leophantus, Pherecydes, Aristodemus, Pythagoras, Lasos, son of Charmantides or Sisymbrinus, or, according to Aristoxenus, of Chabrinus, born at Hermione, Anaxagoras. Hippobotus in his List of Philosophers enumerates: Orpheus, Linus, Solon, Periander, Anacharsis, Cleobulus, Myson, Thales, Bias, Pittacus, Epicharmus, Pythagoras. Here follow the extant letters of Thales.

> Greek: 1.42. Ἕρμιππος δʼ ἐν τῷ Περὶ τῶν σοφῶν ἑπτακαίδεκά φησιν, ὧν τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἄλλους ἄλλως αἱρεῖσθαι· εἶναι δὲ Σόλωνα, Θαλῆν, Πιττακόν, Βίαντα, Χίλωνα, 〈Μύσωνα〉, Κλεόβουλον, Περίανδρον, Ἀνάχαρσιν, Ἀκουσίλαον, Ἐπιμενίδην, Λεώφαντον, Φερεκύδην, Ἀριστόδημον, Πυθαγόραν, Λᾶσον Χαρμαντίδου ἢ Σισυμβρίνου, ἢ ὡς Ἀριστόξενος Χαβρίνου, Ἑρμιονέα, Ἀναξαγόραν. Ἱππόβοτος δὲ ἐν τῇ Τῶν φιλοσόφων ἀναγραφῇ· Ὀρφέα, Λίνον, Σόλωνα, Περίανδρον, Ἀνάχαρσιν, Κλεόβουλον, Μύσωνα, Θαλῆν Βίαντα, Πιττακόν, Ἐπίχαρμον, Πυθαγόραν. Φέρονται δὲ καὶ τοῦ Θαλοῦ ἐπιστολαὶ αἵδε·

[¶9] 1.43. Thales to Pherecydes “I hear that you intend to be the first Ionian to expound theology to the Greeks. And perhaps it was a wise decision to make the book common property without taking advice, instead of entrusting it to any particular persons whatsoever, a course which has no advantages. However, if it would give you any pleasure, I am quite willing to discuss the subject of your book with you; and if you bid me come to Syros I will do so. For surely Solon of Athens and I would scarcely be sane if, after having sailed to Crete to pursue our inquiries there, and to Egypt to confer with the priests and astronomers, we hesitated to come to you. For Solon too will come, with your permission.”

> Greek: 1.43. Θαλῆς Φερεκύδει “Πυνθάνομαί σε πρῶτον Ἰώνων μέλλειν λόγους ἀμφὶ τῶν θείων χρημάτων ἐς τοὺς Ἕλληνας φαίνειν. καὶ τάχα μὲν ἡ γνώμη τοι δικαίη ἐς τὸ ξυνὸν καταθέσθαι γραφὴν ἢ ἐφʼ ὁποιοισοῦν ἐπιτρέπειν χρῆμα ἐς οὐδὲν ὄφελος. εἰ δή τοι ἥδιον, ἐθέλω γενέσθαι λεσχηνευτὴς περὶ ὁτέων γράφεις· καὶ ἢν κελεύῃς, παρὰ σὲ ἀφίξομαι ἐς Σῦρον. ἦ γὰρ ἂν οὐ φρενήρεες εἴημεν ἐγώ τε καὶ Σόλων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, εἰ πλώσαντες μὲν ἐς Κρήτην κατὰ τὴν τῶν κεῖθι ἱστορίην, πλώσαντες δὲ ἐς Αἴγυπτον ὁμιλήσοντες τοῖς ἐκεῖ ὅσοι ἱερέες τε καὶ ἀστρολόγοι, παρὰ σὲ δὲ μὴ [πλώσαιμεν]. ἥξει γὰρ καὶ ὁ Σόλων, ἢν ἐπιτρέπῃς.

[¶10] 1.44. “You, however, are so fond of home that you seldom visit Ionia and have no longing to see strangers, but, as I hope, apply yourself to one thing, namely writing, while we, who never write anything, travel all over Hellas and Asia.” Thales to Solon “If you leave Athens, it seems to me that you could most conveniently set up your abode at Miletus, which is an Athenian colony; for there you incur no risk. If you are vexed at the thought that we are governed by a tyrant, hating as you do all absolute rulers, you would at least enjoy the society of your friends. Bias wrote inviting you to Priene; and if you prefer the town of Priene for a residence, I myself will come and live with you.”

> Greek: 1.44. σὺ μέντοι χωροφιλέων ὀλίγα φοιτέεις ἐς Ἰωνίην, οὐδέ σε ποθὴ ἴσχει ἀνδρῶν ξείνων· ἀλλά, ὡς ἔλπομαι, ἑνὶ μούνῳ χρήματι πρόσκεαι τῇ γραφῇ. ἡμέες δὲ οἱ μηδὲν γράφοντες περιχωρέομεν τήν τε Ἑλλάδα καὶ Ἀσίην. Θαλῆς Σόλωνι “Ὑπαποστὰς ἐξ Ἀθηνέων δοκέεις ἄν μοι ἁρμοδιώτατα ἐν Μιλήτῳ οἶκον ποιέεσθαι παρὰ τοῖς ἀποίκοις ὑμέων· καὶ γὰρ ἐνθαῦτά τοι δεινὸν οὐδέν. εἰ δὲ ἀσχαλήσεις ὅτι καὶ Μιλήσιοι τυραννεόμεθα-ἐχθαίρεις γὰρ πάντας αἰσυμνήτασ—ἀλλὰ τέρποιʼ ἂν σὺν τοῖς ἑτάροις ἡμῖν καταβιούς. ἐπέστειλε δέ τοι καὶ Βίης ἥκειν ἐς Πριήνην· σὺ δὲ εἰ προσηνέστερόν τοι τὸ Πριηνέων ἄστυ, κεῖθι οἰκέειν, καὶ αὐτοὶ παρὰ σὲ οἰκήσομεν.

