# Solon — Discourses on Livy character guide

> Solon in Discourses on Livy by Niccolò Machiavelli.

**Role:** minor

**Also known as:** Solon the Athenian

**First appearance:** 0004-i

## Who they are

Athenian lawgiver whose reforms are compared to Roman institutions.

## In the story

### [Of the various kinds of government; and to which of them the Roman commonwealth belonged.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/ii)

Mentioned as the founder of Athens' purely democratic government, which led to instability and short duration.

### [Chapter IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/ix)

Athenian lawgiver cited as an example of a founder who shaped laws for public advantage.

### [Of the religion of the Romans](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/xi)

Cited as a wise lawgiver who used divine authority to introduce new institutions.

### [XL: Of the creation of the Decemvirate in Rome, and what therein is to be noted.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/xl)

The Athenian lawgiver whose laws were copied by the Romans as a groundwork for their own legal code.

### [Chapter X: The True Sinews of War](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/x)

Quoted for his response to Croesus, stating that war is made with iron, not gold, and that another with more iron could take Croesus's gold.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/characters/solon
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/characters