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Atlantis - Main Page
CRITIAS by Plato (360 BC)
Translated by Benjamin Jowett
Persons of the Dialogue: Critias; AHermocrates; 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.
CRITIAS -- 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.
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