[¶11] 2.45. Solon, the son of Execestides, was born at Salamis. His first achievement was the σεισάχθεια or Law of Release, which he introduced at Athens; its effect was to ransom persons and property. For men used to borrow money on personal security, and many were forced from poverty to become serfs or daylabourers. He then first renounced his claim to a debt of seven talents due to his father, and encouraged others to follow his example. This law of his was called σεισάχθεια, and the reason is obvious. He next went on to frame the rest of his laws, which would take time to enumerate, and inscribed them on the revolving pillars.

> Greek: 2.45. Σόλων Ἐξηκεστίδου Σαλαμίνιος πρῶτον μὲν τὴν σεισάχθειαν εἰσηγήσατο Ἀθηναίοις· τὸ δὲ ἦν λύτρωσις σωμάτων τε καὶ κτημάτων. καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ σώμασιν ἐδανείζοντο καὶ πολλοὶ διʼ ἀπορίαν ἐθήτευον. ἑπτὰ δὴ ταλάντων ὀφειλομένων αὐτῷ πατρῴων συνεχώρησε πρῶτος καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς τὸ ὅμοιον προὔτρεψε πρᾶξαι. καὶ οὗτος ὁ νόμος ἐκλήθη σεισάχθεια· φανερὸν δὲ διὰ τί. Ἔπειτα τοὺς λοιποὺς νόμους ἔθηκεν, οὓς μακρὸν ἂν εἴη διεξιέναι, καὶ ἐς τοὺς ἄξονας κατέθετο.

[¶12] 2.46. His greatest service was this: Megara and Athens laid rival claims to his birthplace Salamis, and after many defeats the Athenians passed a decree punishing with death any man who should propose a renewal of the Salaminian war. Solon, feigning madness, rushed into the Agora with a garland on his head; there he had his poem on Salamis read to the Athenians by the herald and roused them to fury. They renewed the war with the Megarians and, thanks to Solon, were victorious.

> Greek: 2.46. Τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, τῆς πατρίδος αὐτοῦ [Σαλαμῖνος] ἀμφισβητουμένης ὑπό τε Ἀθηναίων καὶ Μεγαρέων καὶ πολλάκις τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐπταικότων ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις καὶ ψηφισαμένων εἴ τις ἔτι συμβουλεύσοι περὶ Σαλαμῖνος μάχεσθαι, θανάτῳ ζημιοῦσθαι, οὗτος μαίνεσθαι προσποιησάμενος καὶ στεφανωσάμενος εἰσέπαισεν εἰς τὴν ἀγοράν· ἔνθα τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ἀνέγνω διὰ κήρυκος τὰ συντείνοντα περὶ Σαλαμῖνος ἐλεγεῖα καὶ παρώρμησεν αὐτούς. καὶ αὖθις πρὸς τοὺς Μεγαρέας ἐπολέμησαν καὶ ἐνίκων διὰ Σόλωνα.

[¶13] 2.47. These were the lines which did more than anything else to inflame the Athenians:
Would I were citizen of some mean isle
Far in the Sporades! For men shall smile
And mock me for Athenian: “Who is this?”
“An Attic slave who gave up Salamis”;
and
Then let us fight for Salamis and fair fame,
Win the beloved isle, and purge our shame!
He also persuaded the Athenians to acquire the Thracian Chersonese.

> Greek: 2.47. ἦν δὲ τὰ ἐλεγεῖα τὰ μάλιστα καθαψάμενα τῶν Ἀθηναίων τάδε·
εἴην δὴ τότʼ ἐγὼ Φολεγάνδριος ἢ Σικινίτης
ἀντί γʼ Ἀθηναίου, πατρίδʼ ἀμειψάμενος.
αἶψα γὰρ ἂν φάτις ἥδε μετʼ ἀνθρώποισι γένοιτο·
Ἀττικὸς οὗτος ἀνὴρ τῶν Σαλαμιναφετῶν.
εἶτα·
ἴομεν εἰς Σαλαμῖνα μαχησόμενοι περὶ νήσου
ἱμερτῆς χαλεπόν τʼ αἶσχος ἀπωσόμενοι.
ἔπεισε δὲ αὐτοὺς καὶ τὴν ἐν Θρᾴκῃ Χερρόνησον προσκτήσασθαι.

[¶14] 2.48. And lest it should be thought that he had acquired Salamis by force only and not of right, he opened certain graves and showed that the dead were buried with their faces to the east, as was the custom of burial among the Athenians; further, that the tombs themselves faced the east, and that the inscriptions graven upon them named the deceased by their demes, which is a style peculiar to Athens. Some authors assert that in Homer’s catalogue of the ships after the line: “Ajax twelve ships from Salamis commands,” Solon inserted one of his own: “And fixed their station next the Athenian bands.”

> Greek: 2.48. ἵνα δὲ μὴ δοκοίη βίᾳ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ δίκῃ τὴν Σαλαμῖνα κεκτῆσθαι, ἀνασκάψας τινὰς τάφους ἔδειξε τοὺς νεκροὺς πρὸς ἀνατολὰς ἐστραμμένους, ὡς ἦν ἔθος θάπτειν Ἀθηναίοις· ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὺς τοὺς τάφους πρὸς ἕω βλέποντας καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν δήμων τοὺς χρηματισμοὺς ἐγκεχαραγμένους, ὅπερ ἦν ἴδιον Ἀθηναίων. ἔνιοι δέ φασι καὶ ἐγγράψαι αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν κατάλογον τοῦ Ὁμήρου μετὰ τὸν Αἴας δʼ ἐκ Σαλαμῖνος ἄγεν δυοκαίδεκα νῆας— στῆσε δʼ ἄγων, ἵνʼ Ἀθηναίων ἵσταντο φάλαγγες.

