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                                     360 BC

                                    CRITIAS

                                    by Plato

                         translated by Benjamin Jowett

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 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-

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