ecreed that all those who had been condemned by the
archons to _atimy_ (civil disfranchisement) should be restored to their
full privileges of citizens--excepting, however, from this indulgence
those who had been condemned by the Ephetae, or by the Areopagus, or by
the Phylo-Basileis (the four kings of the tribes), after trial in the
Prytaneum, on charges either of murder or treason. So wholesale a
measure of amnesty affords strong grounds for believing that the
previous judgments of the archons had been intolerably harsh; and it is
to be recollected that the Draconian ordinances were then in force.

Such were the measures of relief with which Solon met the dangerous
discontent then prevalent. That the wealthy men and leaders of the
people--whose insolence and iniquity he has himself severely denounced
in his poems, and whose views in nominating him he had greatly
disappointed--should have detested propositions which robbed them
without compensation of many legal rights, it is easy to imagine. But
the statement of Plutarch that the poor emancipated debtors were also
dissatisfied, from having expected that Solon would not only remit their
debts, but also redivide the soil of Attica, seems utterly incredible;
nor is it confirmed by any passage now remaining of the Solonian poems.
Plutarch conceives the poor debtors as having in their minds the
comparison with Lycurgus and the equality of property at Sparta, which,
in my opinion, is clearly a matter of fiction; and even had it been true
as a matter of history long past and antiquated, would not have been
likely to work upon the minds of the multitude of Attica in the forcible
way that the biographer supposes. The Seisachtheia must have exasperated
the feelings and diminished the fortunes of many persons; but it gave to
the large body of Thetes and small proprietors all that they could
possibly have hoped. We are told that after a short interval it became
eminently acceptable in the general public mind, and procured for Solon
a great increase of popularity--all ranks concurring in a common
sacrifice of thanksgiving and harmony. One incident there was which
occasioned an outcry of indignation. Three rich friends of Solon, all
men of great family in the state, and bearing names which appear in
history as borne by their descendants--namely: Conon, Cleinias, and
Hipponicus--having obtained from Solon some previous hint of his
designs, profited by it, first to borrow money, and n