Constitution of the Athenians

​Having organized the constitution in the manner described, when people troubled him by coming to him concerning the laws, criticizing some points and asking questions about others, because he wished neither to alter these laws nor to incur hatred by remaining present, he went on a journey to Egypt both for trade and for sightseeing, saying that he would not return for ten years. For he did not think it right to remain present and interpret the laws, but rather that each person should do what was written. At the same time, it also happened that many of the notables became hostile to him because of the cancellation of debts, and both factions changed their attitude because the settlement turned out contrary to their expectation. For the people thought that he would make a redistribution of all property, while the notables thought he would restore it to the same condition or make only a small change. But Solon opposed both, and although it was in his power, by joining with whichever side he wished, to rule as a tyrant, he chose to incur the hatred of both sides, having saved his homeland and legislated what was best.

​That these things happened in this manner, all others agree, and he himself mentions them in his poetry in the following verses: "To the people indeed I gave as much privilege as is sufficient, neither taking away from their honor nor reaching out for more; And as for those who had power and were admired for their wealth, for them also I took thought that they should suffer nothing unseemly. I stood throwing a strong shield over both, and did not allow either to win unjustly." And again, expressing his view on how the multitude should be treated: "Thus would the people best follow their leaders, neither being too loose nor being oppressed. For satiety breeds arrogance, when great wealth follows those men whose mind is not fit." And again somewhere else he says about those who wished to divide up the land: "They came for plunder, and had rich hope, and each of them expected to find great wealth, and that I, coaxing smoothly, would reveal a harsh mind. They thought vain things then, but now, being angry with me, they all look at me askance with their eyes as if I were an enemy. It is not right; for what I said, I accomplished with the gods, and other things I did not do in vain, nor does it please me to do anything by the violence of tyranny, nor that the good should have an equal share of the rich soil of our homeland with the bad." And again also concerning the cancellation of debts and those who were formerly slaves but set free through the 'shaking-off of burdens' (*seisachtheia*): "But as for the purposes for which I gathered the people, which of these did I stop before attaining? The great mother of the Olympian deities might best bear witness of these in the court of Time, black Earth, from whom I once removed the boundary stones (*horoi*) fixed in many places, she who was formerly enslaved, but now is free. And I brought back to Athens, their god-built homeland, many who had been sold, some unjustly, others justly, and those who had fled under compulsory need, no longer speaking the Attic tongue, since they had wandered in many places, and those who here at home held unseemly slavery, trembling at the ways of their masters, I set them free. These things indeed by the power of law, harmonizing force and justice, I performed, and I went through as I had promised. And laws equally for the bad and the good, fitting straight justice to each, I wrote. But if another had taken the goad as I did," "a man of bad counsel and greedy of wealth, he would not have held back the people. For if I had wished what pleased the opponents then, or again what the other party planned for them, this city would have been widowed of many men. For these reasons, making defense on every side, I turned like a wolf among many dogs." And again, reproaching both sides for their later murmurings: "If I must reproach the people openly, what they now have, they would never have seen even in their dreams." And those who are greater and superior in strength: "They should praise me and make me their friend." For if anyone else, he says, had obtained this honor: "He would not have held back the people nor stopped until, having stirred up the rich milk, he had taken out the fat. But I, as if in the space between two armies," "stood as a boundary stone."