Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- PART.II CONTINUATION OF HISTORICAL GREECE
- CHAPTER IX Corinth, Sikyôn, and Megara.—Age of the Grecian Despots
- CHAPTER X Ionic portion of Hellas.—Athens before Solon
- CHAPTER XI Solonian Laws and Constitution
- CHAPTER XII Eubœa.—Cyclades
- CHAPTER XIII Asiatic Ionians
- CHAPTER XIV Æolic Greeks in Asia
- CHAPTER XV Asiatic Dorians
- CHAPTER XVI Natives of Asia Minor with whom the Greeks became connected
- CHAPTER XVII Lydians.—Medes.—Cimmerians.—Scythians
- CHAPTER XVIII Phenieians
- CHAPTER XIX Assyrians.—Babylon
- CHAPTER XX Egyptians
- CHAPTER XXI Decline of the Phenicians.—Growth of Carthage
- CHAPTER XXII Western Colonies of Greece—in Epirus, Italy, Sicily, and Gaul
- CHAPTER XXIII Grecian Colonies in and near Epirus
- CHAPTER XXIV Akarnanians.—Epirots
- Plate section
CHAPTER XI - Solonian Laws and Constitution
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- PART.II CONTINUATION OF HISTORICAL GREECE
- CHAPTER IX Corinth, Sikyôn, and Megara.—Age of the Grecian Despots
- CHAPTER X Ionic portion of Hellas.—Athens before Solon
- CHAPTER XI Solonian Laws and Constitution
- CHAPTER XII Eubœa.—Cyclades
- CHAPTER XIII Asiatic Ionians
- CHAPTER XIV Æolic Greeks in Asia
- CHAPTER XV Asiatic Dorians
- CHAPTER XVI Natives of Asia Minor with whom the Greeks became connected
- CHAPTER XVII Lydians.—Medes.—Cimmerians.—Scythians
- CHAPTER XVIII Phenieians
- CHAPTER XIX Assyrians.—Babylon
- CHAPTER XX Egyptians
- CHAPTER XXI Decline of the Phenicians.—Growth of Carthage
- CHAPTER XXII Western Colonies of Greece—in Epirus, Italy, Sicily, and Gaul
- CHAPTER XXIII Grecian Colonies in and near Epirus
- CHAPTER XXIV Akarnanians.—Epirots
- Plate section
Summary
We now approach a new æra in Grecian history— the first known example of a genuine and disinterested constitutional reform, and the first foundation stone of that great fabric, which afterwards became the type of democracy in Greece. The archonship of the eupatrid Solon dates in 594 b.c., thirty years after that of Drako, and about eighteen years after the conspiracy of Kylôn (assuming the latter event to be correctly placed b.c. 612).
The life of Solon by Plutarch and by Diogenes (especially the former) are our principal sources of information respecting this remarkable man, and while we thank them for what they have told us, it is impossible to avoid expressing disappointment that they have not told us more. For Plutarch certainly had before him both the original poems, and the original laws, of Solon, and the few transcripts which he gives from one or the other form the principal charm of his biography : but such valuable materials ought to have been made available to a more instructive result than that which he has brought out. There is hardly anything more to be deplored, amidst the lost treasures of the Grecian mind, than the poems of Solon ; for we see by the remaining fragments, that they contained notices of the public and social phænomena before him, which he was compelled attentively to study—blended with the touching expression of his own personal feelings, in the post, alike honourable and difficult, to which the confidence of his countrymen had exalted him.
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- A History of Greece , pp. 118 - 215Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010