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They asked a man by the name of Draco to provide them with a set of laws that would protect the poor against the aggressions of the rich. Draco set to work. Unfortunately he was a professional lawyer and very much out of touch with ordinary life. In his eyes a crime was a crime and when he had finished his code, the people of Athens discovered that these Draconian laws were so severe that they could not possibly be put into effect. There would not have been rope enough to hang all the criminals under their new system of jurisprudence which made the stealing of an apple a capital offence.
他們讓一位名叫德拉古的人制定一套法律，以保護窮人免遭富人的侵害。德拉古立即投入工作。很不幸的是，他是職業律師出身，與普通人民的日常生活格格不入。在他看來，一項罪行就是一項罪行，無論輕重，都應受到嚴厲懲處。等他完成工作后，雅典人發現德拉古法典顯得過分嚴苛了，根本不可能付諸實施。這套新的法律把偷盜一個蘋果也定為死罪，照此施行，人們將沒有足夠的繩子來絞死所有罪犯。
The Athenians looked about for a more humane reformer. At last they found some one who could do that sort of thing better than anybody else. His name was Solon. He belonged to a noble family and he had travelled all over the world and had studied the forms of government of many other countries. After a careful study of the subject, Solon gave Athens a set of laws which bore testimony to that wonderful principle of moderation which was part of the Greek character. He tried to improve the condition of the peasant without however destroying the prosperity of the nobles who were(or rather who could be) of such great service to the state as soldiers.
雅典人于是去尋找一位更有同情心的改革者。最終，他們找到了一個做這項工作的最佳人選。他名叫梭倫，來自一個貴族家庭。他曾漫游世界上的各個地方，考察過許多國家的政治體制。經過縝密的研究工作，梭論給雅典人拿出了一套法典，它極好地體現了作為希臘人的"適度"原則。梭倫盡力在改善農民狀況的同時，又小心翼翼地不觸犯富人的利益，因為富人作為主要的兵源，對城市是極有用處的。
