“Not a clever man was Solon, not a calculating mind,
    For he would not take the kingdom, which the gods to him inclined,
    In his net he caught the prey, but would not draw it forth to land,
    Overpowered by his terrors, feeble both of heart and hand;
    For a man of greater spirit would have occupied the throne,
    Proud to be the Lord of Athens, though ’twere for a day alone,
    Though the next day he and his into oblivion were thrown.”

XV.  This is the way in which he says the masses, and low-minded men, spoke of him.  He, however, firmly rejecting the throne, proceeded quietly to administer public affairs, in laying down his laws without any weak yielding to the powerful, or any attempt to court popularity.  Such as were good, he did not meddle with, fearing that if he

    “Disturbed and overset the state,”

he might not have sufficient power to

    “Reconstitute and organise again,”

in the best way.  He carried out his measures by persuasion, and, where he thought he could succeed, by force; in his own words,

    “Combining Force and Justice both together.”

Being afterwards asked whether he had composed the best possible laws for the Athenians, he answered, “The best that they would endure.”  And the habit of Athenians of later times, who soften down harsh words by using politer equivalents, calling harlots “mistresses,” taxes “contributions,” garrisons of cities “protectors,” and the common prison “the house,” was, it seems, first invented by Solon, who devised the name of “relief from burdens” for his measure to abolish all debts.

This was his first measure; namely, to put an end to all existing debts and obligations, and to forbid any one in future to lend money upon security of the person of the debtor.  Some writers, among whom is Androtion, say that he benefited the poor, not by the absolute extinction of debt, but by establishing a lower rate of interest; and that this measure was called “Relief from burdens,” and together with it the two other measures for the enlargement of measures and of the value of money, which were passed about the same time.  For he ordered a mina, which was before constituted of seventy three drachmas, to contain a hundred, so that, though they paid the same amount, yet the value was less; thus those who had much to pay were benefited, and still their creditors were not cheated.  But most writers say that the “Relief from burdens” meant the extinction of all securities whatever, and this agrees best with what we read in his poems.  For Solon prides himself in these upon having

    “Taken off the mortgages, which on the land were laid,
    And made the country free, which was formerly enslaved.”

While he speaks of bringing back Athenian citizens who had been sold into slavery abroad,

    “In distant lands who roam,
      Their native tongue forgot,
    Or here endure at home
      A slave’s disgraceful lot,”