Aristotle ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION Complete

Translated by Fred. Kenyon.

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Once more he speaks of the abolition of debts and of those who before were in servitude, but were released owing to the Seisachtheia:

Of all the aims for which I summoned forth The people, was there one I compassed not? 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 broadcast planted there, And made thee free, who hadst been slave of yore. And many a man whom fraud or law had sold For from his god-built land, an outcast slave, I brought again to Athens; yea, and some, Exiles from home through debt's 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 held the goad as 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 in counterpoise, 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.

And again he reviles both parties for their grumblings in the times that followed:

Nay, if one must lay blame where blame is due, Wer't not for me, the people ne'er had set Their eyes upon these blessings e'en in dreams:- While greater men, the men of wealthier life, Should praise me and should court me as their friend. For had any other man, he says, received this exalted post,

He had not kept the people hack, nor ceased Til he had robbed the richness of the milk. But I stood forth a landmark in the midst, And barred the foes from battle.

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