were accountable at its
expiration to the public assembly for the manner in which they had
discharged their duties.

The Senate of the Areopagus [It received its name from its place of
meeting, which was a rocky eminence opposite the Acropolis, called the
hill of Ares (Mars Hill)], is said by some writers to have been
instituted by Solon; but it existed long before his time, and may be
regarded as the representative of the Council of Chiefs in the Heroic
age. Solon enlarged its powers, and intrusted it with the general
supervision of the institutions and laws of the state, and imposed upon
it the duty of inspecting the lives and occupations of the citizens.
All archons became members of it at the expiration of their year of
office.

Solon laid only the foundation of the Athenian democracy by giving the
poorer classes a vote in the popular assembly, and by enlarging the
power of the latter; but he left the government exclusively in the
hands of the wealthy. For many years after his time the government
continued to be an oligarchy, but was exercised with more moderation
and justice than formerly.

Solon enacted numerous laws, containing regulations on almost all
subjects connected with the public and private life of the citizens.
He encouraged trade and manufactures, and invited foreigners to settle
in Athens by the promise of protection and by valuable privileges. To
discourage idleness a son was not obliged to support his father in old
age, if the latter had neglected to teach him some trade or occupation.

Solon punished theft by compelling the guilty party to restore double
the value of the property stolen. He forbade speaking evil either of
the dead or of the living.

Solon is said to have been aware that he had left many imperfections in
his laws. He described them not as the best laws which he could
devise, but as the best which the Athenians could receive. Having
bound the government and people of Athens by a solemn oath to observe
his institutions for at least ten years, he left Athens and travelled
in foreign lands. During his absence the old dissensions between the
Plain, the Shore, and the Mountain broke out afresh with more violence
than ever. The first was headed by Lycurgus, the second by Megacles,
an Alcmaeonid, and the third by Pisistratus, the cousin of Solon. Of
these leaders, Pisistratus was the ablest and the most dangerous. He
had espoused the cause of the poorest of the three classes,