The Complete Aristotle (eng.)

wandering far and wide, I brought again;
And those that here in vilest slavery
Crouched ‘neath a master’s frown, I set them free.
Thus might and right were yoked in harmony,
Since by the force of law I won my ends
And kept my promise. Equal laws I gave
To evil and to good, with even hand
Drawing straight justice for the lot of each.
But had another held the goad as
One in whose heart was guile and greediness,
He had not kept the people back from strife.
For had I granted, now what pleased the one,
Then what their foes devised in counterpoise,
Of many a man this state had been bereft.
Therefore I showed my might on every side,
Turning at bay like wolf among the hounds.
    And again he reviles both parties for their grumblings in the
times that followed:
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    Nay, if one must lay blame where blame is due,
Wer’t not for me, the people ne’er had set
Their eyes upon these blessings e’en in dreams:-
While greater men, the men of wealthier life,
Should praise me and should court me as their friend.
    For had any other man, he says, received this exalted post,
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    He had not kept the people back, nor ceased
Til he had robbed the richness of the milk.
But I stood forth a landmark in the midst,
And barred the foes from battle.
13
    Such then, were Solon’s reasons for his departure from the
country. After his retirement the city was still torn by divisions.
For four years, indeed, they lived in peace; but in the fifth year
after Solon’s government they were unable to elect an Archon on
account of their dissensions, and again four years later they
elected no Archon for the same reason. Subsequently, after a
similar period had elapsed, Damasias was elected Archon; and he
governed for two years and two months, until he was forcibly
expelled from his office. After this, it was agreed, as a
compromise, to elect ten Archons, five from the Eupatridae, three
from the Agroeci, and two from the Demiurgi, and they ruled for the
year following Damasias. It is clear from this that the Archon was
at the time the magistrate who possessed the greatest power, since
it is always in connexion with this office that conflicts are seen
to arise. But altogether they were in a continual state of internal
disorder. Some found the cause and justification of their
discontent in the abolition of debts, because thereby they had been
reduced to poverty; others were dissatisfied with the political
constitution, because it had undergone a revolutionary change;
while with others the motive was found in personal rivalries among
themselves. The parties at this time were three in number. First
there was the party of the Shore, led by Megacles the son of
Alcmeon, which was considered to aim at a moderate form of
government; then there were the men of the Plain, who desired an
oligarchy and were led by Lycurgus; and thirdly there were the men
of the Highlands, at the head of whom was Pisistratus, who was
looked on as an extreme democrat. This latter party was reinforced
by those who had been deprived of the debts due to them, from
motives of poverty, and by those who were not of pure descent, from
motives of personal apprehension. A proof of this is seen in the
fact that after the tyranny was overthrown a revision was made of
the citizen-roll, on the ground that many persons were partaking in
the franchise without having a right to it. The names given to the
respective parties were derived from the districts in which they
held their lands.
14
    Pisistratus had the reputation of being an extreme democrat, and
he also had distinguished himself greatly in the war with Megara.
Taking advantage of this, he wounded himself, and by representing
that his injuries had been inflicted on him by his political
rivals, he persuaded the people, through a motion proposed by
Aristion, to grant him a bodyguard. After he had got these
‘club-bearers’, as they were called, he made an attack with them on
the people and seized the Acropolis. This happened in the
archonship of Comeas, thirty-one years after the legislation of
Solon. It is related that, when Pisistratus asked for his
bodyguard, Solon opposed the request, and declared that in so doing
he proved himself wiser than half the people and braver than the
rest,-wiser than those who did not see that Pisistratus designed to
make himself tyrant, and braver than those who saw it and kept
silence. But when all his words availed nothing he carried forth
his armour and set it up in front