[¶15] 2.49. Thereafter the people looked up to him, and would gladly have had him rule them as tyrant; he refused, and, early perceiving the designs of his kinsman Pisistratus (so we are told by Sosicrates), did his best to hinder them. He rushed into the Assembly armed with spear and shield, warned them of the designs of Pisistratus, and not only so, but declared his willingness to render assistance, in these words: “Men of Athens, I am wiser than some of you and more courageous than others: wiser than those who fail to understand the plot of Pisistratus, more courageous than those who, though they see through it, keep silence through fear.” And the members of the council, who were of Pisistratus’ party, declared that he was mad: which made him say the lines:
A little while, and the event will show
To all the world if I be mad or no.

> Greek: 2.49. Τοῦ δὴ λοιποῦ προσεῖχον αὐτῷ ὁ δῆμος καὶ ἡδέως κἂν τυραννεῖσθαι ἤθελον πρὸς αὐτοῦ· ὁ δʼ οὐχ εἵλετο, ἀλλὰ καὶ Πεισίστρατον τὸν συγγενῆ, καθά φησι Σωσικράτης, προαισθόμενος τὸ ἐφʼ ἑαυτῷ διεκώλυσεν. ᾅξας γὰρ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν μετὰ δόρατος καὶ ἀσπίδος προεῖπεν αὐτοῖς τὴν ἐπίθεσιν τοῦ Πεισιστράτου· καὶ οὐ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ βοηθεῖν ἕτοιμος εἶναι, λέγων ταῦτα· ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τῶν μὲν σοφώτερος, τῶν δὲ ἀνδρειότερός εἰμι· σοφώτερος μὲν τῶν τὴν ἀπάτην τοῦ Πεισιστράτου μὴ συνιέντων, ἀνδρειότερος δὲ τῶν ἐπισταμένων μέν, διὰ δέος δὲ σιωπώντων. καὶ ἡ βουλή, Πεισιστρατίδαι ὄντες, μαίνεσθαι ἔλεγον αὐτόν· ὅθεν εἶπε ταυτί·
δείξει δὴ μανίην μὲν ἐμὴν βαιὸς χρόνος ἀστοῖς,
δείξει, ἀληθείης ἐς μέσον ἐρχομένης.

[¶16] 2.50. That he foresaw the tyranny of Pisistratus is proved by a passage from a poem of his:
On splendid lightning thunder follows straight,
Clouds the soft snow and flashing hail-stones bring;
So from proud men comes ruin, and their state
Falls unaware to slavery and a king. When Pisistratus was already established, Solon, unable to move the people, piled his arms in front of the generals’ quarters, and exclaimed, “My country, I have served thee with my word and sword!” Thereupon he sailed to Egypt and to Cyprus, and thence proceeded to the court of Croesus. There Croesus put the question, “Whom do you consider happy?” and Solon replied, “Tellus of Athens, and Cleobis and Biton,” and went on in words too familiar to be quoted here.

> Greek: 2.50. τὰ δὲ περὶ τῆς τοῦ Πεισιστράτου τυραννίδος ἐλεγεῖα προλέγοντος αὐτοῦ ταῦτα ἦν·
ἐκ νεφέλης φέρεται χιόνος μένος ἠδὲ χαλάζης·
βροντή τʼ ἐκ λαμπρῆς γίγνεται ἀστεροπῆς·
ἀνδρῶνδʼ ἐκ μεγάλωνπόλις ὄλλυται· ἐς δὲ μονάρχου
δῆμος ἀϊδρίῃ δουλοσύνην ἔπεσεν. Ἤδη δὲ αὐτοῦ κρατοῦντος οὐ πείθων ἔθηκε τὰ ὅπλα πρὸ τοῦ στρατηγείου καὶ εἰπών, ὦ πατρίς, βεβοήθηκά σοι καὶ λόγῳ καὶ ἔργῳ, ἀπέπλευσεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον καὶ εἰς Κύπρον, καὶ πρὸς Κροῖσον ἦλθεν. ὅτε καὶ ἐρωτηθεὶς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, τίς σοι δοκεῖ εὐδαίμων; Τέλλος, ἔφη, Ἀθηναῖος καὶ Κλέοβις καὶ Βίτων καὶ τὰ θρυλούμενα.

[¶17] 2.51. There is a story that Croesus in magnificent array sat himself down on his throne and asked Solon if he had ever seen anything more beautiful. “Yes,” was the reply, “cocks and pheasants and peacocks; for they shine in nature’s colours, which are ten thousand times more beautiful.” After leaving that place he lived in Cilicia and founded a city which he called Soli after his own name. In it he settled some few Athenians, who in process of time corrupted the purity of Attic and were said to “solecize.” Note that the people of this town are called Solenses, the people of Soli in Cyprus Solii. When he learnt that Pisistratus was by this time tyrant, he wrote to the Athenians on this wise:

> Greek: 2.51. Φασὶ δέ τινες ὅτι κοσμήσας ἑαυτὸν ὁ Κροῖσος παντοδαπῶς καὶ καθίσας εἰς τὸν θρόνον ἤρετο αὐτὸν εἴ τι θέαμα κάλλιον τεθέαται· ὁ δέ ἀλεκτρυόνας, εἶπε, καὶ φασιανοὺς καὶ ταώς· φυσικῷ γὰρ ἄνθει κεκόσμηνται καὶ μυρίῳ καλλίονι. ἐκεῖθέν τε ἀπαλλαγεὶς ἐγένετο ἐν Κιλικίᾳ, καὶ πόλιν συνῴκισεν ἣν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ Σόλους ἐκάλεσεν· ὀλίγους τέ τινας τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐγκατῴκισεν, οἳ τῷ χρόνῳ τὴν φωνὴν ἀποξενωθέντες σολοικίζειν ἐλέχθησαν. καί εἰσιν οἱ μὲν ἔνθεν Σολεῖς, οἱ δʼ ἀπὸ Κύπρου Σόλιοι. ὅτε δὲ τὸν Πεισίστρατον ἔμαθεν ἤδη τυραννεῖν, τάδε ἔγραψε πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους·

