The greater part, and those of most spirit, combined together, and
encouraged one another not to suffer such oppression any longer, but to
choose some trustworthy person to protect their interests, to set free
all enslaved debtors, redistribute the land, and, in a word, entirely
remodel the constitution.
XIV. In this position of affairs, the most sensible men in Athens
perceived that Solon was a person who shared the vices of neither
faction, as he took no part in the oppressive conduct of the wealthy,
and yet had sufficient fortune to save him from the straits to which the
poor were reduced. In consequence of this, they begged him to come
forward and end their disputes. But Phanias of Lesbos says that Solon
deceived both parties, in order to save the state, promising the poor a
redistribution of lands, and the rich a confirmation of their
securities. However, Solon himself tells us that it was with reluctance
that he interfered, as he was threatened by the avarice of the one
party, and the desperation of the other. He was chosen archon next after
Philombrotus, to act as an arbitrator and lawgiver at once, because the
rich had confidence in him as a man of easy fortune, and the poor
trusted him as a good man. It is said also that a saying which he had
let fall some time before, that "equality does not breed strife," was
much circulated at the time, and pleased both parties, because the rich
thought it meant that property should be distributed according to merit
and desert, while the poor thought it meant according to rule and
measure.
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