Page:The story of Greece told to boys and girls.djvu/148

 enemies. He then seized the Acropolis and soon made himself master of the State.

The leaders of the Plain and the Shore were forced to flee, and the people, in spite of the warnings of Solon, were amazed at the cunning and the boldness Pisistratus had shown.

Solon himself felt that all he had done for the State was undone when a tyrant ruled at Athens.

Old as he now was, he was brave enough to go to the market-place to upbraid the citizens for their folly in having allowed Pisistratus to deceive them, and to beg them not to lose their freedom without a struggle. 'You might with ease,' he said, 'have crushed the tyrant in the bud; but nothing now remains but to pluck him up by the roots.'

It is said that he even begged the people to take up arms against Pisistratus, but they were not bold enough to defy the tyrant.

So Solon went home sadly, gathered together his arms and laid them on the threshold of his house, saying, 'I have done my part to maintain my country and my laws, and I appeal to others to do likewise.'

Here is a verse from one of the poems which he wrote at this time—

'If now you suffer do not blame the Powers, For they are good and all the fault is ours. All the strongholds you put into his hands, And now his slaves must do what he commands.'

His friends feared that Pisistratus would punish Solon for his bold words and actions, perhaps even take his life, so they begged him to leave the country, but he refused to go.

When they asked him why he was not afraid, and to what he trusted to save him from the anger of the tyrant, he answered simply, 'To my old age.'

And his trust was well founded, for Pisistratus treated Solon with kindness and with respect. He even asked his advice in matters of State.