Sol.) and Aelian (Var.lib.viii., c.

xvi.) a belief which I see no reason for withholding.
[228] His own verses, rather than the narrative of Plutarch, are the evidence of Solon's conduct on the usurpation of Pisistratus.
[229] This historian fixes the date of Solon's visit to Croesus and to Cyprus (on which island he asserts him to have died), not during his absence of ten years, but during the final exile for which he contends.
[230] Herod., l.i., c.

49.
[231] The procession of the goddess of Reason in the first French revolution solves the difficulty that perplexed Herodotus.
[232] Mr.Mitford considers this story as below the credit of history.

He gives no sufficient reason against its reception, and would doubtless have been less skeptical had he known more of the social habits of that time, or possessed more intimate acquaintance with human nature generally.
[233] Upon which points, of men and money, Mr.Mitford, who is anxious to redeem the character of Pisistratus from the stain of tyranny, is dishonestly prevaricating.

Quoting Herodotus, who especially insists upon these undue sources of aid, in the following words--'Errixose taen tyrannida, epikouroisi te polloisi kai chraematon synodoisi, ton men, autothen, ton de, apo Strumanos potamou synionton: this candid historian merely says, "A particular interest with the ruling parties in several neighbouring states, especially Thebes and Argos, and a wise and liberal use of a very great private property, were the resources in which besides he mostly relied." Why he thus slurs over the fact of the auxiliary forces will easily be perceived.