Note 173 — Chapter XI · SOLONIAN LAWS AND CONSTITUTION.
Reading edition
See the valuable fragment of his Iambics, preserved by Plutarch and Aristidês, the expression of which is rendered more emphatic by the appeal to the personal Earth, as having passed by his measures from slavery into freedom (compare Plato, Legg. v, pp. 740-741):—
Συμμαρτυροίη ταῦτ᾽ ἂν ἐν δίκῃ Χρόνου Μήτηρ, μεγίστη δαιμόνων Ὀλυμπίων, Ἄριστα, Γῆ μέλαινα, τῆς ἐγώ ποτε Ὅρους ἀνεῖλον πολλαχῇ πεπηγότας, Πρόσθεν δὲ δουλεύουσα, νῦν ἐλευθέρα. Πολλοὺς δ᾽ Ἀθήνας, πατρίδ᾽ εἰς θεόκτιτον Ἀνήγαγον πραθέντας, ἄλλον ἐκδίκως, Ἄλλον δικαίως· τοὺς δ᾽ ἀναγκαίης ὕπο Χρειοῦς φυγόντας, γλῶσσαν οὔκετ᾽ Ἀττικὴν Ἱέντας, ὡς ἂν πολλαχῇ πλανωμένους· Τοὺς δ’ ἐνθάδ᾽ αὐτοῦ δουλίην ἀεικέα Ἔχοντας, ἤδη δεσπότας τρομευμένους, Ἐλευθέρους ἔθηκα.
also Plutarch, Solon, c. 15.