Page:The City-State of the Greeks and Romans.djvu/74

50 strength; but Attica, which is about the size of Kent, was too large for a general change of such a kind; and the consequence was that an entirely new kind of community was formed, the heart and life of which was in the  par excellence — the city on and around the Cecropian rock, — while all the smaller units counted this centre as their own, and gradually came to consider it as the visible expression of their united life and strength. Who was the real author of this great work we do not know; and it is no more than conjecture if we interpret the legend of Theseus as indicating an invasion from the Peloponnese which brought it about by force. It seems more likely to have been due to the hand of a strong master than to a common agreement of communities. But however it came about, it laid the foundation-stone of Athenian greatness, and changed Attica into the City-State of Athens, the first and the most perfect in Hellas — a destiny to which her fortunate geographical conditions seem naturally to point.

This, then, is the most famous example of the birth of a Greek City-State, and of all prehistoric foundations it is the best attested. It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that many other Greek cities owed their origin to circumstances of exactly the same kind. There was beyond doubt local variation everywhere — variation arising from the