Abstract

Solon's fragments 9–11 are preserved in three late authors: frr. 9 and 11 by Diodoros Sikelos, 9.20.2, Plutarch, Solon 3.6 and 30.3 respectively, and Diogenes Laertios, 1.50 and 1.51 respectively; and fr. 10 by Diogenes Laertios alone, 1.49. They are all quoted in the context of Solon's reaction to Peisistratos. Stories on this theme were circulating by the time of the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia, and Rhodes' scepticism about them is well founded. Its author did not garnish his version of events with these poems, nor indeed with any Solonian utterance, and he explicitly states that myth-making on this subject had already resulted in two stories about Solon and Peisistratos which were chronologically impossible.