Reflections on the Rise and Fall of the Ancient Republicks / Adapted to the Present State of Great Britain

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Reflections on the Rise and Fall of the Ancient Republicks, by Edward Wortley Montagu
ADAPTED TO THE PRESENT STATE OF GREAT BRITAIN .
Οὐ τί τῷδε, ἢ τῷδε δόξει λογιζόμενος
Ἀλλὰ τί πέπρακται λέγων.
Lucian. Histor. Scribend.
BY EDWARD W. MONTAGU, JUN.
PHILADELPHIA : PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY C. P. WAYNE. 1806.

Which of these relators has given us the real penalty annexed to this law by Solon, is scarce worth our inquiry. But I cannot help observing, that strange as this law may appear at first sight, yet if we reflect upon the reasons of it, as they are assigned by Plutarch and A. Gellius, it will not appear unworthy of that great legislator.
The reason given by A. Gellius is more striking, and less liable to objections than that of Plutarch. “If (says that writer) all the good men in any state, when they find themselves too weak to stem the torrent of a furious divided populace, and unable to suppress a sedition at its first breaking out, should immediately divide, and throw themselves into the opposite sides, the event in such a case would be that each party, which they had differently espoused, would naturally begin to cool, and put themselves under their direction, as persons of the greatest weight and authority: thus it would be greatly in the power of such men so circumstanced, to reconcile all differences, and restore peace and union, while they mutually restrained and moderated the fury of their own party, and convinced the opposite side, that they sincerely wished and laboured for their safety, not for their destruction.”
What effect this law had in the Athenian state is no where mentioned. However, as it is plainly founded upon that relation which every member bears to the body politick, and that interest which every individual is supposed to have in the good of the whole community; it is still, though not in express terms, yet virtually received in every free country. For those who continue neuter in any civil dissension, under the denomination of moderate men, who keep aloof and wait quietly in order to follow the fortune of the prevailing side, are generally stigmatized with the opprobious name of time servers , and consequently neither esteemed, nor trusted by either party.