Solon's
power could not reach this height, as he was only a commoner and a
moderate man; yet he did all that was in his power, relying solely upon
the confidence and goodwill of his countrymen.
It is clear that they were disappointed, and expected more from his
legislation, from his own verses--
"Once they speculated gaily, what good luck should them befall,
Now they look upon me coldly, as a traitor to them all."
Yet he says, if any one else had been in his position,
"He ne'er would have desisted from unsettling the laws,
Till he himself got all the cream."
However, not long afterwards, they perceived the public benefits which
he had conferred upon them, forgot their private grievances, and made a
public sacrifice in honour of the Seisachtheia, or "Relief from
burdens." Moreover, they constituted Solon supreme reformer and
lawgiver, not over some departments only, but placing everything alike
in his hands; magistracies, public assemblies, senate, and law-courts.
He had full powers to confirm or abolish any of these, and to fix the
proper qualifications for members of them, and their numbers and times
of meeting.
XVII. First of all, then, he repealed all the laws of Drakon, except
those relating to murder, because of their harshness and the excessive
punishments which they awarded. For death was the punishment for almost
every offence, so that even men convicted of idleness were executed, and
those who stole pot-herbs or fruits suffered just like sacrilegious
robbers and murderers.
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