[75]
However highly Themistocles, for example, may1
be extolled—and deservedly—and however much
more illustrious his name may be than Solon's, and
however much Salamis may be cited as witness of
his most glorious victory—a victory glorified above
Solon's statesmanship in instituting the Areopagus
—yet Solon's achievement is not to be accounted less
illustrious than his. For Themistocles's victory served
the state once and only once; while Solon's work
will be of service for ever. For through his legislation the laws of the Athenians and the institutions
of their fathers are maintained. And while Themistocles could not readily point to any instance in
which he himself had rendered assistance to the
Areopagus, the Areopagus might with justice assert
that Themistocles had received assistance from it;
for the war was directed by the counsels of that
senate which Solon had created.
1 Themistocles vs. Solon.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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