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 and offered sacrifice together, and were sworn to assist one another in peace and war. And they had 10,000 chariots and a fleet of 1200 ships.

"And for many generations the people of the island were obedient to the laws, and their kings ruled them wisely and uprightly, setting no value on their riches, nor caring for aught save for virtue only. But as time went on, the divine part of their souls grew faint, and they waxed insolent, and thus in the very plenitude of their power they provoked the jealousy of the gods, who determined to destroy them.

"It was then, or soon after, that the armies of Atlantis were sent to conquer Athens, as they had already conquered Libya and Tyrrhenia. But of the war which followed we know nothing, save that Athens stood alone in the struggle, and won a great battle over these barbarians, and that in the space of one day and night the victors and the vanquished disappeared together—for there was an earthquake and a deluge, and the earth opened and swallowed up all the warriors of Athens, while the great island of Atlantis sank beneath the sea. And to this day the sea which covers this island is shallow and impassable, and there is nothing in the Atlantic Ocean save mud and sandbanks."

Our soul, which has a triple nature, is as a charioteer riding in a chariot drawn by two winged steeds—one of a mortal and the other of an immortal nature. Their wings are the divine element, which, if it