To Greek Philosophers Index

Plato - The Dialogues

(The Legend of Atlantis)

The Critias

Written ca. 360 B.C.

Translated by Benjamin Jowett

 

 

Persons of the Dialogue

 

CRITIAS

HERMOCRATES

TIMAEUS

SOCRATES

 

Timaeus. How thankful I am, Socrates, that I have arrived at last, and, like a

weary traveller after a long journey, may be at rest! And I pray the being who

always was of old, and has now been by me revealed, to grant that my words

may endure in so far as they have been spoken truly and acceptably to him; but

if unintentionally I have said anything wrong, I pray that he will impose upon

me a just retribution, and the just retribution of him who errs is that he should

be set right. Wishing, then, to speak truly in future concerning the generation of

the gods, I pray him to give me knowledge, which of all medicines is the most

perfect and best. And now having offered my prayer I deliver up the argument

to Critias, who is to speak next according to our agreement.

 

Critias. And I, Timaeus, accept the trust, and as you at first said that you were

going to speak of high matters, and begged that some forbearance might be

shown to you, I too ask the same or greater forbearance for what I am about to

say. And although I very well know that my request may appear to be

somewhat and discourteous, I must make it nevertheless. For will any man of

sense deny that you have spoken well? I can only attempt to show that I ought

to have more indulgence than you, because my theme is more difficult; and I

shall argue that to seem to speak well of the gods to men is far easier than to

speak well of men to men: for the inexperience and utter ignorance of his

hearers about any subject is a great assistance to him who has to speak of it, and

we know how ignorant we are concerning the gods. But I should like to make

my meaning clearer, if Timaeus, you will follow me. All that is said by any of

us can only be imitation and representation. For if we consider the likenesses

which painters make of bodies divine and heavenly, and the different degrees of

gratification with which the eye of the spectator receives them, we shall see that

we are satisfied with the artist who is able in any degree to imitate the earth and

its mountains, and the rivers, and the woods, and the universe, and the things

that are and move therein, and further, that knowing nothing precise about such

matters, we do not examine or analyze the painting; all that is required is a sort

of indistinct and deceptive mode of shadowing them forth. But when a person

endeavours to paint the human form we are quick at finding out defects, and our

familiar knowledge makes us severe judges of any one who does not render

every point of similarity. And we may observe the same thing to happen in

discourse; we are satisfied with a picture of divine and heavenly things which

has very little likeness to them; but we are more precise in our criticism of

mortal and human things. Wherefore if at the moment of speaking I cannot

suitably express my meaning, you must excuse me, considering that to form

approved likenesses of human things is the reverse of easy. This is what I want

to suggest to you, and at the same time to beg, Socrates, that I may have not

less, but more indulgence conceded to me in what I am about to say. Which

favour, if I am right in asking, I hope that you will be ready to grant.

 

Socrates. Certainly, Critias, we will grant your request, and we will grant the

same by anticipation to Hermocrates, as well as to you and Timaeus; for I have

no doubt that when his turn comes a little while hence, he will make the same

request which you have made. In order, then, that he may provide himself with

a fresh beginning, and not be compelled to say the same things over again, let

him understand that the indulgence is already extended by anticipation to him.

And now, friend Critias, I will announce to you the judgment of the theatre.

They are of opinion that the last performer was wonderfully successful, and that

you will need a great deal of indulgence before you will be able to take his place.

 

 

Hermocrates. The warning, Socrates, which you have addressed to him, I

must also take to myself. But remember, Critias, that faint heart never yet raised

a trophy; and therefore you must go and attack the argument like a man. First

invoke Apollo and the Muses, and then let us hear you sound the praises and

show forth the virtues of your ancient citizens.

 

Crit. Friend Hermocrates, you, who are stationed last and have another in front

of you, have not lost heart as yet; the gravity of the situation will soon be

revealed to you; meanwhile I accept your exhortations and encouragements. But

besides the gods and goddesses whom you have mentioned, I would specially

invoke Mnemosyne; for all the important part of my discourse is dependent on

her favour, and if I can recollect and recite enough of what was said by the

priests and brought hither by Solon, I doubt not that I shall satisfy the

requirements of this theatre. And now, making no more excuses, I will proceed.

