Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"These decrees of yours are no different from spiders' webs. They'll restrain anyone weak and insignificant who gets caught in them, but they'll be torn to shreds by people with power and wealth." -- Anacharsis (Αναχαρσις -- 6th C. BCE), to Solon (Σολων -- b. ca. 630 BCE, d. ca. 560 BCE) about Solon's laws, according to Plutarch (Πλουταρχος -- b. 46 CE, d. after 119 CE).

Wikiquote gives the above translation by Robin Waterfield, as well as these variants:

• "Written laws are like spiders' webs; they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor, but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful."
• "Laws are spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones."

[Note that searching for one of the variant translations turns up lots and lots of sites attributing the quotation to Solon himself (plus at least one site that attributes the same quote, with and without minor tweaks, to several different people), instead of reporting it as something said to Solon (probably because Solon is much better known than Anacharsis). Unable to find it on Solon's Wikiquote page, I searched deeper unti l I found it. Thanks to extraarcha, from whom I copied the version that I searched on.]

Plutarch:

Τούτο δ' ακούσας ο Ανάχαρσις, λέγεται ότι περιεγέλα την πρόθεσιν του Σόλωνος, όστις ενόμιζεν ότι θ' ανεχαίτιζε τας αδικίας και τας πλεονεξίας των πολιτών διά των γραπτών του νόμων, οίτινες κατ' ουδέν διέφερον των ιστών της αράχνης, αλλ', ως εκείνοι, εξ όσων συλλαμβάνουσιν, τους μεν ασθενείς και λεπτούς θέλουσι κρατεί, υπό δε των δυνατών και πλουσίων θέλουσι διασχίζεσθαι.