izens, including handicraftsmen and husbandmen and
a superior class of warriors who dwelt apart, and were educated, and had
all things in common, like our guardians. Attica in those days extended
southwards to the Isthmus, and inland to the heights of Parnes and
Cithaeron, and between them and the sea included the district of Oropus.
The country was then, as what remains of it still is, the most fertile
in the world, and abounded in rich plains and pastures. But in the
course of ages much of the soil was washed away and disappeared in
the deep sea. And the inhabitants of this fair land were endowed with
intelligence and the love of beauty.

The Acropolis of the ancient Athens extended to the Ilissus and
Eridanus, and included the Pnyx, and the Lycabettus on the opposite side
to the Pnyx, having a level surface and deep soil. The side of the hill
was inhabited by craftsmen and husbandmen; and the warriors dwelt by
themselves on the summit, around the temples of Hephaestus and Athene,
in an enclosure which was like the garden of a single house. In winter
they retired into houses on the north of the hill, in which they held
their syssitia. These were modest dwellings, which they bequeathed
unaltered to their children's children. In summer time the south
side was inhabited by them, and then they left their gardens and
dining-halls. In the midst of the Acropolis was a fountain, which gave
an abundant supply of cool water in summer and warm in winter; of this
there are still some traces. They were careful to preserve the number of
fighting men and women at 20,000, which is equal to that of the present
military force. And so they passed their lives as guardians of the
citizens and leaders of the Hellenes. They were a just and famous race,
celebrated for their beauty and virtue all over Europe and Asia.

And now I will speak to you of their adversaries, but first I ought to
explain that the Greek names were given to Solon in an Egyptian form,
and he enquired their meaning and translated them. His manuscript was
left with my grandfather Dropides, and is now in my possession...In the
division of the earth Poseidon obtained as his portion the island of
Atlantis, and there he begat children whose mother was a mortal. Towards
the sea and in the centre of the island there was a very fair and
fertile plain, and near the centre, about fifty stadia from the plain,
there was a low mountain in which dwelt a man named Evenor and his wife