Μας έλεγαν θα νικήσετε όταν υποταχτείτε.
Υποταχτήκαμε και βρήκαμε τη στάχτη.
Μας έλεγαν θα νικήσετε όταν αγαπήσετε.
Αγαπήσαμε και βρήκαμε τη στάχτη.
Μας έλεγαν θα νικήσετε όταν εγκαταλείψετε τη ζωή σας.
Εγκαταλείψαμε τη ζωή μας και βρήκαμε τη στάχτη …
Βρήκαμε τη στάχτη. Μένει να ξαναβρούμε τη ζωή
μας, τώρα που δεν έχουμε πια τίποτα…

- Γιώργος Σεφέρης

[They told us you’ll conquer when you submit.
We’ve submitted and found ashes.
They told us you’ll conquer when you love.
We loved and found ashes.
They told us you’ll conquer when you abandon your life.
We abandoned our life and found ashes.
We found ashes. It remains to rediscover our life, now that we’ve nothing left]

τίνα οὖν ἔχεις αἰτιάσασθαι τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ θεῶν τούτου κύριον, οὗ ἡμῖν τὸ φῶς ὄψιν τε ποιεῖ ὁρᾶν ὅτι κάλλιστα καὶ τὰ ὁρώμενα ὁρᾶσθαι;

ὅνπερ καὶ σύ, ἔφη, καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι: τὸν ἥλιον γὰρ δῆλον ὅτι ἐρωτᾷς.

ἆρ᾽ οὖν ὧδε πέφυκεν ὄψις πρὸς τοῦτον τὸν θεόν;

πῶς;

οὐκ ἔστιν ἥλιος ἡ ὄψις οὔτε αὐτὴ οὔτ᾽ ἐν ᾧ ἐγγίγνεται, ὃ [508β] δὴ καλοῦμεν ὄμμα.

οὐ γὰρ οὖν.

ἀλλ᾽ ἡλιοειδέστατόν γε οἶμαι τῶν περὶ τὰς αἰσθήσεις ὀργάνων.

πολύ γε.

οὐκοῦν καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἣν ἔχει ἐκ τούτου ταμιευομένην ὥσπερ ἐπίρρυτον κέκτηται;

πάνυ μὲν οὖν.

ἆρ᾽ οὖν οὐ καὶ ὁ ἥλιος ὄψις μὲν οὐκ ἔστιν, αἴτιος δ᾽ ὢν αὐτῆς ὁρᾶται ὑπ᾽ αὐτῆς ταύτης;

οὕτως, ἦ δ᾽ ὅς.

τοῦτον τοίνυν, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ, φάναι με λέγειν τὸν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἔκγονον, ὃν τἀγαθὸν ἐγέννησεν ἀνάλογον ἑαυτῷ, ὅτιπερ αὐτὸ [508ξ] ἐν τῷ νοητῷ τόπῳ πρός τε νοῦν καὶ τὰ νοούμενα, τοῦτο τοῦτον ἐν τῷ ὁρατῷ πρός τε ὄψιν καὶ τὰ ὁρώμενα.

πῶς; ἔφη: ἔτι δίελθέ μοι.

ὀφθαλμοί, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ, οἶσθ᾽ ὅτι, ὅταν μηκέτι ἐπ᾽ ἐκεῖνά τις αὐτοὺς τρέπῃ ὧν ἂν τὰς χρόας τὸ ἡμερινὸν φῶς ἐπέχῃ, ἀλλὰ ὧν νυκτερινὰ φέγγη, ἀμβλυώττουσί τε καὶ ἐγγὺς φαίνονται τυφλῶν, ὥσπερ οὐκ ἐνούσης καθαρᾶς ὄψεως;

καὶ μάλα, ἔφη. [508δ]

ὅταν δέ γ᾽ οἶμαι ὧν ὁ ἥλιος καταλάμπει, σαφῶς ὁρῶσι, καὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς τούτοις ὄμμασιν ἐνοῦσα φαίνεται.

τί μήν;

οὕτω τοίνυν καὶ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ὧδε νόει: ὅταν μὲν οὗ καταλάμπει ἀλήθειά τε καὶ τὸ ὄν, εἰς τοῦτο ἀπερείσηται, ἐνόησέν τε καὶ ἔγνω αὐτὸ καὶ νοῦν ἔχειν φαίνεται: ὅταν δὲ εἰς τὸ τῷ σκότῳ κεκραμένον, τὸ γιγνόμενόν τε καὶ ἀπολλύμενον, δοξάζει τε καὶ ἀμβλυώττει ἄνω καὶ κάτω τὰς δόξας μεταβάλλον, καὶ ἔοικεν αὖ νοῦν οὐκ ἔχοντι.

