3.0
Critias
ByPublisher Description
Critias, one of Plato's late dialogues, contains the story of the mighty island kingdom Atlantis and its attempt to conquer Athens. Critias is the second of a projected trilogy of dialogues, preceded by Timaeus and followed by Hermocrates, though the latter was possibly never written and Critias was left incomplete.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesCritias Reviews
3.0
“Did not really draw me in.”
“In this Platonic dialogue, Critias explains the origins of both Athens and Atlantis and elaborates on the structure, beauty, and harmony of the latter. Beautiful passages abound in this dialogue, like the copper "glittering like darting fire," buildings built with different colored stones, "variegating the colors to bring out their natural charm," and trees "of extraordinary beauty and height." It was a land brimming with mountains, springs, and fountains, where elephants traversed.
By drawing on Atlantis, Critias provides evidence that their ideal city is very much plausible: for example, the warriors lived separately from the rest of the citizens, just like their guardians would: "On the heights the class of warriors lived in isolation, as if they belonged to a single household, around the sanctuary of Athena and Hephaestos, which they had enclosed by a single garden wall."
The people of Atlantis were special in that they originally did not care for gold or silver; in fact they shared their possessions. They were prudent, friendly, and virtuous, living lives of moderation. "They could see distinctly that their wealth increased with their amity and its companion, virtue." Nevertheless, this lifestyle did not last. They lost focus of their divine treasures and became disordered: "inwardly, they were filled with an unjust lust for possessions and power."
The conclusion is intriguing, since it ends mid quote; perhaps, he ended it this way to suggest that any ideal city or any noble soul will meet their early end too if they give themselves over to their baser nature.”
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