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.