Plato Menexenus 237c (Loeb)

   What sort of a word will this be, and how shall we rightly begin the praises of these brave men?  In their life they rejoiced their own friends with their valour, and their death they gave in exchange for the salvation of the living. And I think that we should praise them in the order in which nature made them good, for they were good because they were sprung from good fathers. Wherefore let us first of all praise the goodness of their birth; secondly, their nurture and education; [237b] and then let us set forth how noble their actions were, and how nobly and worthily they wrought them.
   And first as to their birth.  Their ancestors were not strangers, nor are these their descendants sojourners only, whose fathers have come from another country; but they are the children of the soil, dwelling and living in their own land.  And the country which brought them up is not like other countries, a stepmother to her children, but their own true mother[237c] she bore them and nourished them and received them, and in her bosom they now repose. Most meet it is that first we should celebrate that Mother herself; for by so doing we shall also celebrate therewith the noble birth of these heroes.
   Our country is deserving of praise, not only from us but from all mankind, first, and above all, as being dear to the Gods. This is proved by the strife of the Gods (Athena and Poseidon) who contended over her and their judgement testify to the truth of our statement. [237d] And how should not she whom the Gods praised deserve to be praised by all mankind?And ought not the country which the Gods praise to be praised by all mankind?  The second praise which may be fairly claimed by her, is that at the time when the whole earth was sending forth and creating diverse animals, tame and wild, she our mother was free and pure from savage monsters, and out of all animals selected and brought forth man, who is superior to the rest in understanding, and alone has justice and the Gods.