The Letter of Pisistratus is a letter to Solon in Hercher, Greek Letter Writers p. 490. Speaking as tyrant, “Pisistratus” claims he was not the only Greek to take a tyranny, nor unfitted, being of the Codrids: he took back what the Athenians had sworn to Codrus’s line and then withheld. He says he lets the city live by Solon’s thesmoi, better than under democracy; he allows no hybris; as tyrant he takes no more than the old kings’ stated geras. Each Athenian pays a tenth of his kleros not to him but for public sacrifice, common costs, and war. He does not blame Solon for revealing his intent — it was goodwill to the city — and invites him home, ungirt by oath, to be among the first friends.
The dating of the letter is uncertain. The letter is a pseudepigraphon in the epistolary corpus, not the trace of a letter-writer’s life.
The page is that defence of the tyranny, addressed to Solon.
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