ἔοικε γάρ. [508ε]

τοῦτο τοίνυν τὸ τὴν ἀλήθειαν παρέχον τοῖς γιγνωσκομένοις καὶ τῷ γιγνώσκοντι τὴν δύναμιν ἀποδιδὸν τὴν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἰδέαν φάθι εἶναι: αἰτίαν δ᾽ ἐπιστήμης οὖσαν καὶ ἀληθείας, ὡς γιγνωσκομένης μὲν διανοοῦ, οὕτω δὲ καλῶν ἀμφοτέρων ὄντων, γνώσεώς τε καὶ ἀληθείας, ἄλλο καὶ κάλλιον ἔτι τούτων ἡγούμενος αὐτὸ ὀρθῶς ἡγήσῃ: ἐπιστήμην

[509α] δὲ καὶ ἀλήθειαν, ὥσπερ ἐκεῖ φῶς τε καὶ ὄψιν ἡλιοειδῆ μὲν νομίζειν ὀρθόν, ἥλιον δ᾽ ἡγεῖσθαι οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἔχει, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἀγαθοειδῆ μὲν νομίζειν ταῦτ᾽ ἀμφότερα ὀρθόν, ἀγαθὸν δὲ ἡγεῖσθαι ὁπότερον αὐτῶν οὐκ ὀρθόν, ἀλλ᾽ ἔτι μειζόνως τιμητέον τὴν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἕξιν.

ἀμήχανον κάλλος, ἔφη, λέγεις, εἰ ἐπιστήμην μὲν καὶ ἀλήθειαν παρέχει, αὐτὸ δ᾽ ὑπὲρ ταῦτα κάλλει ἐστίν: οὐ γὰρ δήπου σύ γε ἡδονὴν αὐτὸ λέγεις.

εὐφήμει, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ: ἀλλ᾽ ὧδε μᾶλλον τὴν εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ ἔτι ἐπισκόπει. [509β]

πῶς;

τὸν ἥλιον τοῖς ὁρωμένοις οὐ μόνον οἶμαι τὴν τοῦ ὁρᾶσθαι δύναμιν παρέχειν φήσεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν γένεσιν καὶ αὔξην καὶ τροφήν, οὐ γένεσιν αὐτὸν ὄντα.

πῶς γάρ;

καὶ τοῖς γιγνωσκομένοις τοίνυν μὴ μόνον τὸ γιγνώσκεσθαι φάναι ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ παρεῖναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ εἶναί τε καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνου αὐτοῖς προσεῖναι, οὐκ οὐσίας ὄντος τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, ἀλλ᾽ ἔτι ἐπέκεινα τῆς οὐσίας πρεσβείᾳ καὶ δυνάμει ὑπερέχοντος. [509ξ]

καὶ ὁ Γλαύκων μάλα γελοίως, Ἄπολλον, ἔφη, δαιμονίας ὑπερβολῆς.

σὺ γάρ, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ, αἴτιος, ἀναγκάζων τὰ ἐμοὶ δοκοῦντα περὶ αὐτοῦ λέγειν.

καὶ μηδαμῶς γ᾽, ἔφη, παύσῃ, εἰ μή τι, ἀλλὰ τὴν περὶ τὸν ἥλιον ὁμοιότητα αὖ διεξιών, εἴ πῃ ἀπολείπεις.

ἀλλὰ μήν, εἶπον, συχνά γε ἀπολείπω.

μηδὲ σμικρὸν τοίνυν, ἔφη, παραλίπῃς.

οἶμαι μέν, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ, καὶ πολύ: ὅμως δέ, ὅσα γ᾽ ἐν τῷ παρόντι δυνατόν, ἑκὼν οὐκ ἀπολείψω.

μὴ γάρ, ἔφη. [509δ]

νόησον τοίνυν, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ, ὥσπερ λέγομεν, δύο αὐτὼ εἶναι, καὶ βασιλεύειν τὸ μὲν νοητοῦ γένους τε καὶ τόπου, τὸ δ᾽ αὖ ὁρατοῦ, ἵνα μὴ οὐρανοῦ εἰπὼν δόξω σοι σοφίζεσθαι περὶ τὸ ὄνομα. ἀλλ᾽ οὖν ἔχεις ταῦτα διττὰ εἴδη, ὁρατόν, νοητόν;

ἔχω.

ὥσπερ τοίνυν γραμμὴν δίχα τετμημένην λαβὼν ἄνισα τμήματα, πάλιν τέμνε ἑκάτερον τὸ τμῆμα ἀνὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον, τό τε τοῦ ὁρωμένου γένους καὶ τὸ τοῦ νοουμένου, καί σοι ἔσται σαφηνείᾳ καὶ ἀσαφείᾳ πρὸς ἄλληλα ἐν μὲν τῷ ὁρωμένῳ [509ε] τὸ μὲν ἕτερον τμῆμα εἰκόνες—λέγω δὲ τὰς εἰκόνας πρῶτον

[510α] μὲν τὰς σκιάς, ἔπειτα τὰ ἐν τοῖς ὕδασι φαντάσματα καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὅσα πυκνά τε καὶ λεῖα καὶ φανὰ συνέστηκεν, καὶ πᾶν τὸ τοιοῦτον, εἰ κατανοεῖς.

