The Athenian Constitution   

These seem to be the democratic features of his laws; but in
addition, before the period of his legislation, he carried
through his
abolition of debts, and after it his increase in the standards of
weights and measures, and of the currency. During his administration
the measures were made larger than those of Pheidon, and the mina,
which previously had a standard of seventy drachmas, was
raised to the
full hundred. The standard coin in earlier times was the two-drachma
piece. He also made weights corresponding with the coinage,
sixty-three minas going to the talent; and the odd three minas were
distributed among the staters and the other values.

Part 11

When he had completed his organization of the constitution in the
manner that has been described, he found himself beset by people
coming to him and harassing him concerning his laws, criticizing
here and questioning there, till, as he wished neither to alter what
he had decided on nor yet to be an object of ill will to every one
by remaining in Athens, he set off on a journey to Egypt, with the
combined objects of trade and travel, giving out that he should not
return for ten years. He considered that there was no call for him
to expound the laws personally, but that every one should obey them
just as they were written. Moreover, his position at this time was
unpleasant. Many members of the upper class had been estranged from
him on account of his abolition of debts, and both parties were
alienated through their disappointment at the condition of things
which he had created. The mass of the people had expected him to
make a complete redistribution of all property, and the upper class
hoped he would restore everything to its former position, or, at any
rate, make but a small change. Solon, however, had resisted both
classes. He might have made himself a despot by attaching himself to
whichever party he chose, but he preferred, though at the cost of
incurring the enmity of both, to be the saviour of his
country and the
ideal lawgiver.

Part 12

The truth of this view of Solon's policy is established alike by
common consent, and by the mention he has himself made of the matter
in his poems. Thus:

I gave to the mass of the people such rank as befitted their need,
I took not away 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 sale in its
sight,
And I would not that either should triumph, when the triumph was
not with right.

Again he declares how the mass of the people ought to be treated:

But thus will the people best the voice of their leaders obey,
When neither too slack is the rein, nor violence holdeth the sway;
For indulgence breedeth a child, the presumption that spurns control,
When riches too great are poured upon men of unbalanced soul.

And again elsewhere he speaks about the persons who wished to