[¶18] 2.52. “If ye have suffered sadly through your own wickedness, lay not the blame for this upon the gods. For it is you yourselves who gave pledges to your foes and made them great; this is why you bear the brand of slavery. Every one of you treadeth in the footsteps of the fox, yet in the mass ye have little sense. Ye look to the speech and fair words of a flatterer, paying no regard to any practical result.” Thus Solon. After he had gone into exile Pisistratus wrote to him as follows:

> Greek: 2.52. εἰ δὲ πεπόνθατε δεινὰ διʼ ὑμετέρην κακότητα,
μή τι θεοῖς τούτων μοῖραν ἐπαμφέρετε.
αὐτοὶ γὰρ τούτους ηὐξήσατε, ῥύσια δόντες,
καὶ διὰ ταῦτα κακὴν ἴσχετε δουλοσύνην.
ὑμέων δʼ εἷς μὲν ἕκαστος ἀλώπεκος ἴχνεσι βαίνει,
σύμπασιν δʼ ὑμῖν κοῦφος ἔνεστι νόος.
εἰς γὰρ γλῶσσαν ὁρᾶτε καὶ εἰς ἔπη αἱμύλου ἀνδρός,
εἰς ἔργον δʼ οὐδὲν γιγνόμενον βλέπετε.
καὶ οὗτος μὲν τοῦτα. Πεισίστρατος δʼ αὐτῷ φεύγοντι τοῦτον ἐπέστειλε τὸν τρόπον·

[¶19] 2.53. Pisistratus to Solon “I am not the only man who has aimed at a tyranny in Greece, nor am I, a descendant of Codrus, unfitted for the part. That is, I resume the privileges which the Athenians swore to confer upon Codrus and his family, although later they took them away. In everything else I commit no offence against God or man; but I leave to the Athenians the management of their affairs according to the ordinances established by you. And they are better governed than they would be under a democracy; for I allow no one to extend his rights, and though I am tyrant I arrogate to myself no undue share of reputation and honour, but merely such stated privileges as belonged to the kings in former times. Every citizen pays a tithe of his property, not to me but to a fund for defraying the cost of the public sacrifices or any other charges on the State or the expenditure on any war which may come upon us.”

> Greek: 2.53. Πεισίστρατος Σόλωνι “Οὔτε μόνος Ἑλλήνων τυραννίδι ἐπεθέμην, οὔτε οὐ προσῆκόν μοι, γένους ὄντι τῶν Κοδριδῶν. ἀνέλαβον γὰρ ἐγὼ ἃ ὀμόσαντες Ἀθηναῖοι παρέξειν Κόδρῳ τε καὶ τῷ ἐκείνου γένει, ἀφείλοντο. τά τε ἄλλα ἁμαρτάνω οὐδὲν ἢ περὶ θεοὺς ἢ περὶ ἀνθρώπους· ἀλλὰ καθότι σὺ διέθηκας τοὺς θεσμοὺς Ἀθηναίοις, ἐπιτρέπω πολιτεύειν. καὶ ἄμεινόν γε πολιτεύουσιν ἢ κατὰ δημοκρατίαν· οὐκ ἐῶ γὰρ οὐδένα ὑβρίζειν· καὶ ὁ τύραννος ἐγὼ οὐ πλέον τι φέρομαι τἀξιώματος καὶ τῆς τιμῆς· ὁποῖα δὲ καὶ τοῖς πρόσθεν βασιλεῦσιν ἦν τὰ ῥητὰ γέρα. ἀπάγει δὲ ἕκαστος Ἀθηναίων τοῦ αὑτοῦ κλήρου δεκάτην, οὐκ ἐμοί, ἀλλʼ ὁπόθεν ἔσται ἀναλοῦν εἴς τε θυσίας δημοτελεῖς καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο τῶν κοινῶν καὶ ἢν [ὁ] πόλεμος ἡμᾶς καταλάβῃ.

[¶20] 2.54. “I do not blame you for disclosing my designs; you acted from loyalty to the city, not through any enmity to me, and further, in ignorance of the sort of rule which I was going to establish; since, if you had known, you would perhaps have tolerated me and not gone into exile. Wherefore return home, trusting my word, though it be not sworn, that Solon will suffer no harm from Pisistratus. For neither has any other enemy of mine suffered; of that you may be sure. And if you choose to become one of my friends, you will rank with the foremost, for I see no trace of treachery in you, nothing to excite mistrust; or if you wish to live at Athens on other terms, you have my permission. But do not on my account sever yourself from your country.”

> Greek: 2.54. “Σοὶ δʼ ἐγὼ οὔτι μέμφομαι μηνύσαντι τὴν ἐμὴν διάνοιαν. εὐνοίᾳ γὰρ τῆς πόλεως μᾶλλον ἢ κατὰ τὸ ἐμὸν ἔχθος ἐμήνυες· ἔτι τε ἀμαθίᾳ τῆς ἀρχῆς, ὁποίαν τινὰ ἐγὼ καταστήσομαι. ἐπεὶ μαθὼν τάχʼ ἂν ἠνέσχου καθισταμένου, οὐδʼ ἔφυγες. ἐπάνιθι τοίνυν οἴκαδε, πιστεύων μοι καὶ ἀνωμότῳ, ἄχαρι μηδὲν πείσεσθαι Σόλωνα ἐκ Πεισιστράτου. ἴσθι γὰρ μηδʼ ἄλλον τινὰ πεπονθέναι τῶν ἐμοὶ ἐχθρῶν. εἰ δὲ ἀξιώσεις τῶν ἐμῶν φίλων εἷς εἶναι, ἔσῃ ἀνὰ πρώτους· οὐ γάρ τι ἐν σοὶ ἐνορῶ δολερὸν ἢ ἄπιστον· εἴτε ἄλλως Ἀθήνησιν οἰκεῖν, ἐπιτετράψεται. ἡμῶν δὲ οὕνεκα μὴ ἐστέρησο τῆς πατρίδος.