ἀλλὰ κατανοῶ.

τὸ τοίνυν ἕτερον τίθει ᾧ τοῦτο ἔοικεν, τά τε περὶ ἡμᾶς ζῷς καὶ πᾶν τὸ φυτευτὸν καὶ τὸ σκευαστὸν ὅλον γένος.

τίθημι, ἔφη.

ἦ καὶ ἐθέλοις ἂν αὐτὸ φάναι, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ, διῃρῆσθαι ἀληθείᾳ τε καὶ μή, ὡς τὸ δοξαστὸν πρὸς τὸ γνωστόν, οὕτω τὸ ὁμοιωθὲν πρὸς τὸ ᾧ ὡμοιώθη; [510β]

ἔγωγ᾽, ἔφη, καὶ μάλα.

σκόπει δὴ αὖ καὶ τὴν τοῦ νοητοῦ τομὴν ᾗ τμητέον.

πῇ;

ἧι τὸ μὲν αὐτοῦ τοῖς τότε μιμηθεῖσιν ὡς εἰκόσιν χρωμένη ψυχὴ ζητεῖν ἀναγκάζεται ἐξ ὑποθέσεων, οὐκ ἐπ᾽ ἀρχὴν πορευομένη ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τελευτήν, τὸ δ᾽ αὖ ἕτερον—τὸ ἐπ᾽ ἀρχὴν ἀνυπόθετον—ἐξ ὑποθέσεως ἰοῦσα καὶ ἄνευ τῶν περὶ ἐκεῖνο εἰκόνων, αὐτοῖς εἴδεσι δι᾽ αὐτῶν τὴν μέθοδον ποιουμένη.

ταῦτ᾽, ἔφη, ἃ λέγεις, οὐχ ἱκανῶς ἔμαθον. [510ξ]

ἀλλ᾽ αὖθις, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ: ῥᾷον γὰρ τούτων προειρημένων μαθήσῃ. οἶμαι γάρ σε εἰδέναι ὅτι οἱ περὶ τὰς γεωμετρίας τε καὶ λογισμοὺς καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα πραγματευόμενοι, ὑποθέμενοι τό τε περιττὸν καὶ τὸ ἄρτιον καὶ τὰ σχήματα καὶ γωνιῶν τριττὰ εἴδη καὶ ἄλλα τούτων ἀδελφὰ καθ᾽ ἑκάστην μέθοδον, ταῦτα μὲν ὡς εἰδότες, ποιησάμενοι ὑποθέσεις αὐτά, οὐδένα λόγον οὔτε αὑτοῖς οὔτε ἄλλοις ἔτι ἀξιοῦσι περὶ αὐτῶν διδόναι [510δ] ὡς παντὶ φανερῶν, ἐκ τούτων δ᾽ ἀρχόμενοι τὰ λοιπὰ ἤδη διεξιόντες τελευτῶσιν ὁμολογουμένως ἐπὶ τοῦτο οὗ ἂν ἐπὶ σκέψιν ὁρμήσωσι.

πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ἔφη, τοῦτό γε οἶδα.

οὐκοῦν καὶ ὅτι τοῖς ὁρωμένοις εἴδεσι προσχρῶνται καὶ τοὺς λόγους περὶ αὐτῶν ποιοῦνται, οὐ περὶ τούτων διανοούμενοι, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκείνων πέρι οἷς ταῦτα ἔοικε, τοῦ τετραγώνου αὐτοῦ ἕνεκα τοὺς λόγους ποιούμενοι καὶ διαμέτρου αὐτῆς, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ [510ε] ταύτης ἣν γράφουσιν, καὶ τἆλλα οὕτως, αὐτὰ μὲν ταῦτα ἃ πλάττουσίν τε καὶ γράφουσιν, ὧν καὶ σκιαὶ καὶ ἐν ὕδασιν εἰκόνες εἰσίν, τούτοις μὲν ὡς εἰκόσιν αὖ χρώμενοι, ζητοῦντες

[511α] δὲ αὐτὰ ἐκεῖνα ἰδεῖν ἃ οὐκ ἂν ἄλλως ἴδοι τις ἢ τῇ διανοίᾳ.

ἀληθῆ, ἔφη, λέγεις.

τοῦτο τοίνυν νοητὸν μὲν τὸ εἶδος ἔλεγον, ὑποθέσεσι δ᾽ ἀναγκαζομένην ψυχὴν χρῆσθαι περὶ τὴν ζήτησιν αὐτοῦ, οὐκ ἐπ᾽ ἀρχὴν ἰοῦσαν, ὡς οὐ δυναμένην τῶν ὑποθέσεων ἀνωτέρω ἐκβαίνειν, εἰκόσι δὲ χρωμένην αὐτοῖς τοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν κάτω ἀπεικασθεῖσιν καὶ ἐκείνοις πρὸς ἐκεῖνα ὡς ἐναργέσι δεδοξασμένοις τε καὶ τετιμημένοις. [511β]

μανθάνω, ἔφη, ὅτι τὸ ὑπὸ ταῖς γεωμετρίαις τε καὶ ταῖς ταύτης ἀδελφαῖς τέχναις λέγεις.

