Solon

Myron of Phlya conducted the prosecution, and the family of Megacles was found guilty. Those who were alive were banished, and the bodies of the dead were dug up and cast forth beyond the borders of the country. During these disturbances the Megarians also attacked the Athenians, who lost Nisaea, and were driven out of Salamis once more. The city was also visited with superstitious fears and strange appearances, and the seers declared that their sacrifices indicated pollutions and defilements which demanded expiation.

Under these circumstances they summoned to their aid from Crete Epimenides of Phaestus, who is reckoned as the seventh Wise Man by some of those who refuse Periander a place in the list.[*](See note on Plut. Sol. 3.5, and cf. Aristot. Const. Ath. 1.) He was reputed to be a man beloved of the gods, and endowed with a mystical and heaven-sent wisdom in religious matters. Therefore the men of his time said that he was the son of a nymph named Balte, and called him a new Cures.[*](The Curetes were Cretan priests of Idaean Zeus, who took their name from the demi-gods to whose care Rhea was said to have committed the infant Zeus.) On coming to Athens he made Solon his friend, assisted him in many ways, and paved the way for his legislation.