And
having, according to his promise, laid down his sovereign power, he
arranged the new constitution under the auspices of the gods; for he
made inquiry at Delphi as to how he should deal with the city, and
received the following answer:
"Thou son of Aegeus and of Pittheus' maid,
My father hath within thy city laid
The bounds of many cities; weigh not down
Thy soul with thought; the bladder cannot drown."
The same thing they say was afterwards prophesied by the Sibyl
concerning the city, in these words:
"The bladder may be dipped, but cannot drown."
XXV. Wishing still further to increase the number of his citizens, he
invited all strangers to come and share equal privileges, and they say
that the words now used, "Come hither all ye peoples," was the
proclamation then used by Theseus, establishing as it were a
commonwealth of all nations. But he did not permit his state to fall
into the disorder which this influx of all kinds of people would
probably have produced, but divided the people into three classes, of
Eupatridae or nobles, Geomori or farmers, Demiurgi or artisans. To the
Eupatridae he assigned the care of religious rites, the supply of
magistrates for the city, and the interpretation of the laws and customs
sacred or profane, yet he placed them on an equality with the other
citizens, thinking that the nobles would always excel in dignity, the
farmers in usefulness, and the artisans in numbers.
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