τὸ τοίνυν ἕτερον μάνθανε τμῆμα τοῦ νοητοῦ λέγοντά με τοῦτο οὗ αὐτὸς ὁ λόγος ἅπτεται τῇ τοῦ διαλέγεσθαι δυνάμει, τὰς ὑποθέσεις ποιούμενος οὐκ ἀρχὰς ἀλλὰ τῷ ὄντι ὑποθέσεις, οἷον ἐπιβάσεις τε καὶ ὁρμάς, ἵνα μέχρι τοῦ ἀνυποθέτου ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ παντὸς ἀρχὴν ἰών, ἁψάμενος αὐτῆς, πάλιν αὖ ἐχόμενος τῶν ἐκείνης ἐχομένων, οὕτως ἐπὶ τελευτὴν καταβαίνῃ, [511ξ] αἰσθητῷ παντάπασιν οὐδενὶ προσχρώμενος, ἀλλ᾽ εἴδεσιν αὐτοῖς δι᾽ αὐτῶν εἰς αὐτά, καὶ τελευτᾷ εἰς εἴδη.

μανθάνω, ἔφη, ἱκανῶς μὲν οὔ—δοκεῖς γάρ μοι συχνὸν ἔργον λέγειν—ὅτι μέντοι βούλει διορίζειν σαφέστερον εἶναι τὸ ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ διαλέγεσθαι ἐπιστήμης τοῦ ὄντος τε καὶ νοητοῦ θεωρούμενον ἢ τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν τεχνῶν καλουμένων, αἷς αἱ ὑποθέσεις ἀρχαὶ καὶ διανοίᾳ μὲν ἀναγκάζονται ἀλλὰ μὴ αἰσθήσεσιν αὐτὰ θεᾶσθαι οἱ θεώμενοι, διὰ δὲ τὸ μὴ ἐπ᾽ ἀρχὴν [511δ] ἀνελθόντες σκοπεῖν ἀλλ᾽ ἐξ ὑποθέσεων, νοῦν οὐκ ἴσχειν περὶ αὐτὰ δοκοῦσί σοι, καίτοι νοητῶν ὄντων μετὰ ἀρχῆς. διάνοιαν δὲ καλεῖν μοι δοκεῖς τὴν τῶν γεωμετρικῶν τε καὶ τὴν τῶν τοιούτων ἕξιν ἀλλ᾽ οὐ νοῦν, ὡς μεταξύ τι δόξης τε καὶ νοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν οὖσαν.

ἱκανώτατα, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ, ἀπεδέξω. καί μοι ἐπὶ τοῖς τέτταρσι τμήμασι τέτταρα ταῦτα παθήματα ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ γιγνόμενα λαβέ, νόησιν μὲν ἐπὶ τῷ ἀνωτάτω, διάνοιαν [511ε] δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ δευτέρῳ, τῷ τρίτῳ δὲ πίστιν ἀπόδος καὶ τῷ τελευταίῳ εἰκασίαν, καὶ τάξον αὐτὰ ἀνὰ λόγον, ὥσπερ ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἐστιν ἀληθείας μετέχει, οὕτω ταῦτα σαφηνείας ἡγησάμενος μετέχειν.

μανθάνω, ἔφη, καὶ συγχωρῶ καὶ τάττω ὡς λέγεις.

- Πλάτωνος Πολιτεία

[“Which one can you name of the divinities in heaven as the author and cause of this, whose light makes our vision see best and visible things to be seen?” “Why, the one that you too and other people mean,” he said; “for your question evidently refers to the sun.” “Is not this, then, the relation of vision to that divinity?” “What?” “Neither vision itself nor its vehicle, which we call the eye, is identical with the sun.” [508b] “Why, no.” “But it is, I think, the most sunlike of all the instruments of sense.” “By far the most.” “And does it not receive the power which it possesses as an influx, as it were, dispensed from the sun?” “Certainly.” “Is it not also true that the sun is not vision, yet as being the cause thereof is beheld by vision itself?” “That is so,” he said. “This, then, you must understand that I meant by the offspring of the good which the good [508c] begot to stand in a proportion with itself: as the good is in the intelligible region to reason and the objects of reason, so is this in the visible world to vision and the objects of vision.” “How is that?” he said; “explain further.” “You are aware,” I said, “that when the eyes are no longer turned upon objects upon whose colors the light of day falls but that of the dim luminaries of night, their edge is blunted and they appear almost blind, as if pure vision did not dwell in them.” “Yes, indeed,” he said. “But when, I take it, [508d] they are directed upon objects illumined by the sun, they see clearly, and vision appears to reside in these same eyes.” “Certainly.” “Apply this comparison to the soul also in this way. When it is firmly fixed on the domain where truth and reality shine resplendent it apprehends and knows them and appears to possess reason; but when it inclines to that region which is mingled with darkness, the world of becoming and passing away, it opines only and its edge is blunted, and it shifts its opinions hither and thither, and again seems as if it lacked reason.” [508e] “Yes, it does,” “This reality, then, that gives their truth to the objects of knowledge and the power of knowing to the knower, you must say is the idea of good, and you must conceive it as being the cause of knowledge, and of truth in so far as known. Yet fair as they both are, knowledge and truth, in supposing it to be something fairer still than these you will think rightly of it. But as for knowledge and truth, even as in our illustration [509a] it is right to deem light and vision sunlike, but never to think that they are the sun, so here it is right to consider these two their counterparts, as being like the good or boniform, but to think that either of them is the good is not right. Still higher honor belongs to the possession and habit of the good.” “An inconceivable beauty you speak of,” he said, “if it is the source of knowledge and truth, and yet itself surpasses them in beauty. For you surely cannot mean that it is pleasure.” “Hush,” said I, “but examine [509b] the similitude of it still further in this way.” “How?” “The sun, I presume you will say, not only furnishes to visibles the power of visibility but it also provides for their generation and growth and nurture though it is not itself generation.” “Of course not.” “In like manner, then, you are to say that the objects of knowledge not only receive from the presence of the good their being known, but their very existence and essence is derived to them from it, though the good itself is not essence but still transcends essence in dignity and surpassing power.” [509c]