 

 

Let me begin by observing first of all, that nine thousand was the sum of years

which had elapsed since the war which was said to have taken place between

those who dwelt outside the Pillars of Heracles and all who dwelt within them;

this war I am going to describe. Of the combatants on the one side, the city of

Athens was reported to have been the leader and to have fought out the war; the

combatants on the other side were commanded by the kings of Atlantis, which,

as was saying, was an island greater in extent than Libya and Asia, and when

afterwards sunk by an earthquake, became an impassable barrier of mud to

voyagers sailing from hence to any part of the ocean. The progress of the

history will unfold the various nations of barbarians and families of Hellenes

which then existed, as they successively appear on the scene; but I must

describe first of all Athenians of that day, and their enemies who fought with

them, and then the respective powers and governments of the two kingdoms.

Let us give the precedence to Athens.

 

In the days of old the gods had the whole earth distributed among them by

allotment. There was no quarrelling; for you cannot rightly suppose that the

gods did not know what was proper for each of them to have, or, knowing this,

that they would seek to procure for themselves by contention that which more

properly belonged to others. They all of them by just apportionment obtained

what they wanted, and peopled their own districts; and when they had peopled

them they tended us, their nurselings and possessions, as shepherds tend their

flocks, excepting only that they did not use blows or bodily force, as shepherds

do, but governed us like pilots from the stern of the vessel, which is an easy

way of guiding animals, holding our souls by the rudder of persuasion

according to their own pleasure;-thus did they guide all mortal creatures. Now

different gods had their allotments in different places which they set in order.

Hephaestus and Athene, who were brother and sister, and sprang from the

same father, having a common nature, and being united also in the love of

philosophy and art, both obtained as their common portion this land, which was

naturally adapted for wisdom and virtue; and there they implanted brave

children of the soil, and put into their minds the order of government; their

names are preserved, but their actions have disappeared by reason of the

destruction of those who received the tradition, and the lapse of ages. For when

there were any survivors, as I have already said, they were men who dwelt in

the mountains; and they were ignorant of the art of writing, and had heard only

the names of the chiefs of the land, but very little about their actions. The names

they were willing enough to give to their children; but the virtues and the laws

of their predecessors, they knew only by obscure traditions; and as they

themselves and their children lacked for many generations the necessaries of

life, they directed their attention to the supply of their wants, and of them they

conversed, to the neglect of events that had happened in times long past; for

mythology and the enquiry into antiquity are first introduced into cities when

they begin to have leisure, and when they see that the necessaries of life have

already been provided, but not before. And this is reason why the names of the

ancients have been preserved to us and not their actions. This I infer because

Solon said that the priests in their narrative of that war mentioned most of the

names which are recorded prior to the time of Theseus, such as Cecrops, and

Erechtheus, and Erichthonius, and Erysichthon, and the names of the women in

like manner. Moreover, since military pursuits were then common to men and

women, the men of those days in accordance with the custom of the time set up

a figure and image of the goddess in full armour, to be a testimony that all

animals which associate together, male as well as female, may, if they please,

practise in common the virtue which belongs to them without distinction of sex.

 

 

Now the country was inhabited in those days by various classes of

citizens;-there were artisans, and there were husbandmen, and there was also a

warrior class originally set apart by divine men. The latter dwelt by themselves,

and had all things suitable for nurture and education; neither had any of them

anything of their own, but they regarded all that they had as common property;

nor did they claim to receive of the other citizens anything more than their

necessary food. And they practised all the pursuits which we yesterday

described as those of our imaginary guardians. Concerning the country the

Egyptian priests said what is not only probable but manifestly true, that the

boundaries were in those days fixed by the Isthmus, and that in the direction of

the continent they extended as far as the heights of Cithaeron and Parnes; the

boundary line came down in the direction of the sea, having the district of

Oropus on the right, and with the river Asopus as the limit on the left. The land

was the best in the world, and was therefore able in those days to support a vast