[¶21] 2.55. So far Pisistratus. To return to Solon: one of his sayings is that 70 years are the term of man’s life. He seems to have enacted some admirable laws; for instance, if any man neglects to provide for his parents, he shall be disfranchised; moreover there is a similar penalty for the spendthrift who runs through his patrimony. Again, not to have a settled occupation is made a crime for which any one may, if he pleases, impeach the offender. Lysias, however, in his speech against Nicias ascribes this law to Draco, and to Solon another depriving open profligates of the right to speak in the Assembly. He curtailed the honours of athletes who took part in the games, fixing the allowance for an Olympic victor at 500 drachmae, for an Isthmian victor at 100 drachmae, and proportionately in all other cases. It was in bad taste, he urged, to increase the rewards of these victors, and to ignore the exclusive claims of those who had fallen in battle, whose sons ought, moreover, to be maintained and educated by the State.

> Greek: 2.55. Ταῦτα μὲν Πεισίστρατος. Σόλων δὲ ὅρον ἀνθρωπίνου βίου φησὶν ἔτη ἑβδομήκοντα. Δοκεῖ δὲ καὶ κάλλιστα νομοθετῆσαι· ἐάν τις μὴ τρέφῃ τοὺς γονέας, ἄτιμος ἔστω· ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ τὰ πατρῷα κατεδηδοκὼς ὁμοίως. καὶ ὁ ἀργὸς ὑπεύθυνος ἔστω παντὶ τῷ βουλομένῳ γράφεσθαι. Λυσίας δʼ ἐν τῷ κατὰ Νικίου Δράκοντά φησι γεγραφέναι τὸν νόμον, Σόλωνα δὲ τὸν ἡταιρηκότα εἴργειν τοῦ βήματος. συνέστειλε δὲ καὶ τὰς τιμὰς τῶν ἐν ἀγῶσιν ἀθλητῶν, Ὀλυμπιονίκῃ μὲν τάξας πεντακοσίας δραχμάς, Ἰσθμιονίκῃ δὲ ἑκατόν, καὶ ἀνὰ λόγον ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων. ἀπειρόκαλον γὰρ τὸ ἐξαίρειν τὰς τούτων τιμάς, ἀλλὰ μόνων ἐκείνων τῶν ἐν πολέμοις τελευτησάντων, ὧν καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς δημοσίᾳ τρέφεσθαι καὶ παιδεύεσθαι.

[¶22] 2.56. The effect of this was that many strove to acquit themselves as gallant soldiers in battle, like Polyzelus, Cynegirus, Callimachus and all who fought at Marathon; or again like Harmodius and Aristogiton, and Miltiades and thousands more. Athletes, on the other hand, incur heavy costs while in training, do harm when successful, and are crowned for a victory over their country rather than over their rivals, and when they grow old they, in the words of Euripides, “Are worn threadbare, cloaks that have lost the nap;” and Solon, perceiving this, treated them with scant respect. Excellent, too, is his provision that the guardian of an orphan should not marry the mother of his ward, and that the next heir who would succeed on the death of the orphans should be disqualified from acting as their guardian.

> Greek: 2.56. Ὅθεν καὶ ἐζήλουν πολλοὶ καλοὶ κἀγαθοὶ γίνεσθαι κατὰ πόλεμον· ὡς Πολύζηλος, ὡς Κυνέγειρος, ὡς Καλλίμαχος, ὡς σύμπαντες οἱ Μαραθωνομάχοι· ἔτι τε Ἁρμόδιος καὶ Ἀριστογείτων καὶ Μιλτιάδης καὶ μυρίοι ὅσοι. ἀθληταὶ δὲ καὶ ἀσκούμενοι πολυδάπανοι, καὶ νικῶντες ἐπιζήμιοι καὶ στεφανοῦνται κατὰ τῆς πατρίδος μᾶλλον ἢ κατὰ τῶν ἀνταγωνιστῶν· γέροντές τε γενόμενοι κατὰ τὸν Εὐριπίδην τρίβωνες ἐκλιπόντες οἴχονται κρόκας. ὅπερ συνιδὼν ὁ Σόλων μετρίως αὐτοὺς ἀπεδέξατο. κάλλιστον δὲ κἀκεῖνο· τὸν ἐπίτροπον τῇ τῶν ὀρφανῶν μητρὶ μὴ συνοικεῖν, μηδʼ ἐπιτροπεύειν, εἰς ὃν ἡ οὐσία ἔρχεται τῶν ὀρφανῶν τελευτησάντων. κἀκεῖνο·

[¶23] 2.57. Furthermore, that no engraver of seals should be allowed to retain an impression of the ring which he has sold, and that the penalty for depriving a one-eyed man of his single eye should be the loss of the offender’s two eyes. A deposit shall not be removed except by the depositor himself, on pain of death. That the magistrate found intoxicated should be punished with death. He has provided that the public recitations of Homer shall follow in fixed order: thus the second reciter must begin from the place where the first left off. Hence, as Dieuchidas says in the fifth book of his Megarian History, Solon did more than Pisistratus to throw light on Homer. The passage in Homer more particularly referred to is that beginning “Those who dwelt at Athens...”

> Greek: 2.57. δακτυλιογλύφῳ μὴ ἐξεῖναι σφραγῖδα φυλάττειν τοῦ πραθέντος δακτυλίου· καὶ ἐὰν ἕνα ὀφθαλμὸν ἔχοντος ἐκκόψῃ τις, ἀντεκκόπτειν τοὺς δύο. ἃ μὴ ἔθου, μὴ ἀνέλῃ· εἰ δὲ μή, θάνατος ἡ ζημία. τῷ ἄρχοντι, ἐὰν μεθύων ληφθῇ, θάνατον εἶναι τὴν ζημίαν. Τά τε Ὁμήρου ἐξ ὑποβολῆς γέγραφε ῥαψῳδεῖσθαι, οἷον ὅπου ὁ πρῶτος ἔληξεν, ἐκεῖθεν ἄρχεσθαι τὸν ἐχόμενον. μᾶλλον οὖν Σόλων Ὅμηρον ἐφώτισεν ἢ Πεισίστρατος, ὥς φησι Διευχίδας ἐν πέμπτῳ Μεγαρικῶν. ἦν δὲ μάλιστα τὰ ἔπη ταυτί· οἳ δʼ ἄρʼ Ἀθήνας εἶχον καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς.