And Glaucon very ludicrously said, “Heaven save us, hyperbole can no further go.” “The fault is yours,” I said, “for compelling me to utter my thoughts about it.” “And don’t desist,” he said, “but at least expound the similitude of the sun, if there is anything that you are omitting.” “Why, certainly,” I said, “I am omitting a great deal.” “Well, don’t omit the least bit,” he said. “I fancy,” I said, “that I shall have to pass over much, but nevertheless so far as it is at present practicable I shall not willingly leave anything out.” “Do not,” [509d] he said. “Conceive then,” said I, “as we were saying, that there are these two entities, and that one of them is sovereign over the intelligible order and region and the other over the world of the eye-ball, not to say the sky-ball, but let that pass. You surely apprehend the two types, the visible and the intelligible.” “I do.” “Represent them then, as it were, by a line divided into two unequal sections and cut each section again in the same ratio (the section, that is, of the visible and that of the intelligible order), and then as an expression of the ratio of their comparative clearness and obscurity you will have, as one of the sections [509e] of the visible world, images. By images I mean, [510a] first, shadows, and then reflections in water and on surfaces of dense, smooth and bright texture, and everything of that kind, if you apprehend.” “I do.” “As the second section assume that of which this is a likeness or an image, that is, the animals about us and all plants and the whole class of objects made by man.” “I so assume it,” he said. “Would you be willing to say,” said I, “that the division in respect of reality and truth or the opposite is expressed by the proportion: as is the opinable to the knowable so is the likeness to that [510b] of which it is a likeness?” “I certainly would.” “Consider then again the way in which we are to make the division of the intelligible section.” “In what way?” “By the distinction that there is one section of it which the soul is compelled to investigate by treating as images the things imitated in the former division, and by means of assumptions from which it proceeds not up to a first principle but down to a conclusion, while there is another section in which it advances from its assumption to a beginning or principle that transcends assumption, and in which it makes no use of the images employed by the other section, relying on ideas only and progressing systematically through ideas.” “I don’t fully understand what you mean by this,” he said. “Well, I will try again,” [510c] said I,” for you will better understand after this preamble. For I think you are aware that students of geometry and reckoning and such subjects first postulate the odd and the even and the various figures and three kinds of angles and other things akin to these in each branch of science, regard them as known, and, treating them as absolute assumptions, do not deign to render any further account of them to themselves or others, taking it for granted that they are obvious to everybody. They take their start [510d] from these, and pursuing the inquiry from this point on consistently, conclude with that for the investigation of which they set out.” “Certainly,” he said, “I know that.” “And do you not also know that they further make use of the visible forms and talk about them, though they are not thinking of them but of those things of which they are a likeness, pursuing their inquiry for the sake of the square as such and the diagonal as such, and not for the sake of the image of it which they draw? [510e] And so in all cases. The very things which they mould and draw, which have shadows and images of themselves in water, these things they treat in their turn as only images, but what they really seek is to get sight of those realities which can be seen [511a] only by the mind.” “True,” he said.

