Life of Solon, 1.31.3

Plutarch  translated by Bernadotte Perrin

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3Now Solon, after beginning his great work on the story or fable of the lost Atlantis, which, as he had heard from the learned men of Saïs,[58] particularly concerned the Athenians, abandoned it, not for lack of leisure, as Plato says, but rather because of his old age, fearing the magnitude of the task. For that he had abundant leisure, such verses as these testify:—

“But I grow old ever learning many things;”[59]

and again,

“But now the works of the Cyprus-born goddess are dear to my soul,

Of Dionysus, too, and the Muses, which impart delights to men.”[60]

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Notes

  • [58] Cf. chapter xxvi. 1. There is no trace of any such work of Solon's, and the attribution of it to him is probably a play of Plato's fancy.

  • [59] Cf. chapter ii. 2.

  • [60] Fragment 26 (Bergk).

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