Atlantis: The Antedeluvian World | Page 9

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. To that task, then,
I will at once address myself.

"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 all those who
dwelt outside the Pillars of Heracles and those who dwelt within them: this war I am now
to describe. Of the combatants on the one side the city of Athens was reported to have
been the ruler, and to have directed the contest; the combatants on the other side were led
by the kings of the islands of Atlantis, which, as I was saying, once had an extent greater
than that of Libya and Asia; and, when afterward sunk by an earthquake, became an
impassable barrier of mud to voyagers sailing from hence to the ocean. The progress of
the history will unfold the various tribes of barbarians and Hellenes which then existed,
as they successively appear on the scene; but I must begin by describing, first of all, the
Athenians as they were in that day, and their enemies who fought with them; and I shall
have to tell of the power and form of government of both of them. Let us give the
precedence to Athens. . . .
"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 in all the
ages and changes of things there has never been any settlement of the earth flowing down
from the mountains, as in other places, which is worth speaking of; it has always been
carried round in a circle, and disappeared in the depths below. The consequence is that, in
comparison of what then was, there are remaining in small islets only the bones of the
wasted body, as they may be called, all the richer and softer parts of the soil having fallen
away, and the mere skeleton of the country being left. . . .
"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 farther in the narrative, I
ought to warn you that you must not be surprised if you should bear Hellenic names
given to foreigners. I will tell you the reason of this: Solon, who was intending to use the
tale for his poem, made an investigation into the meaning of the names, and found that
the early Egyptians, in writing them down, had translated them into their own language,
and be recovered the meaning of the several names and retranslated them, and copied
them out again in our language. My great-grandfather, Dropidas, had the original writing,
which is still in my possession, and was carefully studied by me when I was a child.
Therefore, if you bear names such as are used in this country, you must not be surprised,
for I have told you the reason of them.
"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 themselves temples and 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 proceed to describe. On the side toward the sea, and 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
named Cleito. The maiden was growing up to womanhood when her father and mother

died; Poseidon fell in love with her, and had intercourse with her; and, breaking the
ground, enclosed the hill in which she dwelt all round, making alternate zones of sea and
land, larger and smaller, encircling one another; there were two of land and three of water,
which he turned as with a lathe out of the centre of the island, equidistant every way,