to take care that nothing but what had
been first examined should be brought before the general assembly. The
upper council, or Areopagus, he made inspectors and keepers of the
laws, conceiving that the commonwealth, held by these two councils like
anchors, would be less liable to be tossed by tumults, and the people be
more at quiet. Such is the general statement that Solon instituted the
Areopagus.

Amongst his other laws, one is very peculiar and surprising, which
disfranchises all who stand neuter in a sedition; for it seems he would
not have any one remain insensible and regardless of the public good,
but at once join with the good party and those that have the right upon
their side, assist and venture with them, rather than keep out of harm's
way and watch who would get the better.

Another commendable law of Solon's is that which forbids men to speak
evil of the dead.

Since the country has but few rivers, lakes, or large springs, and many
used wells which they had dug, there was a law made, that, where there
was a public well within a hippicon, that is, four furlongs, all should
draw at that; but then it was farther off, they should try and procure a
well of their own; and, if they had dug ten fathoms deep and could find
no water, they had liberty to fetch a pitcherful of four gallons and a
half in a day from their neighbors'; for he thought it prudent to make
provision against want, but not to supply laziness. He showed skill in
his orders about planting, for any one that would plant another tree was
not to set it within five feet of his neighbor's field; but if a fig or
an olive, not within nine, for their roots spread farther, nor can they
be planted near all sorts of trees without damage, for they draw away
the nourishment, and in some cases are noxious by their effluvia. He
that would dig a pit or a ditch was to dig it at the distance of its own
depth from his neighbor's ground; and he that would raise stocks of bees
was not to place them within three hundred feet of those which another
had already raised.

He permitted only oil to be exported, and those that exported any other
fruit, the archon was solemnly to curse, or else pay an hundred drachmas
(a drachma was about twenty cents.) himself; and this law was written in
his first table, and, therefore, let none think it incredible, as some
affirm, that the exportation of figs was once unlawful. He made a law
also, concerning hurts and injuries from bea