The strife of this Goddess with Neptune is worthy attention: each of them
claimed the right of giving a name to the capital of Cecropia, and the
assembly of the Gods decided the dispute by promising preference to
whichever could produce the most useful and necessary present to the
inhabitants of the earth.
Neptune, upon hearing this, struck the ground with his trident, and
immediately a horse issued therefrom. Minerva produced the olive, and
obtained the victory by the unanimous voice of the gods, who considered the
olive, as the emblem of peace, to be far preferable to the horse, the
symbol of war and bloodshed. The victorious deity called the capital
Athenoe, and became the tutelar divinity of the place.
--------"The sandals of celestial mould,
Fledged with ambrosial plumes and rich with gold
Surround her feet: with these sublime she sails
Th' aerial space, and mounts the winged gales;
O'er earth and ocean wide, prepared to soar,
Her dreaded arm a beaming javelin bore,
Ponderous and vast: which, when her fury burns,
Proud tyrants humbles, and whole hosts o'erturns."