Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database

9615

Plutarch, Solon, 19.1-19.2
συστησάμενος δὲ τὴν ἐν Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ βουλὴν ἐκ τῶν κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἀρχόντων, ἧς διὰ τὸ ἄρξαι καὶ αὐτὸς μετεῖχεν, ἔτι δʼ ὁρῶν τὸν δῆμον οἰδοῦντα καὶ θρασυνόμενον τῇ τῶν χρεῶν ἀφέσει, δευτέραν προσκατένειμε βουλήν, ἀπὸ φυλῆς ἑκάστης, τεττάρων οὐσῶν, ἑκατὸν ἄνδρας ἐπιλεξάμενος, οὓς προβουλεύειν ἔταξε τοῦ δήμου καὶ μηδὲν ἐᾶν ἀπροβούλευτον εἰς ἐκκλησίαν εἰσφέρεσθαι. After he had established the council of the Areiopagus, consisting of those who had been archons year by year (and he himself was a member of this body since he had been archon), he observed that the common people were uneasy and bold in consequence of their release from debt, and therefore established another council besides, consisting of four hundred men, one hundred chosen from each of the four tribes. Cf. Aristot. Const. Ath. 8.4 . These were to deliberate on public matters before the people did, and were not to allow any matter to come before the popular assembly without such previous deliberation.
τὴν δʼ ἄνω βουλὴν ἐπίσκοπον πάντων καὶ φύλακα τῶν νόμων ἐκάθισεν, οἰόμενος ἐπὶ δυσὶ βουλαῖς ὥσπερ ἀγκύραις ὁρμοῦσαν ἧττον ἐν σάλῳ τὴν πόλιν ἔσεσθαι καὶ μᾶλλον ἀτρεμοῦντα τὸν δῆμον παρέξειν. οἱ μὲν οὖν πλεῖστοι τὴν ἐξ Ἀρείου πάγου βουλήν, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, Σόλωνα συστήσασθαί φασι· καὶ μαρτυρεῖν αὐτοῖς δοκεῖ μάλιστα τὸ μηδαμοῦ τὸν Δράκοντα λέγειν μηδʼ ὀνομάζειν Ἀρεοπαγίτας, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἐφέταις ἀεὶ διαλέγεσθαι περὶ τῶν φονικῶν. Then he made the upper council a general overseer in the state, and guardian of the laws, thinking that the city with its two councils, riding as it were at double anchor, would be less tossed by the surges, and would keep its populace in greater quiet. Now most writers say that the council of the Areiopagus, as I have stated, was established by Solon. And their view seems to be strongly supported by the fact that Draco nowhere makes any mention whatsoever of Areiopagites, but always addresses himself to the ephetai in cases of homicide.

Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

10 results
1. Herodotus, Histories, 1.30.2-1.30.4, 1.32, 1.32.1, 1.32.4, 1.32.9, 5.72.1 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE) 1.30.2. After Solon had seen everything and had thought about it, Croesus found the opportunity to say, “My Athenian guest, we have heard a lot about you because of your wisdom and of your wanderings, how as one who loves learning you have traveled much of the world for the sake of seeing it, so now I desire to ask you who is the most fortunate man you have seen.” 1.30.3. Croesus asked this question believing that he was the most fortunate of men, but Solon, offering no flattery but keeping to the truth, said, “O King, it is Tellus the Athenian.” 1.32. Thus Solon granted second place in happiness to these men. Croesus was vexed and said, “My Athenian guest, do you so much despise our happiness that you do not even make us worth as much as common men?” Solon replied, “Croesus, you ask me about human affairs, and I know that the divine is entirely grudging and troublesome to us. ,In a long span of time it is possible to see many things that you do not want to, and to suffer them, too. I set the limit of a man's life at seventy years; ,these seventy years have twenty-five thousand, two hundred days, leaving out the intercalary month. But if you make every other year longer by one month, so that the seasons agree opportunely, then there are thirty-five intercalary months during the seventy years, and from these months there are one thousand fifty days. ,Out of all these days in the seventy years, all twenty-six thousand, two hundred and fifty of them, not one brings anything at all like another. So, Croesus, man is entirely chance. ,To me you seem to be very rich and to be king of many people, but I cannot answer your question before I learn that you ended your life well. The very rich man is not more fortunate than the man who has only his daily needs, unless he chances to end his life with all well. Many very rich men are unfortunate, many of moderate means are lucky. ,The man who is very rich but unfortunate surpasses the lucky man in only two ways, while the lucky surpasses the rich but unfortunate in many. The rich man is more capable of fulfilling his appetites and of bearing a great disaster that falls upon him, and it is in these ways that he surpasses the other. The lucky man is not so able to support disaster or appetite as is the rich man, but his luck keeps these things away from him, and he is free from deformity and disease, has no experience of evils, and has fine children and good looks. ,If besides all this he ends his life well, then he is the one whom you seek, the one worthy to be called fortunate. But refrain from calling him fortunate before he dies; call him lucky. ,It is impossible for one who is only human to obtain all these things at the same time, just as no land is self-sufficient in what it produces. Each country has one thing but lacks another; whichever has the most is the best. Just so no human being is self-sufficient; each person has one thing but lacks another. ,Whoever passes through life with the most and then dies agreeably is the one who, in my opinion, O King, deserves to bear this name. It is necessary to see how the end of every affair turns out, for the god promises fortune to many people and then utterly ruins them.” 1.32.1. Thus Solon granted second place in happiness to these men. Croesus was vexed and said, “My Athenian guest, do you so much despise our happiness that you do not even make us worth as much as common men?” Solon replied, “Croesus, you ask me about human affairs, and I know that the divine is entirely grudging and troublesome to us. 1.32.4. Out of all these days in the seventy years, all twenty-six thousand, two hundred and fifty of them, not one brings anything at all like another. So, Croesus, man is entirely chance. 1.32.9. Whoever passes through life with the most and then dies agreeably is the one who, in my opinion, O King, deserves to bear this name. It is necessary to see how the end of every affair turns out, for the god promises fortune to many people and then utterly ruins them.”
2. Aeschines, Letters, 1.19-1.20 (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
3. Aristotle, Athenian Constitution, 8.4, 21.3, 27.3-27.4, 41.2, 57.3-57.4, 60.3, 63.3 (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
4. Plutarch, Solon, 8.2, 19.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) 8.2. and a report was given out to the city by his family that he showed signs of madness. He then secretly composed some elegiac verses, and after rehearsing them so that he could say them by rote, he sallied out into the market-place of a sudden, with a cap upon his head. After a large crowd had collected there, he got upon the herald’s stone and recited the poem which begins:— Behold in me a herald come from lovely Salamis, With a song in ordered verse instead of a harangue. Only six more verses are preserved ( Fragments 1-3, Bergk ). They contain reproaches of the Athenians for abandoning Salamis, and an exhortation to go and fight for it. 19.2. Then he made the upper council a general overseer in the state, and guardian of the laws, thinking that the city with its two councils, riding as it were at double anchor, would be less tossed by the surges, and would keep its populace in greater quiet. Now most writers say that the council of the Areiopagus, as I have stated, was established by Solon. And their view seems to be strongly supported by the fact that Draco nowhere makes any mention whatsoever of Areiopagites, but always addresses himself to the ephetai in cases of homicide.
5. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of The Philosophers, 1.49, 1.53 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) 1.53. I am not the only man who has aimed at a tyranny in Greece, nor am I, a descendant of Codrus, unfitted for the part. That is, I resume the privileges which the Athenians swore to confer upon Codrus and his family, although later they took them away. In everything else I commit no offence against God or man; but I leave to the Athenians the management of their affairs according to the ordices established by you. And they are better governed than they would be under a democracy; for I allow no one to extend his rights, and though I am tyrant I arrogate to myself no undue share of reputation and honour, but merely such stated privileges as belonged to the kings in former times. Every citizen pays a tithe of his property, not to me but to a fund for defraying the cost of the public sacrifices or any other charges on the State or the expenditure on any war which may come upon us.
6. Aeschines, Or., 1.19-1.20
7. Andocides, Orations, 1.75
8. Andocides, Orations, 1.75
9. Demosthenes, Orations, 24.149-24.151
10. Epigraphy, Ig I, 105.34

Subjects of this text:

subject	book bibliographic info
agora	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 45
archons	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
areopagus,council of	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
areopagus,eligibility and size	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 43
areopagus,procedure	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 43
aristocracy,aristocrats,aristocratic	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
assembly,,athenian (ekklesia)	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
assembly,meeting place	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 45
athenians,and solon	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
athenians	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
athens	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
barbarians,contrasted with greeks	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
chios	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
class	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
cleomenes	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
constitution,,ancestral	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
constitution	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
contradictions	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
contrasts,as theme in plutarchs narrative	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
contrasts	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
council,,chian	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
council,,of five hundred	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
council,,of four hundred	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
council,,spartan (gerousia)	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
council	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
council of the five hundred,composition	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 45
council of the five hundred,eligibility	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 45
council of the five hundred,frequency of sessions	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 45
council of the five hundred,meeting place	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 45
council of the five hundred,origins	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 43
council of the five hundred,pay	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 45
council of the five hundred,prytaneis	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 45
croesus	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
demos (damos),,empowerment of	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
demos (damos),,limitations placed on	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
diogenes laertius	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
ephetai	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 43
fortune,mutability of	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
fortune,the subjects attitude towards	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
fortune	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
four-hundred	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
great rhetra	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
happiness	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
herodotus	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17; Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
hignett,charles	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
homicide courts	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 43
lawcourt,allocation to panels	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 43
lawcourt,eligibility	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 43
lawcourt,heliastic oath	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 43
lawcourt,pay	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 43
lawcourt,size of panels	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 43
lives,with readers knowledge	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
lives,within a life	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
lycurgus (spartan lawgiver)	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
moderation	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
oligarchy,oligarchs	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
omissions	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
perspectives,of the subjects	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
plutarch	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
politeia	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
probouleusis	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
public office,officials,,accountability of	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
revolution	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
solon,and croesus	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
solon	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17; Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64
surprise	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
tyranny/tyrants	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
wisdom/wise'	Chrysanthou (2018), Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement. 17
zeugitai	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 64