hich our parents gave prizes for
recitation. Some poems of Solon were recited by the boys. They had not
at that time gone out of fashion, and the recital of them led some one
to say, perhaps in compliment to Critias, that Solon was not only the
wisest of men but also the best of poets. The old man brightened up
at hearing this, and said: Had Solon only had the leisure which was
required to complete the famous legend which he brought with him from
Egypt he would have been as distinguished as Homer and Hesiod. 'And what
was the subject of the poem?' said the person who made the remark. The
subject was a very noble one; he described the most famous action in
which the Athenian people were ever engaged. But the memory of their
exploits has passed away owing to the lapse of time and the extinction
of the actors. 'Tell us,' said the other, 'the whole story, and where
Solon heard the story.' He replied--There is at the head of the Egyptian
Delta, where the river Nile divides, a city and district called Sais;
the city was the birthplace of King Amasis, and is under the protection
of the goddess Neith or Athene. The citizens have a friendly feeling
towards the Athenians, believing themselves to be related to them.
Hither came Solon, and was received with honour; and here he first
learnt, by conversing with the Egyptian priests, how ignorant he and
his countrymen were of antiquity. Perceiving this, and with the view of
eliciting information from them, he told them the tales of Phoroneus and
Niobe, and also of Deucalion and Pyrrha, and he endeavoured to count
the generations which had since passed. Thereupon an aged priest said to
him: 'O Solon, Solon, you Hellenes are ever young, and there is no old
man who is a Hellene.' 'What do you mean?' he asked. 'In mind,' replied
the priest, 'I mean to say that you are children; there is no opinion
or tradition of knowledge among you which is white with age; and I
will tell you why. Like the rest of mankind you have suffered from
convulsions of nature, which are chiefly brought about by the two great
agencies of fire and water. The former is symbolized in the Hellenic
tale of young Phaethon who drove his father's horses the wrong way, and
having burnt up the earth was himself burnt up by a thunderbolt. For
there occurs at long intervals a derangement of the heavenly bodies, and
then the earth is destroyed by fire. At such times, and when fire is the
agent, those who dwell by rivers or on the