city of Salamis, on which they made
an assault. While this was going on, Solon sailed up with the ship he
had captured. The Megarians, thinking it to be their own ship, permitted
it to enter the port, and the city was taken by surprise. Salamis, thus
won, continued to belong to Athens till those late days when Philip of
Macedon conquered Greece.

To Solon, now acknowledged to be the wisest and most famous of the
Athenians, the tyrants who had long misruled Athens turned, when they
found the people in rebellion against their authority. In the year 594
B.C. he was chosen archon, or ruler of the state, and was given full
power to take such measures as were needed to put an end to the
disorders. Probably these autocrats supposed that he would help them to
continue in power; but, if so, they did not know the man with whom they
had to deal.

Solon might easily have made himself a despot, if he had chosen,--all
the states of Greece being then under the rule of despots or of
tyrannical aristocrats. But he was too honest and too wise for this. He
set himself earnestly to overcome the difficulties which lay before him.
And he did this with a radical hand. In truth, the people were in no
mood for any but radical measures.

The enslaved debtors were at once set free. All contracts in which the
person or the land of the debtor had been given as security were
cancelled. No future contract under which a citizen could be enslaved or
imprisoned for debt was permitted. All past claims against the land of
Attica were cancelled, and the mortgage pillars removed. (These pillars
were set up at the boundaries of the land, and had the lender's name and
the amount of the debt cut into the stone.)

But as many of the creditors were themselves in debt to richer men, and
as Solon's laws left them poor, he adopted a measure for their relief.
This was to lower the value of the money of the state. The old silver
drachmas were replaced by new drachmas, of which seventy-three equalled
one hundred of the old. Debtors were thus able to pay their debts at a
discount of twenty-seven per cent., and the great loss fell on the rich;
and justly so, for most of them had gained their wealth through
dishonesty and oppression. Lastly, Solon made full citizens of all from
whom political rights had been taken, except those who had been
condemned for murder or treason.

This was a bold measure. And, like such bold measures generally, it did
injustice to many.