Critias
by Plato
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-
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