498 ATT 
Pope, &c. bifhop Atterbury appears in a pleafing light, 
both as a writer and as a man. In eafe and elegance they 
are fuperior to thofe of Pope, which are more ftudied. 
There are in them feveral beautiful references to the claf- 
fics. The biihop alfo excelled in his allufions to facred as 
well as prophane authors. 
AT'TERCOB,/. A fpider’s web. 
ATTERKLA'A, a town of Germany, in the archduchy 
of Auftria, fix miles N. W of Entzerftorff. 
ATTER'MINING,yi [from atterminer, Fr.] Inlaw, 
the granting a time or term for payment of a debt. Ordi- 
natio de libertatibus perquirendis, anno 27 Edw. 1 . And lee 
Hat. Weji. 2. c. 4. 
ATTE'RN, a town of Hindoftan, in the country of 
Agra, thirty-eight miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Agra, and 
thirty-nine north-eaft of Gwalior. 
To ATTEST', v. a. [atlejior , Lat.] To bear witnefs 
of; to witnefs.— Many particular facts are recorded in 
holy writ, attejled by particular pagan authors. Addifon .— 
To call to witnefs; to invoke as confcious. 
The facred dreams, which heav’n’s imperial Hate 
Attejls in oaths, and fears to violate. Dry den. 
ATTEST, f. Witpefs ; teftimony ; atteflation.—The 
attejl of eyes and ears. Shakefpeare. 
With the voice divine 
Nigh thunderftruck, th’ exalted man, to whom 
Such high attejl was giv’n, a while furvey’d 
With wonder. Milton. 
ATTESTA'TION,/ Teftimony; witnefs; evidence. 
—We may derive a probability from the attejlation of wife 
and honed: men by word or writing, or the concurring wit¬ 
nefs of multitudes who have feen and known what they 
relate. Watts. 
AT'Tl A, a town of Perfia, ten leagues fouth of Kin. 
AT'TIC, adj. any thing relating to Attica, or to the city 
of Athens : thus Attic fait in philology, is a delicate poig¬ 
nant fort of wit and humour peculiar to the Athenian wri¬ 
ters ; Attic witnefs, a witnefs incapable of corruption, &c. 
Attic Base, a peculiar kind of bale ufed by the an¬ 
cient architects in the Ionic order; and by Palladio, and 
home others, in the Doric. 
Attic Story, in architecture, a ftory in the upper 
part of a houfe, where the windows are ufually fquare. 
AT'TICA, an ancient kingdom of Greece, fituated on 
the north coaft of the gulph of Saron, bounded on the weft 
by Megara, mount Cithaeron, and part of Bceotia ; on 
the north by the gulph of Euripus, now Stretto di negro 
ponte, and the reft of Boeotia ; and on the eaft by the Eu- 
ropius. It extends in length from north-weft to louth- 
eaft about fixty miles; its breadth from north to fouth 
was fifty-fix, decreafing as it approached the fea. The 
foil of this country was naturally barren and craggy, 
though by the induftry of its inhabitants it produced all 
the necelfaries of life. On this account Attica was lefs 
expofed to invafions than other more fertile comities ; and 
hence it pveferved its ancient inhabitants beyond all the 
other kingdoms in its neighbourhood ; fo that they were 
reputed to be the fpontaneous production of the foil; and 
as a badge of this, Thucydides tells 11s, they wore golden 
grafshoppers in their hair. The chief cities in the king¬ 
dom of Attica were Athens the capital; next to it Eleufis, 
lituated on the fame gulph, near the coafts of Megara; 
and next to that Rhamus, famed for the temple of Am- 
phiaraus and the ftatue of the goddefs Nemefis. 
The firft king of this country, of whom we have any 
diftinCf account, was Cecrops. Others indeed are faid to 
have reigned before him, particularly ACtasus, whofe 
daughter Cecrops married, and in her right laid the foun¬ 
dation of his new monarchy. Cecrops is faid to have 
been a native of Egypt, who leading a colony of his coun¬ 
trymen into Attica, was the firft who defied Jupiter, fet 
up altars and idols, and inftituted marriage among the 
Greeks. He is likewife affirmed to have taught his fub- 
jeCts navigation ; and for the better adminiftration of juf- 
A T T 
tice, and promoting intercourfe among them, to have di¬ 
vided them into the firft four tribes, called Cecropis 
Autochthon, ABea, and Paralia ; and he is alfo by feme 
faid to be the founder of the Areopagus. From this mo¬ 
narch the Athenians affected to call themfelves Cecropiace, 
till the i - eign of EreCtheus their iixth king, after whom 
they took the name of EreRhydce. 
