“The fury of snow and hail comes from a cloud

and thunder comes from bright lightning.

A city is destroyed by great men and the people fall

into the slavery of monarchy thanks to ignorance.”

 

ἐκ νεφέλης πέλεται χιόνος μένος ἠδὲ χαλάζης,

βροντὴ δ’ ἐκ λαμπρῆς γίγνεται ἀστεροπῆς·

ἀνδρῶν δ’ ἐκ μεγάλων πόλις ὄλλυται, ἐς δὲ μονάρχου

δῆμος ἀϊδρίηι δουλοσύνην ἔπεσεν.

 

Solon is a bit cantankerous. And chiding. And sententious.  Forgive me if I love him, but I do fear that if he wrote in prose (and Latin) he might be named Cicero.

(There may be something wrong with his causation and correlation here…)