Atlantis Pyramids Floods by Dennis Brooks Page A

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 favor,
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.
    The Story of 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 nurslings 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