Lives of Eminent Philosophers (1.2.46-1.2.50)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.