began to carry in their wives
and children from the country, and all their household furniture, even
to the woodwork of their houses which they took down. Their sheep and
cattle they sent over to Euboea and the adjacent islands. But they found
it hard to move, as most of them had been always used to live in the
country.

From very early times this had been more the case with the Athenians
than with others. Under Cecrops and the first kings, down to the reign
of Theseus, Attica had always consisted of a number of independent
townships, each with its own town hall and magistrates. Except in times
of danger the king at Athens was not consulted; in ordinary seasons
they carried on their government and settled their affairs without his
interference; sometimes even they waged war against him, as in the
case of the Eleusinians with Eumolpus against Erechtheus. In Theseus,
however, they had a king of equal intelligence and power; and one of
the chief features in his organization of the country was to abolish the
council-chambers and magistrates of the petty cities, and to merge them
in the single council-chamber and town hall of the present capital.
Individuals might still enjoy their private property just as before, but
they were henceforth compelled to have only one political centre, viz.,
Athens; which thus counted all the inhabitants of Attica among her
citizens, so that when Theseus died he left a great state behind him.
Indeed, from him dates the Synoecia, or Feast of Union; which is paid
for by the state, and which the Athenians still keep in honour of the
goddess. Before this the city consisted of the present citadel and the
district beneath it looking rather towards the south. This is shown by
the fact that the temples of the other deities, besides that of Athene,
are in the citadel; and even those that are outside it are mostly
situated in this quarter of the city, as that of the Olympian Zeus, of
the Pythian Apollo, of Earth, and of Dionysus in the Marshes, the same
in whose honour the older Dionysia are to this day celebrated in the
month of Anthesterion not only by the Athenians but also by their Ionian
descendants. There are also other ancient temples in this quarter. The
fountain too, which, since the alteration made by the tyrants, has been
called Enneacrounos, or Nine Pipes, but which, when the spring was open,
went by the name of Callirhoe, or Fairwater, was in those days, from
being so near, used for the most