ld opinion handed down among
you by ancient tradition, nor any science which is hoary with age. And I
will tell you why. There have been, and will be again, many destructions
of mankind arising out of many causes; the greatest have been brought
about by the agencies of fire and water, and other lesser ones by
innumerable other causes. There is a story, which even you have
preserved, that once upon a time Paethon, the son of Helios, having
yoked the steeds in his father's chariot, because he was not able to
drive them in the path of his father, burnt up all that was upon the
earth, and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt. Now this has the form
of a myth, but really signifies a declination of the bodies moving in
the heavens around the earth, and a great conflagration of things upon
the earth, which recurs after long intervals; at such times those who
live upon the mountains and in dry and lofty places are more liable to
destruction than those who dwell by rivers or on the seashore. And from
this calamity the Nile, who is our never-failing saviour, delivers and
preserves us. When, on the other hand, the gods purge the earth with
a deluge of water, the survivors in your country are herdsmen and
shepherds who dwell on the mountains, but those who, like you, live in
cities are carried by the rivers into the sea. Whereas in this land,
neither then nor at any other time, does the water come down from above
on the fields, having always a tendency to come up from below; for which
reason the traditions preserved here are the most ancient. The fact is,
that wherever the extremity of winter frost or of summer sun does
not prevent, mankind exist, sometimes in greater, sometimes in lesser
numbers. And whatever happened either in your country or in ours, or
in any other region of which we are informed--if there were any actions
noble or great or in any other way remarkable, they have all been
written down by us of old, and are preserved in our temples. Whereas
just when you and other nations are beginning to be provided with
letters and the other requisites of civilized life, after the usual
interval, the stream from heaven, like a pestilence, comes pouring down,
and leaves only those of you who are destitute of letters and education;
and so you have to begin all over again like children, and know nothing
of what happened in ancient times, either among us or among yourselves.
As for those genealogies of yours which you just now recou