A large number of poems survives under his name, many of them probably genuine. He lived around the middle of the 6^th century, when political turmoil in the city forced aristocrats like him into exile. In several poems he addresses an aristocratic youth called Kyrnos, admonishing him to uphold aristocratic ideals. In the following poem he expresses the fear that social problems might cause upheaval and pave the way for civil war and the establishment of tyranny.

Kyrnos, this city is pregnant, and I’m afraid that it will give birth to a man

Who will lead the charge of our wicked insolence

The citizens are still wise, but the leaders

Are breeding much wickedness.

Noble men have never destroyed a city,

Kyrnos, but when it seems right to the inferiors to be insolent,

They destroy the city, and do grave injustice

For the sake of personal profit and power.

Do not expect that such a city will remain calm for long,

Even if there is absolute calm at the moment,

When such things become dear to inferior men,

Such as profit coming along with public harm.

From such men one should expect upheaval, civil war,

And tyranny. May such things never become dear to this city.

The following epigrammatic poem concerns greed as a source of many evils. It should probably be placed in a political context.

Greed has ruined many foolish men,

For it is difficult to know the limit, when prosperity is at hand.

In the following poem sadness for the decay of all good things among mankind is expressed. However, the poem is optimistic in the sense that it places hope above anything else. Again a political background should be attached to this poem. Theognis is lamenting a lost world of aristocratic ideals, and recommends caution against the wickedness of lowly men, who have set their eyes upon the properties of the rich.

Hope is the only worthy goddess remaining among mankind.

The rest have left and gone to Olympos.

Faith, the great goddess, has gone from men,

And Restraint, and the Graces, my friend, have left the earth.

And fair oaths are no longer trustworthy among men

And no man has any respect for the immortal gods

The generation of god-fearing men has eclipsed,

And no one knows any longer what justice or piety is.

But so long as one lives, and sees the light of the sun

Let him show piety to the gods and count on Hope

Let him pray to the gods, and burning splendid thigh bones

Let him sacrifice to Hope first and last.

And let him beware the twisted words of unjust men

Who have no regard for the immortal gods.

They always have their eyes upon other people’s property

Using shameful devices to justify their wicked deeds.

Rarely we have the privilege to hear from the man who introduced a comprehensive corpus of laws, that remained in force for many centuries, why he introduced them, and how he tried to respond to the challenge of his times. Athens in the times of Solon was torn apart by civil strife. Wealth and power were concentrated in a few hands, while the rest of the population was living in deprivation, to the extent that they had to borrow with their bodies as surety. Solon was appointed as lawgiver, and in 594 he put forward a body of laws designed to improve the situation. In the following poem he expresses his distress at this situation:

I see, and within my heart deep sadness has claimed its place,

As I look on the oldest home of the ancient Ionian race

Slain by the sword.

Then he addresses the rich and suggests that they should limit their excesses. Concessions will be required.

But ye who have store of good, who are sated and overflow,

Restrain your swelling soul, and still it and keep it low:

Let the heart that is great within you be trained a lowlier way;

Ye shall not have all at your will, and we will not forever obey.

He explains that he gave to the poor enough to address their needs; he did not give in to all their requests. Here more clearly than anywhere else we can hear the voice of an aristocrat, albeit a caring one:

I gave to the mass of the people such rank as befitted their need.

I took away not their honour, and I granted naught to their greed;

While those who were rich in power, who in wealth were glorious and great,

I bethought me that naught should befall them unworthy their splendour and state;

So I stood with my shield outstretched, and both were safe in its sight,

And I would not that either should triumph, when the triumph was not right.

The following poem makes clear that his intention was not to establish a democratic constitution (as the Athenians in later centuries believed that he did), where the masses and the aristocrats would share power on an equal basis. Far from that, his intention was to safeguard the position of the aristocrats, while he protected the poorer people from excesses of the former.

All I promised, fully wrought I with the gods at hand to cheer,

Naught beyond in folly ventured. Never to my soul was dear

With a tyrant’s force to govern, nor to see the good and base

Side by side in equal portion share the rich home of our race.

In this poem Solon summarises the purpose of his legislation. He explains how he freed persons enslaved for debts, and how he tried to establish the rule of law. His laws were never abolished, even though in subsequent centuries they were revised. However, much of his laws on family remained valid throughout the classical period.

Wherefore I freed the racked and tortured crowd

From all the evils that beset their lot

Thou, when slow time brings justice in its train,

O mighty mother of the Olympian gods

Dark Earth, thou best canst witness, from whose breast

I swept the pillars broad-cast planted there,

And made thee free, who hadst been slave of yore.

And many a man whom fraud or law had sold

Far from his god-built land, an outcast slave,

I brought again to Athens; yea, and some,

Exiles from home through debts’ oppressive load,

Speaking no more the dear Athenian tongue

But wandering far and wide, I brought again;

And those that here in vilest slavery

Crouched ’neath a master’s frown, I set them free.

Thus might and right were yoked in harmony,

Since by the force of law I won my ends

And kept my promise. Equal laws I gave

To evil and to good, with even hand

Drawing straight justice for the lot of each.

But had another one held the goad as I,

One in whose heart was guile and greediness,

He had not kept the people back from strife.

For had I granted, now what pleased the one,

Then what their foes devised within their hearts,

Of many a man this state had been bereft.

Therefore I showed my might on every side,

Turning, at bay like wolf among the hounds.

His constitution, an attempt to bring social harmony through compromise, satisfied neither party, and eventually by the end of the sixth century Athens moved towards Democracy.