army, raised from the surrounding people. Even the remnant of Attica which

now exists may compare with any region in the world for the variety and

excellence of its fruits and the suitableness of its pastures to every sort of

animal, which proves what I am saying; but in those days the country was fair

as now and yielded far more abundant produce. How shall I establish my

words? and what part of it can be truly called a remnant of the land that then

was? The whole country is only a long promontory extending far into the sea

away from the rest of the continent, while the surrounding basin of the sea is

everywhere deep in the neighbourhood of the shore. Many great deluges have

taken place during the nine thousand years, for that is the number of years

which have elapsed since the time of which I am speaking; and during all this

time and through so many changes, there has never been any considerable

accumulation of the soil coming down from the mountains, as in other places,

but the earth has fallen away all round and sunk out of sight. The consequence

is, that in comparison of what then was, there are remaining only the bones of

the wasted body, as they may be called, as in the case of small islands, all the

richer and softer parts of the soil having fallen away, and the mere skeleton of

the land being left. But in the primitive state of the country, its mountains were

high hills covered with soil, and the plains, as they are termed by us, of Phelleus

were full of rich earth, and there was abundance of wood in the mountains. Of

this last the traces still remain, for although some of the mountains now only

afford sustenance to bees, not so very long ago there were still to be seen roofs

of timber cut from trees growing there, which were of a size sufficient to cover

the largest houses; and there were many other high trees, cultivated by man and

bearing abundance of food for cattle. Moreover, the land reaped the benefit of

the annual rainfall, not as now losing the water which flows off the bare earth

into the sea, but, having an abundant supply in all places, and receiving it into

herself and treasuring it up in the close clay soil, it let off into the hollows the

streams which it absorbed from the heights, providing everywhere abundant

fountains and rivers, of which there may still be observed sacred memorials in

places where fountains once existed; and this proves the truth of what I am

saying.

 

Such was the natural state of the country, which was cultivated, as we may well

believe, by true husbandmen, who made husbandry their business, and were

lovers of honour, and of a noble nature, and had a soil the best in the world, and

abundance of water, and in the heaven above an excellently attempered climate.

Now the city in those days was arranged on this wise. In the first place the

Acropolis was not as now. For the fact is that a single night of excessive rain

washed away the earth and laid bare the rock; at the same time there were

earthquakes, and then occurred the extraordinary inundation, which was the

third before the great destruction of Deucalion. But in primitive times the hill of

the Acropolis extended to the Eridanus and Ilissus, and included the Pnyx on

one side, and the Lycabettus as a boundary on the opposite side to the Pnyx, and

was all well covered with soil, and level at the top, except in one or two places.

Outside the Acropolis and under the sides of the hill there dwelt artisans, and

such of the husbandmen as were tilling the ground near; the warrior class dwelt

by themselves around the temples of Athene and Hephaestus at the summit,

which moreover they had enclosed with a single fence like the garden of a

single house. On the north side they had dwellings in common and had erected

halls for dining in winter, and had all the buildings which they needed for their

common life, besides temples, but there was no adorning of them with gold and

silver, for they made no use of these for any purpose; they took a middle course

between meanness and ostentation, and built modest houses in which they and

their children's children grew old, and they handed them down to others who

were like themselves, always the same. But in summer-time they left their

gardens and gymnasia and dining halls, and then the southern side of the hill

was made use of by them for the same purpose. Where the Acropolis now is

there was a fountain, which was choked by the earthquake, and has left only the

few small streams which still exist in the vicinity, but in those days the fountain

gave an abundant supply of water for all and of suitable temperature in summer

and in winter. This is how they dwelt, being the guardians of their own citizens

and the leaders of the Hellenes, who were their willing followers. And they took

care to preserve the same number of men and women through all time, being so

many as were required for warlike purposes, then as now-that is to say, about

twenty thousand. Such were the ancient Athenians, and after this manner they

righteously administered their own land and the rest of Hellas; they were

renowned all over Europe and Asia for the beauty of their persons and for the

many virtues of their souls, and of all men who lived in those days they were

the most illustrious. And next, if I have not forgotten what I heard when I was a

child, I will impart to you the character and origin of their adversaries. For

friends should not keep their stories to themselves, but have them in common.