[¶24] 2.58. Solon was the first to call the 30th day of the month the Old-and-New day, and to institute meetings of the nine archons for private conference, as stated by Apollodorus in the second book of his work On Legislators. When civil strife began, he did not take sides with those in the city, nor with the plain, nor yet with-the coast section. One of his sayings is: Speech is the mirror of action; and another that the strongest and most capable is king. He compared laws to spiders’ webs, which stand firm when any light and yielding object falls upon them, while a larger thing breaks through them and makes off. Secrecy he called the seal of speech, and occasion the seal of secrecy.

> Greek: 2.58. Πρῶτος δὲ Σόλων τὴν τριακάδα ἔνην καὶ νέαν ὠνόμασε. καὶ πρῶτος τὴν συναγωγὴν τῶν ἐννέα ἀρχόντων ἐποίησεν εἰς τὸ συνειπεῖν, ὡς Ἀπολλόδωρός φησιν ἐν δευτέρῳ Περὶ νομοθετῶν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς στάσεως γενομένης οὔτε μετὰ τῶν ἐξ ἄστεος, οὔτε μετὰ τῶν πεδιέων, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ μετὰ τῶν παράλων ἐτάχθη. Ἔλεγε δὲ τὸν μὲν λόγον εἴδωλον εἶναι τῶν ἔργων· βασιλέα δὲ τὸν ἰσχυρότατον τῇ δυνάμει. τοὺς δὲ νόμους τοῖς ἀραχνίοις ὁμοίους· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνα, ἐὰν μὲν ἐμπέσῃ τι κοῦφον καὶ ἀσθενές, στέγειν· ἐὰν δὲ μεῖζον, διακόψαν οἴχεσθαι. ἔφασκέ τε σφραγίζεσθαι τὸν μὲν λόγον σιγῇ, τὴν δὲ σιγὴν καιρῷ.

[¶25] 2.59. He used to say that those who had influence with tyrants were like the pebbles employed in calculations; for, as each of the pebbles represented now a large and now a small number, so the tyrants would treat each one of those about them at one time as great and famous, at another as of no account. On being asked why he had not framed any law against parricide, he replied that he hoped it was unnecessary. Asked how crime could most effectually be diminished, he replied, “If it caused as much resentment in those who are not its victims as in those who are,” adding, “Wealth breeds satiety, satiety outrage.” He required the Athenians to adopt a lunar month. He prohibited Thespis from performing tragedies on the ground that fiction was pernicious.

> Greek: 2.59. ἔλεγε δὲ τοὺς παρὰ τοῖς τυράννοις δυναμένους παραπλησίους εἶναι ταῖς ψήφοις ταῖς ἐπὶ τῶν λογισμῶν. καὶ γὰρ ἐκείνων ἑκάστην ποτὲ μὲν πλείω σημαίνειν, ποτὲ δὲ ἥττω· καὶ τούτων τοὺς τυράννους ποτὲ μὲν ἕκαστον μέγαν ἄγειν καὶ λαμπρόν, ποτὲ δὲ ἄτιμον. ἐρωτηθεὶς διὰ τί κατὰ πατροκτόνου νόμον οὐκ ἔθηκε, διὰ τὸ ἀπελπίσαι, ἔφη. πῶς τε ἥκιστʼ ἂν ἀδικοῖεν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, εἰ ὁμοίως, ἔφη, ἄχθοιντο τοῖς ἀδικουμένοις οἱ μὴ ἀδικούμενοι. καὶ τὸν μὲν κόρον ὑπὸ τοῦ πλούτου γεννᾶσθαι, τὴν δὲ ὕβριν ὑπὸ τοῦ κόρου. ἠξίωσέ τε Ἀθηναίους τὰς ἡμέρας κατὰ σελήνην ἄγειν. καὶ Θέσπιν ἐκώλυσε τραγῳδίας διδάσκειν, ὡς ἀνωφελῆ τὴν ψευδολογίαν. ὅτʼ οὖν Πεισίστρατος ἑαυτὸν κατέτρωσεν, ἐκεῖθεν ἔφη ταῦτα φῦναι.

[¶26] 2.60. When therefore Pisistratus appeared with self-inflicted wounds, Solon said, “This comes from acting tragedies.” His counsel to men in general is stated by Apollodorus in his work on the Philosophic Sects as follows: Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath. Never tell a lie. Pursue worthy aims. Do not be rash to make friends and, when once they are made, do not drop them. Learn to obey before you command. In giving advice seek to help, not to please, your friend. Be led by reason. Shun evil company. Honour the gods, reverence parents. He is also said to have criticized the couplet of Mimnermus:>
Would that by no disease, no cares opprest,
I in my sixtieth year were laid to rest;

> Greek: 2.60. τοῖς τε ἀνθρώποις συνεβούλευσεν, ὥς φησιν Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν τῷ Περὶ τῶν φιλοσόφων αἱρέσεων, τάδε· καλοκἀγαθίαν ὅρκου πιστοτέραν ἔχε. μὴ ψεύδου. τὰ σπουδαῖα μελέτα. φίλους μὴ ταχὺ κτῶ· οὓς δʼ ἂν κτήσῃ μὴ ἀποδοκίμαζε. ἄρχε πρῶτον μαθὼν ἄρχεσθαι. συμβούλευε μὴ τὰ ἥδιστα, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἄριστα. νοῦν ἡγεμόνα ποιοῦ. μὴ κακοῖς ὁμίλει. θεοὺς τίμα, γονέας αἰδοῦ. φασὶ δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ Μιμνέρμου γράψαντος,
αἲ γὰρ ἄτερ νούσων τε καὶ ἀργαλέω νμελεδωνέων
ἑξηκονταέτη μοῖρα κίχοι θανάτου, ἐπιτιμῶντα αὐτῷ εἰπεῖν·

