Who let Salamis slip through their fingers, when it was
theirs for a blow!"
On then to Salamis, brothers! Let us fight for the
beautiful island,
Flinging afar from us, ever, the weight of unbearable shame.[[5]]
Only parts of these verses have come down to us, but they so inspired the Athenians that it was determined to make one more effort to regain Salamis, and this time they were successful. Salamis was recovered, but conditions in Athens remained as unhappy as before. Solon was now held in such high honour that we are told, "the wisest of the Athenians pressed him to succour the commonwealth." He consented, and was elected Archon in 594 B.C.
The first thing Solon did was to relieve the debtors. He did this by cancelling all debts and by setting free all who were slaves for debt, and by forbidding by law any Athenian to pledge himself, his wife or his children as a security for debt. This brought such relief to the state that the act was celebrated by a festival called the "Casting off of Burdens."
Solon wanted to bring order into the distracted city he loved, for he held that order was one of the greatest blessings a state could have, so he set to work to reform the government of the state, to reduce the power of the nobles and to give justice to the people. "First, he repealed all Draco's laws," (Draco had been an earlier lawgiver in Athens), "because they were too severe, and the punishments too great; for death was appointed for almost all offences, so that in after times it was said that Draco's laws were written not with ink, but blood."
Solon reformed the government of the state in such a way, that even the poorest citizens had political rights. They could not all be Archons, but Athens, like Sparta and other Greek states, had her general Assembly of the people, and they could all vote at this, and they could all take part in electing the magistrates. Whilst recognizing the rights of the poorer citizens, Solon believed in preserving a certain part of the power of the nobles, and he arranged the taxation and public service to the state in such a way that the greater the wealth of a man and the higher his position, the more the state demanded of him, both in service and money. Solon himself said of these laws:
I gave to the mass of the people such rank as befitted their need,
I took not away their honour, and I granted nought to their greed;
While those who were rich in power, who in wealth were glorious
and great,
I bethought me that naught should befall them unworthy their
splendour and state;
So I stood with my shield outstretched, and both were safe
in its sight,
And I would not that either should triumph, when the triumph
was not with the right.[[6]]
Solon did not please everyone with his laws, and when