e." But Peisistratus,
after he became established as sovereign, showed such marked favour to
Solon that he even was advised by him, and received his approval in
several cases. For he enforced most of Solon's laws, both observing them
himself and obliging his friends to do so. Indeed, when accused of
murder before the court of the Areopagus, he appeared in due form to
stand his trial, but his accuser let the case fall through. He also made
other laws himself, one of which is that those who are maimed in war
shall be kept at the public expense. Herakleides says that this was done
in imitation of Solon, who had already proposed it in the case of
Thersippus. But Theophrastus tells us that it was not Solon, but
Peisistratus, who made the law about idleness, by means of which he
rendered the city more quiet, and the country better cultivated.

Solon also attempted to write a great poem about the fable of
'Atlantis,' which he had learned from the chroniclers of Sais
particularly concerned the Athenians, but he did not finish it, not, as
Plato says, for want of leisure, but rather because of his advanced age,
which made him fear that the task was too great for him. His own words
tell us that he had abundance of leisure--

"Old I grow, but ever learning,"

and,

"Venus and Bacchus are all my care,
And the Muses, that charm the hearts of men."

Plato eagerly took in hand the scheme of the 'Atlantis,' as though it
were a fine site for a palace, which had come to be his by inheritance,
still unbuilt on. He placed in the beginning of it such splendid
entrance-halls and vestibules as we find in no other tale or legend or
poem, but, as he began the work too late, he died before he was able to
finish it; so that the more we enjoy what he has written, the more we
grieve over what is lost. As the temple of Olympic Zeus among the
temples of Athens, so the 'Atlantis' is the only one among Plato's many
noble writings that is unfinished.

Solon lived on into the reign of Peisistratus for a long time,
according to Herakleides of Pontus, but less than two years, according
to Phanias of Eresus. For Peisistratus became despot in the archonship
of Komius, and Phanias tells us that Solon died during the archonship of
Hegesistratus, Komias' successor. The story that his ashes were
scattered round the island of Salamis is legendary and improbable, yet
it is confirmed by many trustworthy writers, amongst whom is the
philosopher Ar