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Plato's writings contain the first Western Civilization reference to Atlantis. The next major person in history affirming Atlantis is Sir Francis Bacon, who is referred to as "The father of modern science" and who served in Queen Elizabeth's court and wrote the book entitled The New Atlantis. Plato and Sir Francis Bacon lived about two thousand years apart. How they both had in common a belief in a mysterious lost civilization named Atlantis is the question which prompted The Jefferson River Gazette to place Plato's Critias here - it is a reference.
Text version of The Critias was found online and link was good on April 07, 2007: http://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/critias.txt
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360 BC
CRITIAS
by Plato
translated by Benjamin Jowett
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CRITIAS
PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: CRITIAS; HERMOCRATES; TIMAEUS; SOCRATES
Timaeus. How thankful I am, Socrates, that I have arrived at last, and, like a
weary traveler 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, enclosed 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 andby 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-
~