Do you see that land beyond?'
'Yes; that is Attica, where the Athenian people dwell.'
'That is a fair land and large, Theseus my son; and it looks toward
the sunny south; a land of olive-oil and honey, the joy of Gods and
men. For the Gods have girdled it with mountains, whose veins are
of pure silver, and their bones of marble white as snow; and there
the hills are sweet with thyme and basil, and the meadows with
violet and asphodel, and the nightingales sing all day in the
thickets, by the side of ever-flowing streams. There are twelve
towns well peopled, the homes of an ancient race, the children of
Kekrops the serpent king, the son of Mother Earth, who wear gold
cicalas among the tresses of their golden hair; for like the
cicalas they sprang from the earth, and like the cicalas they sing
all day, rejoicing in the genial sun. What would you do, son
Theseus, if you were king of such a land?'
Then Theseus stood astonished, as he looked across the broad bright
sea, and saw the fair Attic shore, from Sunium to Hymettus and
Pentelicus, and all the mountain peaks which girdle Athens round.
But Athens itself he could not see, for purple AEgina stood before
it, midway across the sea.
Then his heart grew great within him, and he said, 'If I were king
of such a land I would rule it wisely and well in wisdom and in
might, that when I died all men might weep over my tomb, and cry,
"Alas for the shepherd of his people!"'
And Aithra smiled, and said, 'Take, then, the sword and the
sandals, and go to AEgeus, king of Athens, who lives on Pallas'
hill; and say to him, "The stone is lifted, but whose is the pledge
beneath it?" Then show him the sword and the sandals, and take
what the Gods shall send.
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