Plato, Timaeus 24d · 24d
The city of a war-loving, wise goddess
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Critias — τε καὶ φιλόσοφος ἡ θεὸς οὖσα τὸν προσφερεστάτους αὐτῇ μέλλοντα οἴσειν τόπον ἄνδρας, τοῦτον ἐκλεξαμένη πρῶτον κατῴκισεν. ᾠκεῖτε δὴ οὖν νόμοις τε τοιούτοις χρώμενοι καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον εὐνομούμενοι πάσῃ τε παρὰ πάντας ἀνθρώπους ὑπερβεβληκότες ἀρετῇ, καθάπερ εἰκὸς γεννήματα καὶ παιδεύματα θεῶν ὄντας. πολλὰ μὲν οὖν ὑμῶν καὶ μεγάλα ἔργα τῆς πόλεως τῇδε γεγραμμένα θαυμάζεται, πάντων μὴν
the goddess was a lover of war and also a lover of wisdom, she chose the place that was going to bear the men most like herself, and settled it first. So you lived there under such laws, and even better governed, surpassing all men in every virtue, as is natural for those who are the offspring and the pupils of gods. Many great deeds of your city, written down here, are admired, yet of all of them
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The setting
The goddess, who loves both war and wisdom, settled first the place that would bear men most like herself. The Athenians lived there under such laws and surpassed all in virtue; the priest turns to the great deeds recorded of the city.
A note on this passage
The goddess is described by two compounds, philopolemos and philosophos, "war-loving" and "wisdom-loving," and she picks the place that will bear men prosphorestatous autēi, "most like herself." The place is picked for what it will produce.
The Athenians are eunomoumenoi, "well governed" (eu plus nomos, law), and they have hyperbeblēkotes aretēi, literally "thrown beyond" others in virtue. The explanation comes in two nouns, gennēmata kai paideumata theōn, "offspring and nurslings of gods." The first is about birth and the second about upbringing, paideuma being formed from the verb for rearing a child. Then the sentence about admired deeds begins with mēn, a particle that signals the priest is about to single one out.
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