 

Yet, before proceeding further in the narrative, I ought to warn you, that you

must not be surprised if you should perhaps hear Hellenic names given to

foreigners. I will tell you the reason of this: Solon, who was intending to use the

tale for his poem, enquired into the meaning of the names, and found that the

early Egyptians in writing them down had translated them into their own

language, and he recovered the meaning of the several names and when copying

them out again translated them into our language. My great-grandfather,

Dropides, had the original writing, which is still in my possession, and was

carefully studied by me when I was a child. Therefore if you hear names such

as are used in this country, you must not be surprised, for I have told how they

came to be introduced. The tale, which was of great length, began as follows:-

 

I have before remarked in speaking of the allotments of the gods, that they

distributed the whole earth into portions differing in extent, and made for

themselves temples and instituted sacrifices. And Poseidon, receiving for his lot

the island of Atlantis, begat children by a mortal woman, and settled them in a

part of the island, which I will describe. Looking towards the sea, but in the

centre of the whole island, there was a plain which is said to have been the

fairest of all plains and very fertile. Near the plain again, and also in the centre of

the island at a distance of about fifty stadia, there was a mountain not very high

on any side.

 

In this mountain there dwelt one of the earth born primeval men of that country,

whose name was Evenor, and he had a wife named Leucippe, and they had an

only daughter who was called Cleito. The maiden had already reached

womanhood, when her father and mother died; Poseidon fell in love with her

and had intercourse with her, and breaking the ground, inclosed the hill in which

she dwelt all round, making alternate zones of sea and land larger and smaller,

encircling one another; there were two of land and three of water, which he

turned as with a lathe, each having its circumference equidistant every way from

the centre, so that no man could get to the island, for ships and voyages were

not as yet. He himself, being a god, found no difficulty in making special

arrangements for the centre island, bringing up two springs of water from

beneath the earth, one of warm water and the other of cold, and making every

variety of food to spring up abundantly from the soil. He also begat and brought

up five pairs of twin male children; and dividing the island of Atlantis into ten

portions, he gave to the first-born of the eldest pair his mother's dwelling and

the surrounding allotment, which was the largest and best, and made him king

over the rest; the others he made princes, and gave them rule over many men,

and a large territory. And he named them all; the eldest, who was the first king,

he named Atlas, and after him the whole island and the ocean were called

Atlantic. To his twin brother, who was born after him, and obtained as his lot

the extremity of the island towards the Pillars of Heracles, facing the country

which is now called the region of Gades in that part of the world, he gave the

name which in the Hellenic language is Eumelus, in the language of the country

which is named after him, Gadeirus. Of the second pair of twins he called one

Ampheres, and the other Evaemon. To the elder of the third pair of twins he

gave the name Mneseus, and Autochthon to the one who followed him. Of the

fourth pair of twins he called the elder Elasippus, and the younger Mestor. And

of the fifth pair he gave to the elder the name of Azaes, and to the younger that

of Diaprepes. All these and their descendants for many generations were the

inhabitants and rulers of divers islands in the open sea; and also, as has been

already said, they held sway in our direction over the country within the Pillars

as far as Egypt and Tyrrhenia.

 

Now Atlas had a numerous and honourable family, and they retained the

kingdom, the eldest son handing it on to his eldest for many generations; and

they had such an amount of wealth as was never before possessed by kings and

potentates, and is not likely ever to be again, and they were furnished with

everything which they needed, both in the city and country. For because of the

greatness of their empire many things were brought to them from foreign

countries, and the island itself provided most of what was required by them for

the uses of life. In the first place, they dug out of the earth whatever was to be

found there, solid as well as fusile, and that which is now only a name and was

then something more than a name, orichalcum, was dug out of the earth in

many parts of the island, being more precious in those days than anything

except gold. There was an abundance of wood for carpenter's work, and

sufficient maintenance for tame and wild animals. Moreover, there were a great

number of elephants in the island; for as there was provision for all other sorts

of animals, both for those which live in lakes and marshes and rivers, and also

for those which live in mountains and on plains, so there was for the animal

which is the largest and most voracious of all. Also whatever fragrant things

there now are in the earth, whether roots, or herbage, or woods, or essences

which distil from fruit and flower, grew and thrived in that land; also the fruit

which admits of cultivation, both the dry sort, which is given us for

nourishment and any other which we use for food-we call them all by the

common name pulse, and the fruits having a hard rind, affording drinks and

meats and ointments, and good store of chestnuts and the like, which furnish

pleasure and amusement, and are fruits which spoil with keeping, and the

pleasant kinds of dessert, with which we console ourselves after dinner, when

we are tired of eating-all these that sacred island which then beheld the light of

the sun, brought forth fair and wondrous and in infinite abundance. With such

blessings the earth freely furnished them; meanwhile they went on constructing

their temples and palaces and harbours and docks. And they arranged the whole

country in the following manner:

