Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Series 2 - The Still Small ...

that the evils of Podandus are a match for such a place. So, of three parts, some have left
their homes and are in exile, wives and hearth and all; some are being led away like captives,
the majority of the best men in the city, a piteous spectacle to their friends, fulfilling their
enemies’ prayers; if, that is, any one has ever been found to call down so dire a curse upon
our heads. A third division yet remains: these, unable to endure abandonment by their old
companions, and at the same time unable to provide for themselves, have to hate their very
lives.
This is what I implore you to make known everywhere with an eloquence all your own,
and that righteous boldness of speech which your manner of life gives you. One thing distinctly
state; that, unless the authorities soon change their counsels, they will find none left
on whom to exercise their clemency. You will either prove some help to the state, or at least
you will have done as Solon did, who, when he was unable to defend his abandoned fellow
citizens on the capture of the Acropolis, put on his armour, and sat down before the gates,
thus making it plain by this guise that he was no party to what was going on. 2265 Of one
thing I am assured, even though at the present moment there may be some who do not approve
of your advice, the day is not far distant when they will give you the greatest credit
for benevolence and sagacity, because they see events corresponding with your prediction.
2265 i.e. on the seizure of the Acropolis by Pisistratus, Solon, resisting the instance of his friends that he
should flee, returned them for answer, when they asked him on what he relied for protection, “on my old age.”
Plutarch, Solon 30. The senate being of the faction of Pisistratus, said that he was mad. Solon replied: Δείξει
δὴ μανίην μὲν ἐμὴν Βαιὸς χρόνος ἀστοῖς, Δείξει ἀληθείης ἐς μέσον ἐρχομένης. Diog. Laert. 1–49
To Martinianus.
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