e deliverance of his country was
the first step in a career which our age glories in pursuing, and
instituted a power which has done more than anything, except revealed
religion, for the regeneration of society. The upper class had possessed
the right of making and administering the laws, and he left them in
possession, only transferring to wealth what had been the privilege of
birth. To the rich, who alone had the means of sustaining the burden of
public service in taxation and war, Solon gave a share of power
proportioned to the demands made on their resources. The poorest classes
were exempt from direct taxes, but were excluded from office. Solon gave
them a voice in electing magistrates from the classes above them, and
the right of calling them to account. This concession, apparently so
slender, was the beginning of a mighty change. It introduced the idea
that a man ought to have a voice in selecting those to whose rectitude
and wisdom he is compelled to trust his fortune, his family, and his
life. And this idea completely inverted the notion of human authority,
for it inaugurated the reign of moral influence where all political
power had depended on moral force. Government by consent superseded
government by compulsion, and the pyramid which had stood on a point was
made to stand upon its base. By making every citizen the guardian of his
own interest Solon admitted the element of Democracy into the State. The
greatest glory of a ruler, he said, is to create a popular government.
Believing that no man can be entirely trusted, he subjected all who
exercised power to the vigilant control of those for whom they acted.

The only resource against political disorders that had been known till
then was the concentration of power. Solon undertook to effect the same
object by the distribution of power. He gave to the common people as
much influence as he thought them able to employ, that the State might
be exempt from arbitrary government. It is the essence of Democracy, he
said, to obey no master but the law. Solon recognised the principle that
political forms are not final or inviolable, and must adapt themselves
to facts; and he provided so well for the revision of his constitution,
without breach of continuity or loss of stability, that for centuries
after his death the Attic orators attributed to him, and quoted by his
name, the whole structure of Athenian law. The direction of its growth
was determined by the fundamental