Book 17
21
I shall begin, then, with the illustrious Solon; for, as regards Homer and Hesiod, it is agreed by almost all writers, either that they lived at approximately the same period, or that Homer was somewhat the earlier; yet that both lived before the founding of Rome, when the Silvii were ruling in Alba, more than a hundred and sixty years after the Trojan war, as Cassius has written Frag. 8, Peter2; F.H.G. iii, p. 688. about Homer and Hesiod in the first book of his Annals, but about a hundred and sixty years before the founding of Rome, as Cornelius Nepos says of Homer in the first book of his Chronicles. Frag. 2, Peter2. Nepos' date is 910 B.C., that of Cassius (Hemina), 1024. Both are too late, for literary and archæological evidence indicate the end of the twelfth century before our era as the time of the Homeric poems. See Amer. Journ. of Phil. xlvi (1925), pp. 26 ff. Well then, we are told that Solon, one of the famous sages, About 639–559 B.C. For the seven sages see vol. i, p. 10, n. 2. drew up laws for the Athenians when Tarquinius Priscus was king at Rome, 616–578 B.C., traditional chronology. in the thirtythird year of his reign. See the critical note. Afterwards, when Servius Tullius was king, 578–534 B.C. Pisistratus was tyrant at Athens, Solon having previously gone into voluntary exile, since he had not been believed when he predicted that tyranny. Still later, Pythagoras of Samos came to Italy, when the son of Tarquinius was king, he who was surnamed the Proud, 534–510 B.C. and at that same time Hipparchus, son of Pisistratus and brother of the tyrant Hippias, was slain at Athens by Harmodius and Aristog, iton. 514 B. C. And Cornelius Nepos adds Frag. 4, Peter2. that when Tullus Hostilius was king at Rome 673–641 B.C. Archilochus was already illustrious and famous for his poems. Flourished about 650 B.C.