 

First of all they bridged over the zones of sea which surrounded the ancient

metropolis, making a road to and from the royal palace. And at the very

beginning they built the palace in the habitation of the god and of their ancestors,

which they continued to ornament in successive generations, every king

surpassing the one who went before him to the utmost of his power, until they

made the building a marvel to behold for size and for beauty. And beginning

from the sea they bored a canal of three hundred feet in width and one hundred

feet in depth and fifty stadia in length, which they carried through to the

outermost zone, making a passage from the sea up to this, which became a

harbour, and leaving an opening sufficient to enable the largest vessels to find

ingress. Moreover, they divided at the bridges the zones of land which parted

the zones of sea, leaving room for a single trireme to pass out of one zone into

another, and they covered over the channels so as to leave a way underneath for

the ships; for the banks were raised considerably above the water. Now the

largest of the zones into which a passage was cut from the sea was three stadia

in breadth, and the zone of land which came next of equal breadth; but the next

two zones, the one of water, the other of land, were two stadia, and the one

which surrounded the central island was a stadium only in width. The island in

which the palace was situated had a diameter of five stadia. All this including

the zones and the bridge, which was the sixth part of a stadium in width, they

surrounded by a stone wall on every side, placing towers and gates on the

bridges where the sea passed in. The stone which was used in the work they

quarried from underneath the centre island, and from underneath the zones, on

the outer as well as the inner side. One kind was white, another black, and a

third red, and as they quarried, they at the same time hollowed out double

docks, having roofs formed out of the native rock. Some of their buildings were

simple, but in others they put together different stones, varying the colour to

please the eye, and to be a natural source of delight. The entire circuit of the

wall, which went round the outermost zone, they covered with a coating of

brass, and the circuit of the next wall they coated with tin, and the third, which

encompassed the citadel, flashed with the red light of orichalcum.

 

The palaces in the interior of the citadel were constructed on this wise:-in the

centre was a holy temple dedicated to Cleito and Poseidon, which remained

inaccessible, and was surrounded by an enclosure of gold; this was the spot

where the family of the ten princes first saw the light, and thither the people

annually brought the fruits of the earth in their season from all the ten portions,

to be an offering to each of the ten. Here was Poseidon's own temple which was

a stadium in length, and half a stadium in width, and of a proportionate height,

having a strange barbaric appearance. All the outside of the temple, with the

exception of the pinnacles, they covered with silver, and the pinnacles with gold.

In the interior of the temple the roof was of ivory, curiously wrought

everywhere with gold and silver and orichalcum; and all the other parts, the

walls and pillars and floor, they coated with orichalcum. In the temple they

placed statues of gold: there was the god himself standing in a chariot-the

charioteer of six winged horses-and of such a size that he touched the roof of

the building with his head; around him there were a hundred Nereids riding on

dolphins, for such was thought to be the number of them by the men of those

days. There were also in the interior of the temple other images which had been

dedicated by private persons. And around the temple on the outside were placed

statues of gold of all the descendants of the ten kings and of their wives, and

there were many other great offerings of kings and of private persons, coming

both from the city itself and from the foreign cities over which they held sway.

There was an altar too, which in size and workmanship corresponded to this

magnificence, and the palaces, in like manner, answered to the greatness of the

kingdom and the glory of the temple.

