Comparison of Solon and Publicola

but Publicola, without any subterfuges, ran the greatest risks, set himself in opposition to the party of the Tarquins, and detected their treachery. Then, after being mainly instrumental in the capture and punishment of the traitors, he not only drove the tyrants themselves from the city, but extirpated their very hopes of return. And if he thus sturdily and resolutely confronted situations which called for active and spirited opposition, still better did he deal with those which required peaceable intercourse and gentle persuasion, as when he tactfully won over Porsena, an invincible and formidable foe, and made him a friend of Rome.