“This then is the class that I described as intelligible, it is true, but with the reservation first that the soul is compelled to employ assumptions in the investigation of it, not proceeding to a first principle because of its inability to extricate itself from and rise above its assumptions, and second, that it uses as images or likenesses the very objects that are themselves copied and adumbrated by the class below them, and that in comparison with these latter are esteemed as clear and held in honor.” “I understand,” [511b] said he, “that you are speaking of what falls under geometry and the kindred arts.” “Understand then,” said I, “that by the other section of the intelligible I mean that which the reason itself lays hold of by the power of dialectics, treating its assumptions not as absolute beginnings but literally as hypotheses, underpinnings, footings, and springboards so to speak, to enable it to rise to that which requires no assumption and is the starting-point of all, and after attaining to that again taking hold of the first dependencies from it, so to proceed downward to the conclusion, [511c] making no use whatever of any object of sense but only of pure ideas moving on through ideas to ideas and ending with ideas.” “I understand,” he said; “not fully, for it is no slight task that you appear to have in mind, but I do understand that you mean to distinguish the aspect of reality and the intelligible, which is contemplated by the power of dialectic, as something truer and more exact than the object of the so-called arts and sciences whose assumptions are arbitrary starting-points. And though it is true that those who contemplate them are compelled to use their understanding and not [511d] their senses, yet because they do not go back to the beginning in the study of them but start from assumptions you do not think they possess true intelligence about them although the things themselves are intelligibles when apprehended in conjunction with a first principle. And I think you call the mental habit of geometers and their like mind or understanding and not reason because you regard understanding as something intermediate between opinion and reason.” “Your interpretation is quite sufficient,” I said; “and now, answering to these four sections, assume these four affections occurring in the soul: intellection or reason for the highest, [511e] understanding for the second; assign belief to the third, and to the last picture-thinking or conjecture, and arrange them in a proportion, considering that they participate in clearness and precision in the same degree as their objects partake of truth and reality.” “I understand,” he said; “I concur and arrange them as you bid.”

- Plato, The Republic]

1 ΚΑΙ ἐγένετο ἐπ’ ἐμὲ χεὶρ Κυρίου, καὶ ἐξήγαγέ με ἐν πνεύματι Κύριος καὶ ἔθηκέ με ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ πεδίου, καὶ τοῦτο ἦν μεστὸν ὀστέων ἀνθρωπίνων· 2 καὶ περιήγαγέ με ἐπ’ αὐτὰ κυκλόθεν κύκλῳ, καὶ ἰδοὺ πολλὰ σφόδρα ἐπὶ προσώπου τοῦ πεδίου, ξηρὰ σφόδρα. 3 καὶ εἶπε πρός με· υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, εἰ ζήσεται τὰ ὀστέα ταῦτα; καὶ εἶπα· Κύριε Κύριε, σὺ ἐπίστῃ ταῦτα. 4 καὶ εἶπε πρός με· προφήτευσον ἐπὶ τὰ ὀστᾶ ταῦτα καὶ ἐρεῖς αὐτοῖς· τὰ ὀστᾶ τὰ ξηρά, ἀκούσατε λόγον Κυρίου. 5 τάδε λέγει Κύριος τοῖς ὀστέοις τούτοις· ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ φέρω ἐφ’ ὑμᾶς πνεῦμα ζωῆς 6 καὶ δώσω ἐφ’ ὑμᾶς νεῦρα καὶ ἀνάξω ἐφ’ ὑμᾶς σάρκας, καὶ ἐκτενῶ ἐφ’ ὑμᾶς δέρμα καὶ δώσω πνεῦμά μου εἰς ὑμᾶς, καὶ ζήσεσθε· καὶ γνώσεσθε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι Κύριος. 7 καὶ ἐπροφήτευσα καθὼς ἐνετείλατό μοι. καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἐμὲ προφητεῦσαι καὶ ἰδοὺ σεισμός, καὶ προσήγαγε τὰ ὀστᾶ ἑκάτερον πρὸς τὴν ἁρμονίαν αὐτοῦ. 8 καὶ εἶδον καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐπ’ αὐτὰ νεῦρα καὶ σάρκες ἐφύοντο, καὶ ἀνέβαινεν ἐπ’ αὐτὰ δέρμα ἐπάνω, καὶ πνεῦμα οὐκ ἦν ἐπ’ αὐτοῖς. 9 καὶ εἶπε πρός με· προφήτευσον ἐπὶ τὸ πνεῦμα, προφήτευσον, υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ εἰπὸν τῷ πνεύματι· τάδε λέγει Κύριος· ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων πνευμάτων ἐλθὲ καὶ ἐμφύσησον εἰς τοὺς νεκροὺς τούτους, καὶ ζησάτωσαν. 10 καὶ ἐπροφήτευσα καθότι ἐνετείλατό μοι· καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς αὐτοὺς τὸ πνεῦμα, καὶ ἔζησαν καὶ ἔστησαν ἐπὶ τῶν ποδῶν αὐτῶν, συναγωγὴ πολλὴ σφόδρα. 11 καὶ ἐλάλησε Κύριος πρός με λέγων· υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, τὰ ὀστᾶ ταῦτα πᾶς οἶκος Ἰσραήλ ἐστι, καὶ αὐτοὶ λέγουσι· ξηρὰ γέγονε τὰ ὀστᾶ ἡμῶν, ἀπόλωλεν ἡ ἐλπὶς ἡμῶν, διαπεφωνήκαμεν. 12 διὰ τοῦτο προφήτευσον καὶ εἰπὸν πρὸς αὐτούς· τάδε λέγει Κύριος· ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀνοίγω τὰ μνήματα ὑμῶν καὶ ἀνάξω ὑμᾶς ἐκ τῶν μνημάτων ὑμῶν καὶ εἰσάξω ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν γῆν τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, 13 καὶ γνώσεσθε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι Κύριος ἐν τῷ ἀνοῖξαί με τοὺς τάφους ὑμῶν τοῦ ἀναγαγεῖν με ἐκ τῶν τάφων τὸν λαόν μου. 14 καὶ δώσω πνεῦμά μου εἰς ὑμᾶς, καὶ ζήσεσθε, καὶ θήσομαι ὑμᾶς ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ὑμῶν, καὶ γνώσεσθε ὅτι ἐγὼ Κύριος· λελάληκα καὶ ποιήσω, λέγει Κύριος.