 

In the next place, they had fountains, one of cold and another of hot water, in

gracious plenty flowing; and they were wonderfully adapted for use by reason

of the pleasantness and excellence of their waters. They constructed buildings

about them and planted suitable trees, also they made cisterns, some open to the

heavens, others roofed over, to be used in winter as warm baths; there were the

kings' baths, and the baths of private persons, which were kept apart; and there

were separate baths for women, and for horses and cattle, and to each of them

they gave as much adornment as was suitable. Of the water which ran off they

carried some to the grove of Poseidon, where were growing all manner of trees

of wonderful height and beauty, owing to the excellence of the soil, while the

remainder was conveyed by aqueducts along the bridges to the outer circles; and

there were many temples built and dedicated to many gods; also gardens and

places of exercise, some for men, and others for horses in both of the two

islands formed by the zones; and in the centre of the larger of the two there was

set apart a race-course of a stadium in width, and in length allowed to extend all

round the island, for horses to race in. Also there were guardhouses at intervals

for the guards, the more trusted of whom were appointed-to keep watch in the

lesser zone, which was nearer the Acropolis while the most trusted of all had

houses given them within the citadel, near the persons of the kings. The docks

were full of triremes and naval stores, and all things were quite ready for use.

Enough of the plan of the royal palace.

 

Leaving the palace and passing out across the three you came to a wall which

began at the sea and went all round: this was everywhere distant fifty stadia

from the largest zone or harbour, and enclosed the whole, the ends meeting at

the mouth of the channel which led to the sea. The entire area was densely

crowded with habitations; and the canal and the largest of the harbours were full

of vessels and merchants coming from all parts, who, from their numbers, kept

up a multitudinous sound of human voices, and din and clatter of all sorts night

and day.

 

I have described the city and the environs of the ancient palace nearly in the

words of Solon, and now I must endeavour to represent the nature and

arrangement of the rest of the land. The whole country was said by him to be

very lofty and precipitous on the side of the sea, but the country immediately

about and surrounding the city was a level plain, itself surrounded by mountains

which descended towards the sea; it was smooth and even, and of an oblong

shape, extending in one direction three thousand stadia, but across the centre

inland it was two thousand stadia. This part of the island looked towards the

south, and was sheltered from the north. The surrounding mountains were

celebrated for their number and size and beauty, far beyond any which still

exist, having in them also many wealthy villages of country folk, and rivers,

and lakes, and meadows supplying food enough for every animal, wild or tame,

and much wood of various sorts, abundant for each and every kind of work.

 

I will now describe the plain, as it was fashioned by nature and by the labours

of many generations of kings through long ages. It was for the most part

rectangular and oblong, and where falling out of the straight line followed the

circular ditch. The depth, and width, and length of this ditch were incredible, and

gave the impression that a work of such extent, in addition to so many others,

could never have been artificial. Nevertheless I must say what I was told. It was

excavated to the depth of a hundred, feet, and its breadth was a stadium

everywhere; it was carried round the whole of the plain, and was ten thousand

stadia in length. It received the streams which came down from the mountains,

and winding round the plain and meeting at the city, was there let off into the

sea. Further inland, likewise, straight canals of a hundred feet in width were cut

from it through the plain, and again let off into the ditch leading to the sea: these

canals were at intervals of a hundred stadia, and by them they brought down the

wood from the mountains to the city, and conveyed the fruits of the earth in

ships, cutting transverse passages from one canal into another, and to the city.

Twice in the year they gathered the fruits of the earth-in winter having the

benefit of the rains of heaven, and in summer the water which the land supplied

by introducing streams from the canals.

 

As to the population, each of the lots in the plain had to find a leader for the men

who were fit for military service, and the size of a lot was a square of ten stadia

each way, and the total number of all the lots was sixty thousand. And of the

inhabitants of the mountains and of the rest of the country there was also a vast

multitude, which was distributed among the lots and had leaders assigned to

them according to their districts and villages. The leader was required to furnish

for the war the sixth portion of a war-chariot, so as to make up a total of ten

thousand chariots; also two horses and riders for them, and a pair of

chariot-horses without a seat, accompanied by a horseman who could fight on

foot carrying a small shield, and having a charioteer who stood behind the

man-at-arms to guide the two horses; also, he was bound to furnish two heavy

armed soldiers, two slingers, three stone-shooters and three javelin-men, who

were light-armed, and four sailors to make up the complement of twelve

hundred ships. Such was the military order of the royal city-the order of the

other nine governments varied, and it would be wearisome to recount their

several differences.

 

As to offices and honours, the following was the arrangement from the first.

