This is what I implore you to make known
everywhere with an eloquence all your own, and that righteous boldness
of speech which your manner of life gives you. One thing
distinctly state; that, unless the authorities soon change their
counsels, they will find none left on whom to exercise their
clemency. You will either prove some help to the state, or at
least you will have done as Solon did, who, when he was unable to
defend his abandoned fellow citizens on the capture of the Acropolis,
put on his armour, and sat down before the gates, thus making it plain
by this guise that he was no party to what was going on. i.e. on
the seizure of the Acropolis by Pisistratus, Solon, resisting the
instance of his friends that he should flee, returned them for
answer, when they asked him on what he relied for protection,
“on my old age.” Plutarch, Solon
30. The senate being of the faction of Pisistratus, said
that he was mad. Solon replied:
Δείξει δὴ
μανίην μὲν
ἐμὴν Βαιὸς
χρόνος
ἀστοῖς,
Δείξει
ἀληθείης ἐς
μέσον
ἐρχομένης.
Diog. Laert. 1–49 Of one thing I am assured, even though
at the present moment there may be some who do not approve of your
advice, the day is not far distant when they will give you the greatest
credit for benevolence and sagacity, because they see events
corresponding with your prediction.