- Ιεζεκιήλ, Κεφάλαιον ΛΖ’

[1 The hand of Yahweh was on me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of Yahweh, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass by them all around: and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and behold, they were very dry. 3 He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? I answered, Lord Yahweh, you know. 4 Again he said to me, Prophesy over these bones, and tell them, you dry bones, hear the word of Yahweh. 5 Thus says the Lord Yahweh to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am Yahweh. 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, an earthquake; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 I saw, and, behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then said he to me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and tell the wind, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceedingly great army. 11 Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off. 12 Therefore prophesy, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 You shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, my people. 14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land: and you shall know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it and performed it, says Yahweh.

- Ezekiel, Chapter 37]

“Only he is lost who gives himself up for lost!”
1924. My home is the rectory of the little village of Seiferdau in Silesia; I am eight. One Sunday my father and mother go into the neighboring town of Schweidnitz for an “Aviation Day.” I am furious that I am not allowed to go with them, and when they return my parents have to tell me over and over again what they have seen there. And so I hear about a man who jumped from a great height with a parachute and came safely down to earth. This delights me, and I badger my sisters for an exact description of the man and the parachute. Mother sews me a little model, I attach a stone to it and am proud when stone and parachute slowly drift to the ground. I think to myself that what a stone can do I must be able to do too, and when I am left alone for a couple of hours the following Sunday I lose no time in exploiting my new discovery. Upstairs to the first floor! I climb on to the window sill with an umbrella, open it up, take a quick look down, and before I have time to be afraid I jump. I land on a soft flower-bed and am surprised to find that I have twisted every muscle and actually broken a leg. In the tricky way in which umbrellas are apt to behave, the thing has turned inside out and hardly braked my fall. But nevertheless I abide by my resolve: I will be an airman.

- Hans Ulrich Rudel, Stuka Pilot

  About the greatest action which the Athenians ever did, and which
ought to have been the most famous, but, through the lapse of time and
the destruction of the actors, it has not come down to us.

  Tell us, said the other, the whole story, and how and from whom
Solon heard this veritable tradition.

  He replied:-In the Egyptian Delta, at the head of which the river
Nile divides, there is a certain district which is called the district
of Sais, and the great city of the district is also called Sais, and
is the city from which King Amasis came. The citizens have a deity for
their foundress; she is called in the Egyptian tongue Neith, and is
asserted by them to be the same whom the Hellenes call Athene; they
are great lovers of the Athenians, and say that they are in some way
related to them. To this city came Solon, and was received there
with great honour; he asked the priests who were most skilful in
such matters, about antiquity, and made the discovery that neither
he nor any other Hellene knew anything worth mentioning about the
times of old. On one occasion, wishing to draw them on to speak of
antiquity, he began to tell about the most ancient things in our
part of the world-about Phoroneus, who is called "the first man,"
and about Niobe; and after the Deluge, of the survival of Deucalion
and Pyrrha; and he traced the genealogy of their descendants, and
reckoning up the dates, tried to compute how many years ago the events
of which he was speaking happened. Thereupon one of the priests, who
was of a very great age, said: O Solon, Solon, you Hellenes are
never anything but children, and there is not an old man among you.
Solon in return asked him what he meant. I mean to say, he replied,
that in mind you are all young; there is no old opinion handed down
among you by ancient tradition, nor any science which is hoary with
age. And I will tell you why. There have been, and will be again, many
destructions of mankind arising out of many causes; the greatest
have been brought about by the agencies of fire and water, and other
lesser ones by innumerable other causes. There is a story, which
even you have preserved, that once upon a time Paethon, the son of
Helios, having yoked the steeds in his father's chariot, because he
was not able to drive them in the path of his father, burnt up all
that was upon the earth, and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt.
Now this has the form of a myth, but really signifies a declination of
the bodies moving in the heavens around the earth, and a great
conflagration of things upon the earth, which recurs after long
intervals; at such times those who live upon the mountains and in
dry and lofty places are more liable to destruction than those who
dwell by rivers or on the seashore. And from this calamity the Nile,
who is our never-failing saviour, delivers and preserves us. When,
on the other hand, the gods purge the earth with a deluge of water,
the survivors in your country are herdsmen and shepherds who dwell
on the mountains, but those who, like you, live in cities are
carried by the rivers into the sea. Whereas in this land, neither then
nor at any other time, does the water come down from above on the
fields, having always a tendency to come up from below; for which
reason the traditions preserved here are the most ancient.

