68 HISTORICAL TALES,

many of the poor of Attica were owned as slaves,
many had been sold as slaves, some had kept their
freedom only by selling their own children, and
some had fied from the country to escape slavery.
And this, too, had arisen in many cases through in-
justice in the courts and corruption of the judges.
In the time of Solon the misery and oppression
from these laws became so great that there was a
general mutiny of the poor against the rich. They
refused to submit to the unjust enactments of their
rulers, and the state fell into such frightful disorder
that the governing class, no longer able to control
the people, were obliged to call Solon to their aid.
Solon did not belong to the rich men of Athens,
‘though he was of noble birth, and, like so many of
the older Greeks, traced his family line back to the
gods. Neptune, the ocean deity, was fabled to be
his far-off ancestor. He was born about 638 B.o.
His father had spent most of his money, largely in
kind deeds to others, and the son found himself
obliged to become a merchant. In this pursuit he
travelled in many parts of Greece and Asia, and
in his journeys paid more heed to the gaining of
knowledge than of money, so that when he came
back his mind was fuller than his purse. Men who
seek wisdom rarely succeed in gaining much money,
but Solon’s story goes to show that wisdom is far
the better of the two, and that a rich mind is of
more value than a rich purse. When he returned
to Attica he gained such fame as a poet and a man
of learning and wisdom that he has ever since been
classed as one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece.