Critias | Page 9

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