  The fact is, that wherever the extremity of winter frost or of
summer does not prevent, mankind exist, sometimes in greater,
sometimes in lesser numbers. And whatever happened either in your
country or in ours, or in any other region of which we are informed-if
there were any actions noble or great or in any other way
remarkable, they have all been written down by us of old, and are
preserved in our temples. Whereas just when you and other nations
are beginning to be provided with letters and the other requisites
of civilized life, after the usual interval, the stream from heaven,
like a pestilence, comes pouring down, and leaves only those of you
who are destitute of letters and education; and so you have to begin
all over again like children, and know nothing of what happened in
ancient times, either among us or among yourselves. As for those
genealogies of yours which you just now recounted to us, Solon, they
are no better than the tales of children. In the first place you
remember a single deluge only, but there were many previous ones; in
the next place, you do not know that there formerly dwelt in your land
the fairest and noblest race of men which ever lived, and that you and
your whole city are descended from a small seed or remnant of them
which survived. And this was unknown to you, because, for many
generations, the survivors of that destruction died, leaving no
written word. For there was a time, Solon, before the great deluge
of all, when the city which now is Athens was first in war and in
every way the best governed of all cities, is said to have performed
the noblest deeds and to have had the fairest constitution of any of
which tradition tells, under the face of heaven.

  Solon marvelled at his words, and earnestly requested the priests to
inform him exactly and in order about these former citizens. You are
welcome to hear about them, Solon, said the priest, both for your
own sake and for that of your city, and above all, for the sake of the
goddess who is the common patron and parent and educator of both our
cities. She founded your city a thousand years before ours,
receiving from the Earth and Hephaestus the seed of your race, and
afterwards she founded ours, of which the constitution is recorded
in our sacred registers to be eight thousand years old. As touching
your citizens of nine thousand years ago, I will briefly inform you of
their laws and of their most famous action; the exact particulars of
the whole we will hereafter go through at our leisure in the sacred
registers themselves. If you compare these very laws with ours you
will find that many of ours are the counterpart of yours as they
were in the olden time. In the first place, there is the caste of
priests, which is separated from all the others; next, there are the
artificers, who ply their several crafts by themselves and do not
intermix; and also there is the class of shepherds and of hunters,
as well as that of husbandmen; and you will observe, too, that the
warriors in Egypt are distinct from all the other classes, and are
commanded by the law to devote themselves solely to military pursuits;
moreover, the weapons which they carry are shields and spears, a style
of equipment which the goddess taught of Asiatics first to us, as in
your part of the world first to you. Then as to wisdom, do you observe
how our law from the very first made a study of the whole order of
things, extending even to prophecy and medicine which gives health,
out of these divine elements deriving what was needful for human life,
and adding every sort of knowledge which was akin to them. All this
order and arrangement the goddess first imparted to you when
establishing your city; and she chose the spot of earth in which you
were born, because she saw that the happy temperament of the seasons
in that land would produce the wisest of men. Wherefore the goddess,
who was a lover both of war and of wisdom, selected and first of all
settled that spot which was the most likely to produce men likest
herself. And there you dwelt, having such laws as these and still
better ones, and excelled all mankind in all virtue, as became the
children and disciples of the gods.

  Many great and wonderful deeds are recorded of your state in our
histories. But one of them exceeds all the rest in greatness and
valour. For these histories tell of a mighty power which unprovoked
made an expedition against the whole of Europe and Asia, and to
which your city put an end. This power came forth out of the
Atlantic Ocean, for in those days the Atlantic was navigable; and
there was an island situated in front of the straits which are by
you called the Pillars of Heracles; the island was larger than Libya
and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands, and from
these you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent which
surrounded the true ocean; for this sea which is within the Straits of
Heracles is only a harbour, having a narrow entrance, but that other
is a real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called a
boundless continent. Now in this island of Atlantis there was a
great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and
several others, and over parts of the continent, and, furthermore, the
men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of
Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia. This vast
power, gathered into one, endeavoured to subdue at a blow our
country and yours and the whole of the region within the straits;
and then, Solon, your country shone forth, in the excellence of her
virtue and strength, among all mankind. She was pre-eminent in courage
and military skill, and was the leader of the Hellenes. And when the
rest fell off from her, being compelled to stand alone, after having
undergone the very extremity of danger, she defeated and triumphed
over the invaders, and preserved from slavery those who were not yet
subjugated, and generously liberated all the rest of us who dwell
within the pillars. But afterwards there occurred violent
earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune
all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island
of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea. For
which reason the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable,
because there is a shoal of mud in the way; and this was caused by the
subsidence of the island.

- Plato, excerpt from Timaeus 



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.

- Plato, excerpt from Critias 


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