Cecrops, dying after a reign of fifty years, left three 
daughters; by marrying one of which, probably, Cranus 
a wealthy citizen afeenefed the throne. He enjoyed his 
crown peaceably' for ten years ; till, having married one 
of his daughters named Attis, to Amphiftyon the fon of 
Deucalion, he was by him dethroned, and forced to lead 
a private life to the laft. From this daughter, the coun¬ 
try, which before had been called AElea , took the name of 
Attica. After a reign of ten or twelve years, Amphiftyon 
was himfelf depofed by EriHhonius, faid to be the fon of 
Vulcan and Tethys. Being lame of both his feet, he is 
faid to have invented coaches, or, as others will have it, 
inftituted horfe and chariot races, in honour of Minerva. 
He is alfo reported to have been the firft who ftamped fil- 
ver coin. He reigned fifty years, and w r as fucceeded by 
his fon Pandion the father of Progne and Philomela; whofe 
hard fate, fo famous among the poets, is fuppofed to have 
broke his heart, after a reign of about forty years. In 
his time Triptolemus taught the Athenians agriculture, 
which he had learned from Ceres. 
Pandion was fuceeded by his fon Ereiftheus, who being 
reckoned the mod powerful prince of his time, Boreas 
king of Thrace demanded his daughter Orithia in mar¬ 
riage, and on being refufed carried her oft'by force. Af¬ 
ter a reign of fifty years, Ereftheus being killed in a bat¬ 
tle with the Eleuftans, was fucceeded by his fon Cecrops 
II. who is generally fuppofed to have been the firft who 
gathered the people into towns : they having till then lived 
in houfes and cottages fcattered here and there, without 
order or regular diftance. After a reign of forty years he 
was driven out by his brethren Metion and Pandoras, 
who forced him to fly into Aigialea, where he died. He 
was fucceeded by his fon Pandion II. and he was like¬ 
wife driven out by Metion, who alftimed the government. 
Pandion in the mean time fled into Megara, where he mar¬ 
ried Pelia the daughter of Pylas king of that place, and 
was appointed fucceffor to the kingdom. Here he had 
four fons, who returning to Athens, whether with or 
without their father is uncertain, expelled the fons of Me¬ 
tion, and after the deceafe of Pandion their father, di¬ 
vided the government among themfelves; notwithftanding 
which, the royal dignity did in eft'edt remain with Aigeus 
the eldeft. 
ftEgeus, when he afeended the throne, finding himfelf 
defpifed by his fubjedls becaufe he had no fons, and fome- 
times infulted by his brother Pallas who had no lefs than 
fifty, confulted the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. Receiv¬ 
ing here, as was commonly the cafe, an anfwer which 
could not be underftood without a commentator, he ap¬ 
plied to Pittheus king of Torezen, famous for his fkill in 
expounding oracles. This prince eafily prevailed with 
him to lie with his daughter Aithra, who proved with 
child; and, as none but thefe three were privy to the fe- 
cret, Aigeus, before his return to Athens, hid a fword 
and pair of fhoes under a (tone, leaving orders with the 
princefs, that, if the child proved a boy, (he fhould fend 
him to Athens with thefe tokens as foon as he was able 
to lift up that hone. He charged her moreover to life all 
imaginable fecrecy, left the fons of his brother Pallas 
fhould way-lay and murder him. ALthra being delivered 
of a fon, Pittheus gave out that Neptune was the father 
of it. This child was named Thefeus, and proved one of 
the mod famous heroes of antiquity. Being arrived at 
the age of llxteen, his mother brought him to the (lone 
above-mentioned ; and he, having lifted it with eafe, was 
deli red to take up the fword and fnoes, and prepare himfelf 
to go to his father. Fie was advifed to go by fea rather 
than by land, as, ever fince the departure of Hercules', > 
