THESEUS
This was not easy. Athens at that time really did not exist. In
Attica a mass of petty townships disputed for predominance; whence
continual brawling, besieging and strife. The essential thing was to
secure a strong central unit of government-a thing which I obtained
only with great difficulty. I brought both strength and cunning to
the task.
Aegeus, my father, thought he could assure his own authority by
perpetuating these quarrels. Considering, myself, that the well-being of
the citizens is compromised by such discords, I traced the source of most
of the evils to the general inequality of wealth and the desire to in–
crease one's own fortune. Myself caring little for the acquisition of
wealth, and preoccupied with the public good as much as, if not more
than, with my own, I set an example of plain living. By an equal divi–
sion of all properties, I abolished at one blow both the fact of supremacy
and the rivalries which it had provoked. This was a drastic measure,
which no doubt pleased the poor (the great majority, that is to say) but
antagonized the rich, whom I had thereby dispossessed. These, though
few in number, were clever men. I summoned the most important among
them, and said:
"Personal merit is the only thing to which I attach any importance.
I recognize no other scale of values. You have made yourselves rich by
ingenuity, practical knowledge and perseverance; but also, and more of–
ten, by injustice and abuse. Your private rivalries are compromising the
security of a state which I intend to be a great power, beyond the reach
of your intrigues. Only thus will it be able to resist foreign invasion, and
prosper. The accursed love of money which torments you does not bring
you happiness, for one can truly call it insatiable. The more people
have, the more they want. I shall, therefore, curtail your fortunes; and
by force (I possess it)
if
you do not submit peaceably to the curtailment.
For myself I shall keep only the preservation of the laws and the com–
mand of the army. I care very little for the rest. I mean to live, now
that I am king, just as simply as I have lived hitherto, and in the same
style as the humblest of my subjects. I shall see that the laws are res–
pected, and that I myself am respected, if not feared. I mean to have it
said among our neighbors that Attica is ruled not by a tyrant but by a
government of the people; for each citizen of the state shall have an
equal right to sit on the Council, irrespective of his birth.
If
you do not
side willingly with all this I shall find ways, as I said, to compel you.
I shall raze and destroy utterly your little courts of local justice
and your regional council-chambers, and I shall assemble, beneath the
Acropolis, the capital city which already bears the name of Athenae.
1241
