Life of Solon, 1.15.5

Plutarch  translated by Bernadotte Perrin

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5But most writers agree that the “disburdenment” was a removal of all debt, and with such the poems of Solon are more in accord. For in these he proudly boasts that from the mortgaged lands

“He took away the record-stones that everywhere were planted;

Before, Earth was in bondage, now she is free.”[25]

And of the citizens whose persons had been seized for debt, some he brought back from foreign lands,

“uttering no longer Attic speech,

So long and far their wretched wanderings;

And some who here at home in shameful servitude

Were held”[26]

he says he set free.

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Notes

  • [25] Fragment 36, verses 4 f. (Bergk), with adaptation from the first person; verses 6 f. in Aristotle's citation.

  • [26] Fragment 36, verses 9-12 (Bergk); verses 11-14 in Aristotle.

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