Page:History of Greece Vol III.djvu/158

 142 HISTORY OF GREECE. one hundred drachms. The magnitude of these rewards strikes us the more when we compare them with the fines on rape and evil speaking ; and we cannot be surprised that the philosopher Xenophanes noticed, with some degree of severity, the extrava- gant estimate of this species of excellence, current among the Grecian cities. 1 At the same time, we must remember both that these Pan-Hellenic sacred games presented the chief visible evidence of peace and sympathy among the numerous commu- nities of Greece, and that in the time of Solon, factitious reward was still needful to encourage them. In respect to land and agriculture, Solon proclaimed a public reward of five drachms for every wolf brought in, and one drachm for every wolf's cub : the extent of wild land has at all times been considerable in Attica. He also provided rules respecting the use of wells be- tween neighbors, and respecting the planting in conterminous olive-grounds. Whether any of these regulations continued in operation during the better-known period of Athenian history cannot be safely affirmed. 2 In respect to theft, we find it stated that Solon repealed the punishment of death which Drako had annexed to that crime, and enacted as a penalty, compensation to an amount double the value of the property stolen. The simplicity of this law perhaps affords ground for presuming that it really does belong to Solon, but the law which prevailed during the time of the orators respecting theft 3 must have been introduced at some later period, since it 1 Plutarch. Solon, 23. Xenophanes, Frag. 2, ed. Schncidewin. If Dioge- nes is to be trusted, the rewards were even larger anterior to Solon : he reduced them (Diog. 1. i, 55). 3 See the laws in Demosthen. cont. Tirnokrat. pp. 733-736. Notwith- standing the opinion both of Heraldus (Animadversion, in Salmas. iv, 8) and of Meier (Attischer Prozess, p. 356), I cannot imagine anything more than the basis of these laws to be Solonian, they indicate a state of Attic procedure too much elaborated for that day (Lysias c. Theomn. p. 356). The word irofioKuKicy belongs to Solon, and probably the penalty of five days' confinement in the stocks, for the thief who had not restored what he had stolen. Aulus Gcll. (xi, 18) mentions the simple pcena dupU : in the authors from whom he copied, it is ;vident that Solon was stated to have enacted this law generally for all thefts : we cannot tell from whom he copied, but in another
 * Plutarch, Solon, c. 23. See Suidas, v, $i<r6//n9a.