Mastodawn

the roamer Oct 8, 2024

At this point, the wisest of the Athenians cast their eyes upon Solon. They saw that he was the one man least implicated in the errors of the time; that he was neither associated with the rich in their injustice, nor involved in the necessities of the poor.

He was chosen archon, and made mediator and legislator for the crisis, the rich accepting him readily because he was well-to‑do, and the poor because he was honest.

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Solon*.html

Plutarch • Life of Solon

An English translation. All of Plutarch's Lives are onsite; in turn part of a very large site on classical Antiquity.

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the roamer Oct 8, 2024

#Plutarch #ParallelLives #Solon 2/

[Solon], in his poems, speaks of pleasure with more freedom than becomes a philosopher.

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the roamer Oct 11, 2024

#Plutarch #ParallelLives #Solon 3/

Such men do not even enjoy what they long for when they get it, but are filled with continual pangs, tremors, and struggles by the fear of future loss.

However, we must be fortified not by poverty against deprivation of worldly goods, nor by friendlessness against loss of friends, nor by childlessness against death of children, but by reason against all adversities.

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the roamer Oct 11, 2024

#Plutarch #ParallelLives #Solon 4/

To his friends Solon said that a tyranny was a lovely place, but there was no way down from it.

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the roamer

#Plutarch #ParallelLives #Solon 5/

However, though he rejected the tyranny, he did not administer affairs in the mildest possible manner, nor in the enactment of his laws did he show a feeble spirit, nor make concessions to the powerful, nor consult the pleasure of his electors.