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.
