Plutarch on Solon’s simplicity concerning natural philosophy: Sol. 3,6-7 and frgs. 9 and 12 West

Abstract

This paper analyzes some of Solon’s verses (frgs. 9,1-2 and 12 West) transmitted by Plutarch, in the Vita Solonis, as well as the comments made by the biographer on the structural meaning of these compositions in what respects the ‘simplistic’ philosophical thinking of the Athenian poet. Along with frg. 9, also frgs. 10 and 11 West are presented in their testimonies as warnings against the tyranny of Pisistratus. That the idea of tyranny was very present in Solon’s poetry is undisputed, even if his feelings towards this form of government are not always unambiguous. Taking as a backdrop the notion of tyranny as a ‘forceful way or ruling’, a new explanation is proposed to the image of the undisturbed quietness of the sea’s surface, which Solon describes in frg. 12,2 as δικαιοτάτη: ‘the most righteous’, ‘the most just’ or ‘the most calm’.