His first act was a great and unexpected one, for he proclaimed that henceforth no one might be made a slave because he was unable to pay his debts. And more than that, he said that those who were already slaves were at once to be set free. Hundreds of men were thus delivered from slavery, many hundreds more were freed from the fear of becoming slaves. As these men ploughed their own lands and reaped their own harvests they were full of gratitude to Solon. For this law alone the name of Solon might well be held in reverence. [Illustration: Solon, the wise lawgiver of Athens] So great was the joy of the people that the day the law was passed was kept each year as a festival. But the rich nobles were not pleased with Solon’s act, for they lost many of their slaves and found it less easy to add to their wealth. The lawgiver also declared that if there was war or strife in the State, each citizen must take one side or the other. No one was to be allowed to look on idly, or side now with one party, now with another. Solon restored to the assembly of the people the rights that had been wrested from it, and he did all he could to add to its powers. In these ways Solon made Greece less and less of an Oligarchy and more and more of a Democracy. That is to say, Greece began to be governed by the many rather than by the few. The laws made by Solon, and there were many of which I have not told, were written on tables of wood and placed in frames that revolved. These frames were called axones and were numbered. When the laws had been written on the tables of wood they were placed in the public hall that they might be read by all. Other copies were made on stone pillars and kept in the portico of the king. Each citizen took an oath that he would keep these laws, which were to remain unaltered for a hundred years. Solon had enemies, as reformers in all ages have had. Some people complained because his laws were not bold enough, others because they were too bold. Once when he was asked if he believed that he had given to the Athenians the best possible laws, he answered, ‘The best they could receive.’ The complaints of his enemies did not greatly disturb him. He declared that neither friend nor foe influenced him as he worked. ‘I threw my stout shield over both parties,’ he said, and steadfastly refused to alter his code. When he ceased to be archon he left Athens and spent ten years seeing many strange people and many new places. It is said that during his absence he met Croesus, King of Lydia, the richest man in the world. As Solon and Croesus did not live at the same time, it is not possible that the wise lawgiver and the rich king could have met, but this is the story that is told.