One of the Seven Sages listed by Plato, he is notable for his economic, constitutional, and legal reforms, begun in about 594. He revised the existing code of laws established by Draco, making them less severe; for example, he abolished the punishment of slavery for debt and reserved the death penalty for murder. His division of the citizens into four classes based on wealth rather than birth with a corresponding division of political responsibility laid the foundations of Athenian democracy.