rain, and the stars, those fair
ornaments by whose course men measure time. Thus he succeeded in bringing
lawlessness to an end. It is expressly stated that it was all a cunning
fraud: "by such talk he made his teaching most acceptable, veiling truth
with false words."

In antiquity it was disputed whether the drama _Sisyphus_ was by Critias
or Euripides; nowadays all agree in attributing it to Critias; nor does
the style of the long fragment resemble that of Euripides. The question
is, however, of no consequence in this connexion: whether the drama is by
Critias or Euripides it is wrong to attribute to an author opinions which
he has put into the mouth of a character in a drama. Moreover, _Sisyphus_
was a satyric play, _i.e._ it belonged to a class of poetry the liberty of
which was nearly as great as in comedy, and the speech was delivered by
Sisyphus himself, who, according to the legend, is a type of the crafty
criminal whose forte is to do evil and elude punishment. There is, in
fact, nothing in that which we otherwise hear of Critias to suggest that
he cherished free-thinking views. He was--or in his later years became--a
fanatical adversary of the Attic democracy, and he was, when he held
power, unscrupulous in his choice of the means with which he opposed it
and the men who stood in the path of his reactionary policy; but in our
earlier sources he is never accused of impiety in the theoretical sense.
And yet there had been an excellent opportunity of bringing forward such
an accusation; for in his youth Critias had been a companion of Socrates,
and his later conduct was used as a proof that Socrates corrupted his
surroundings. But it is always Critias's political crimes which are
adduced in this connexion, not his irreligion. On the other hand,
posterity looked upon him as the pure type of tyrant, and the label
atheist therefore suggested itself on the slightest provocation.

But, even if the _Sisyphus_ fragment cannot be used to characterise its
author as an atheist, it is, nevertheless, of the greatest interest in
this connexion, and therefore demands closer analysis.

The introductory idea, that mankind has evolved from an animal state into
higher stages, is at variance with the earlier Greek conception, namely,
that history begins with a golden age from which there is a continual
decline. The theory of the fragment is expressed by a series of authors
from the same and the immediately succeeding period. It o