EN076.13 Athenia

Ott 2025

M. At Fryasburg 2

Athenia in Decline

76.13 From this king, a scribe of pure Fryas blood remained here, born at the new port of Athenia. And what is hereunder told, he wrote for us about Athenia. From it, we may conclude just how truly the mother Hellight spoke when she said that Frya morals could not prevail in Athenia.

From the other Greeks, you have surely heard many evil things about Seekrops, because he was not in good repute among them. But I dare say that he was a bright man, highly regarded, as much by the indigenous people as by us, since he would not exploit the people like the other priests, but was virtuous and knew to judge the wisdom of distant nations according to their value. Because of this, [077] he allowed us to live according to our own book of jurisdiction. There was a rumor — though he himself never confirmed this — that he was favorable to us because he was bred of a Frya girl and an Egyptian priest, as he had blue eyes and many of our girls had been kidnapped and sold in the Egyptian lands. Whatever the case, he certainly showed us more friendship than all the other priests together.

But when he had fallen, his successors soon began to meddle in our laws and gradually made so many corrupt decisions that, at long last, nothing remained of equality and freedom beyond illusions and words. Also, they would not permit regulations to be set in writing, so that the knowledge thereof became hidden from us. Formerly, all cases in Athenia had been tried in our language. But, afterwards, it had to be in both languages, and ultimately in the native language alone.

In the earliest years, the men living in Athenia took wives only of our own lineages. But as the young men grew up with the girls of the native landsmen, they chose also wives therof. The debased children that came from this were the best looking and cleverest in the world, [078] but they were also the most deplorable — wavering between both sides, minding neither morals nor traditions unless it was for their own benefit.

So long as there yet prevailed a spark of Frya’s spirit, all building materials were used for common works, and no one was permitted to build a house that was larger and more luxurious than that of his neighbors. But, as some bastardized townsmen had been enriched by our seafaring and by the silver that their slaves gathered in the mines, they went out to live on the hills or in the valleys. There, behind high hedges or walls of stone, they built richly furnished mansions. And in order to win the favor of the vile priests, they placed in them statues of false gods and unchaste forms. Among the vile priests and princes, the boys were sometimes more desired than the daughters, and they were often led astray from the path of virtue through rich gifts or through force.

Because wealth was much more important than virtue and honor to this spoiled and corrupted brood, one sometimes saw young men who adorned themselves with flamboyant clothing, to the shame of their parents and the maidens, and [079] to the mockery of their kin. If any of our modest elders came to the General Assembly at Athenia and wished to protest about this, a cry would go up: “Hark! Hark! A sea hag is about to speak!”

So Athenia has become like a swamp in the hot lands, full of blood-sucking parasites, toads, and venomous snakes, where no decent man would dare set foot.

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In other languages

DE076.13 Athenia

ES076.13 Atenia

FS076.13 ÁTHENJA

NL076.13 Athenia

NO076.13 Athenia

Other English translations

Chapters M, N and O: Sandbach 1876