Each of the ten kings in his own division and in his own city had the absolute

control of the citizens, and, in most cases, of the laws, punishing and slaying

whomsoever he would. Now the order of precedence among them and their

mutual relations were regulated by the commands of Poseidon which the law

had handed down. These were inscribed by the first kings on a pillar of

orichalcum, which was situated in the middle of the island, at the temple of

Poseidon, whither the kings were gathered together every fifth and every sixth

year alternately, thus giving equal honour to the odd and to the even number.

And when they were gathered together they consulted about their common

interests, and enquired if any one had transgressed in anything and passed

judgment and before they passed judgment they gave their pledges to one

another on this wise:-There were bulls who had the range of the temple of

Poseidon; and the ten kings, being left alone in the temple, after they had offered

prayers to the god that they might capture the victim which was acceptable to

him, hunted the bulls, without weapons but with staves and nooses; and the bull

which they caught they led up to the pillar and cut its throat over the top of it so

that the blood fell upon the sacred inscription. Now on the pillar, besides the

laws, there was inscribed an oath invoking mighty curses on the disobedient.

When therefore, after slaying the bull in the accustomed manner, they had burnt

its limbs, they filled a bowl of wine and cast in a clot of blood for each of them;

the rest of the victim they put in the fire, after having purified the column all

round. Then they drew from the bowl in golden cups and pouring a libation on

the fire, they swore that they would judge according to the laws on the pillar,

and would punish him who in any point had already transgressed them, and that

for the future they would not, if they could help, offend against the writing on

the pillar, and would neither command others, nor obey any ruler who

commanded them, to act otherwise than according to the laws of their father

Poseidon. This was the prayer which each of them-offered up for himself and

for his descendants, at the same time drinking and dedicating the cup out of

which he drank in the temple of the god; and after they had supped and satisfied

their needs, when darkness came on, and the fire about the sacrifice was cool,

all of them put on most beautiful azure robes, and, sitting on the ground, at

night, over the embers of the sacrifices by which they had sworn, and

extinguishing all the fire about the temple, they received and gave judgment, if

any of them had an accusation to bring against any one; and when they given

judgment, at daybreak they wrote down their sentences on a golden tablet, and

dedicated it together with their robes to be a memorial.

 

There were many special laws affecting the several kings inscribed about the

temples, but the most important was the following: They were not to take up

arms against one another, and they were all to come to the rescue if any one in

any of their cities attempted to overthrow the royal house; like their ancestors,

they were to deliberate in common about war and other matters, giving the

supremacy to the descendants of Atlas. And the king was not to have the power

of life and death over any of his kinsmen unless he had the assent of the

majority of the ten.

 

Such was the vast power which the god settled in the lost island of Atlantis; and

this he afterwards directed against our land for the following reasons, as

tradition tells: For many generations, as long as the divine nature lasted in them,

they were obedient to the laws, and well-affectioned towards the god, whose

seed they were; for they possessed true and in every way great spirits, uniting

gentleness with wisdom in the various chances of life, and in their intercourse

with one another. They despised everything but virtue, caring little for their

present state of life, and thinking lightly of the possession of gold and other

property, which seemed only a burden to them; neither were they intoxicated by

luxury; nor did wealth deprive them of their self-control; but they were sober,

and saw clearly that all these goods are increased by virtue and friendship with

one another, whereas by too great regard and respect for them, they are lost and

friendship with them. By such reflections and by the continuance in them of a

divine nature, the qualities which we have described grew and increased among

them; but when the divine portion began to fade away, and became diluted too

often and too much with the mortal admixture, and the human nature got the

upper hand, they then, being unable to bear their fortune, behaved unseemly,

and to him who had an eye to see grew visibly debased, for they were losing the

fairest of their precious gifts; but to those who had no eye to see the true

happiness, they appeared glorious and blessed at the very time when they were

full of avarice and unrighteous power. Zeus, the god of gods, who rules

according to law, and is able to see into such things, perceiving that an

honourable race was in a woeful plight, and wanting to inflict punishment on

them, that they might be chastened and improve, collected all the gods into their

most holy habitation, which, being placed in the centre of the world, beholds all

created things. And when he had called them together, he spake as follows-*

 

*The rest of the Dialogue of Critias has been lost.

THE END