[¶27] 2.61. and to have replied thus:
Oh take a friend’s suggestion, blot the line,
Grudge not if my invention better thine;
Surely a wiser wish were thus expressed,
At eighty years let me be laid to rest.
Of the songs sung this is attributed to Solon: “Watch every man and see whether, hiding hatred in his heart, he speaks with friendly countenance, and his tongue rings with double speech from a dark soul.” He is undoubtedly the author of the laws which bear his name; of speeches, and of poems in elegiac metre, namely, counsels addressed to himself, on Salamis and on the Athenian constitution, five thousand lines in all, not to mention poems in iambic metre and epodes.

> Greek: 2.61. ἀλλʼ εἴ μοι κἂν νῦν ἔτι πείσεαι, ἔξελε τοῦτον·
μηδὲ μέγαιρʼ ὅτι σεῦ λῷον ἐπεφρασάμην·
καὶ μεταποίησον, Λιγυαστάδη, ὧδε δʼ ἄειδε·
ὀγδωκονταέτη μοῖρα κίχοι θανάτου. Τῶν δὲ ᾀδομένων αὐτοῦ ἐστι τάδε·
πεφυλαγμένος ἄνδρα ἕκαστον, ὅρα
μὴ κρυπτὸν ἔχθος ἔχων κραδί ῃ,
φαιδρῷ προσενέπῃ προσώπῳ,
γλῶσσα δέ οἱ διχόμυθος
ἐκ μελανῆς φρενὸς γεγωνῇ. Γέγραφε δὲ δῆλον μὲν ὅτι τοὺς νόμους, καὶ δημηγορίας καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὸν ὑποθήκας, ἐλεγεῖα, καὶ τὰ περὶ Σαλαμῖνος καὶ τῆς Ἀθηναίων πολιτείας ἔπη πεντακισχίλια, καὶ ἰάμβους καὶ ἐπῳδούς.

[¶28] 2.62. His statue has the following inscription:
At Salamis, which crushed the Persian might,
Solon the legislator first saw light. He flourished, according to Sosicrates, about the 46th Olympiad, in the third year of which he was archon at Athens; it was then that he enacted his laws. He died in Cyprus at the age of eighty. His last injunctions to his relations were on this wise: that they should convey his bones to Salamis and, when they had been reduced to ashes, scatter them over the soil. Hence Cratinus in his play, The Chirons, makes him say:
This is my island home; my dust, men say,
Is scattered far and wide o’er Ajax’ land.

> Greek: 2.62. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς εἰκόνος αὐτοῦ ἐπιγέγραπται τάδε·
ἡ Μήδων ἄδικον παύσασʼ ὕβριν, ἥδε Σόλωνα
τόνδε τεκνοῖ Σαλαμὶς θεσμοθέτην ἱερόν. Ἤκμαζε μὲν οὖν περὶ τὴν τεσσαρακοστὴν ἕκτην Ὀλυμπιάδα, ἧς τῷ τρίτῳ ἔτει ἦρξεν Ἀθήνησι, καθά φησι Σωσικράτης· ὅτε καὶ τίθησι τοὺς νόμους. ἐτελεύτησε δʼ ἐν Κύπρῳ βιοὺς ἔτη ὀγδοήκοντα, τοῦτον ἐπισκήψας τοῖς ἰδίοις τὸν τρόπον, ἀποκομίσαι αὐτοῦ τὰ ὀστᾶ εἰς Σαλαμῖνα καὶ τεφρώσαντας εἰς τὴν χώραν σπεῖραι. ὅθεν καὶ Κρατῖνος ἐν τοῖς Χείρωσί φησιν, αὐτὸν ποιῶν λέγοντα·
οἰκῶ δὲ νῆσον, ὡς μὲν ἀνθρώπων λόγος,
ἐσπαρμένος κατὰ πᾶσαν Αἴαντος πόλιν.

[¶29] 2.63. An epigram of my own is also contained in the collection of Epigrams in Various Metres mentioned above, where I have discoursed of all the illustrious dead in all metres and rhythms, in epigrams and lyrics. Here it is:
Far Cyprian fire his body burnt; his bones,
Turned into dust, made grain at Salamis:
Wheel-like, his pillars bore his soul on high;
So light the burden of his laws on men. It is said that he was the author of the apophthegm “Nothing too much,” Ne quid nimis. According to Dioscurides in his Memorabilia, when he was weeping for the loss of his son, of whom nothing more is known, and some one said to him, “It is all of no avail,” he replied, “That is why I weep, because it is of no avail.” The following letters are attributed to Solon:

> Greek: 2.63. Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἡμέτερον ἐπίγραμμα ἐν τῇ προειρημένῃ Παμμέτρῳ, ἔνθα καὶ περὶ πάντων τῶν τελευτησάντων ἐλλογίμων διείλεγμαι παντὶ μέτρῳ καὶ ῥυθμῷ, ἐπιγράμμασι καὶ μέλεσιν, ἔχον οὕτως·
σῶμα μὲν ἦρε Σόλωνος ἐν ἀλλοδαπῇ Κύπριον πῦρ·
ὀστέʼ ἔχει Σαλαμίς, ὧν κόνις ἀστάχυες.
ψυχὴν δʼ ἄξονες εὐθὺς ἐς οὐρανὸν ἤγαγον· εὖ γὰρ
θῆκε νόμους ἀστοῖς ἄχθεα κουφότατα. Ἀπεφθέγξατο δέ, φασί, Μηδὲν ἄγαν. καὶ αὐτόν φησι Διοσκουρίδης ἐν τοῖς Ἀπομνημονεύμασιν, ἐπειδὴ δακρύοι τὸν παῖδα τελευτήσαντα, ὃν ἡμεῖς οὐ παρειλήφαμεν, πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲν ἀνύτεις, εἰπεῖν, διʼ αὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο δακρύω, ὅτι οὐδὲν ἀνύτω. Φέρονται δὲ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπιστολαὶ αἵδε·

