one of the seven wise men of Greece, was born at Salamis, about B.C. 638, of Athenian parents, who were descended from Codrus. His father leaving little patrimony, he had recourse to merchandise for his subsistence. He had, however, a greater thirst after knowledge and fame than after riches, and made his mercantile voyages subservient to the increase of his intellectual treasures. He very early cultivated the art of poetry, and applied himself to the study of moral and civil wisdom. When the Athenians, tired out with a long and troublesome war with the Megarensians, for the recovery of the isle of Salamis, prohibited any one, under pain of death, to propose the renewal of their claim to that island, Solon thinking the prohibition dishonourable to the state, and finding many of the younger citizens desirous to revive the war, feigned himself mad, and took care to have the report of his insanity spread through the city. In the meantime he composed an elegy adapted to the state of public affairs, and committed it to memory. Everything being thus prepared, he salled forth