[¶30] 2.64. Solon to Periander “You tell me that many are plotting against you. You must lose no time if you want to get rid of them all. A conspirator against you might arise from a quite unexpected quarter, say, one who had fears for his personal safety or one who disliked your timorous dread of anything and everything. He would earn the gratitude of the city who found out that you had no suspicion. The best course would be to resign power, and so be quit of the reproach. But if you must at all hazards remain tyrant, endeavour to make your mercenary force stronger than the forces of the city. Then you have no one to fear, and need not banish any one.” Solon to Epimenides “It seems that after all I was not to confer much benefit on Athenians by my laws, any more than you by purifying the city. For religion and legislation are not sufficient in themselves to benefit cities; it can only be done by those who lead the multitude in any direction they choose. And so, if things are going well, religion and legislation are beneficial; if not, they are of no avail.”

> Greek: 2.64. Σόλων Περιάνδρῳ “Ἀπαγγέλλεις μοι πολλούς τοι ἐπιβουλεύειν. σὺ δὲ εἰ μὲν μέλλεις ἐκποδὼν ἅπαντας ποιήσεσθαι, οὐκ ἂν φθάνοις. ἐπιβουλεύσειε δʼ ἄν τις καὶ τῶν ἀνυπόπτων, ὁ μὲν δεδιὼς περὶ αὑτῷ, ὁ δὲ σοῦ καταγνούς, οὐκ ἔσθʼ ὅ τι οὐκ ὀρρωδοῦντος· κἂν τῇ πόλει χάριν κατάθοιτο ἐξευρών, ἢν μὴ ὕποπτος εἴης. ἄριστον μὲν οὖν ἀπέχεσθαι, ἵνα τῆς αἰτίας ἀπαλλαγῇς. εἰ δὲ πάντως τυραννητέον, φροντίζειν ὅπως τὴν ἀλλοδαπὴν δύναμιν μείζονα ἕξεις τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἔτι τοι δεινός, μηδὲ σὺ ἐκποδών τινα ποιοῦ. Σόλων Ἐπιμενίδῃ “Οὔτε οἱ ἐμοὶ θεσμοὶ ἄρα Ἀθηναίους ἐπιπολὺ ὀνήσειν ἔμελλον, οὔτε σὺ καθήρας τὴν πόλιν ὤνησας. τό τε γὰρ θεῖον καὶ οἱ νομοθέται οὐ καθʼ ἑαυτὰ δύνανται ὀνῆσαι τὰς πόλεις, οἱ δὲ ἀεὶ τὸ πλῆθος ἄγοντες ὅπως ἂν γνώμης ἔχωσιν. οὕτω δὲ καὶ τὸ θεῖον καὶ οἱ νόμοι, εὖ μὲν ἀγόντων, εἰσὶν ὠφέλιμοι· κακῶς δὲ [ἀγόντων], οὐδὲν ὠφελοῦσιν.

[¶31] 2.65. “Nor are my laws nor all my enactments any better; but the popular leaders did the commonwealth harm by permitting licence, and could not hinder Pisistratus from setting up a tyranny. And, when I warned them, they would not believe me. He found more credit when he flattered the people than I when I told them the truth. I laid my arms down before the generals’ quarters and told the people that I was wiser than those who did not see that Pisistratus was aiming at tyranny, and more courageous than those who shrank from resisting him. They, however, denounced Solon as mad. And at last I protested: ‘My country, I, Solon, am ready to defend thee by word and deed; but some of my countrymen think me mad. Wherefore I will go forth out of their midst as the sole opponent of Pisistratus; and let them, if they like, become his bodyguard.’ For you must know, my friend, that he was beyond measure ambitious to be tyrant.”

> Greek: 2.65. “Οὐδʼ οἱ ἐμοὶ ἀμείνους εἰσὶ καὶ ὅσα ἐγὼ ἐνομοθέτησα. οἱ δʼ ἐπιτρέποντες τὸ ξυνὸν ἔβλαπτον, οἳ οὐκ ἐγένοντο ἐμποδὼν Πεισιστράτῳ ἐπιθέσθαι τυραννίδι. οὐδʼ ἐγὼ προλέγων πιστὸς ἦν. ἐκεῖνος δὲ πιστότερος κολακεύων Ἀθηναίους ἐμοῦ ἀληθεύοντος. ἐγὼ δὴ θέμενος πρὸ τοῦ στρατηγείου τὰ ὅπλα εἶπον τῶν μὲν μὴ αἰσθανομένων Πεισίστρατον τυραννησείοντα εἶναι ξυνετώτερος, τῶν δὲ ὀκνούντων ἀμύνεσθαι ἀλκιμώτερος. οἱ δὲ μανίαν Σόλωνος κατεγίγνωσκον. τελευτῶν δὲ ἐμαρτυράμην, ὦ πατρίς, οὗτος μὲν Σόλων ἕτοιμός τοι καὶ λόγῳ καὶ ἔργῳ ἀμύνειν· τοῖς δʼ αὖ καὶ μαίνεσθαι δοκῶ. ὥστε ἄπειμί τοι ἐκ μέσου ὁ μόνος ἐχθρὸς Πεισιστράτου· οἱ δὲ καὶ δορυφορούντων αὐτόν εἴ τι βούλονται. ἴσθι γὰρ τὸν ἄνδρα, ὦ ἑταῖρε, δεινότατα ἁψάμενον τῆς τυραννίδος.