But this was briefly what he wrote in prose:--"I, Solon, was never in my life so surprised as when I went to Egypt forinstruction in my youth, and there, in the temple of Sais, saw an agedpriest who told me of the island of Atlantis, which was sunk in the seathousands of years ago. He said that in the division of the earth the godsagreed that the god Poseidon, or Neptune, should have, as his share, thisgreat island which then lay in the ocean west of the Mediterranean Sea,and was larger than all Asia. There was a mortal maiden there whomPoseidon wished to marry, and to secure her he surrounded the valley whereshe dwelt with three rings of sea and two of land so that no one couldenter; and he made underground springs, with water hot or cold, andsupplied all things needful to the life of man. Here he lived with her formany years, and they had ten sons; and these sons divided the island amongthem and had many children, who dwelt there for more than a thousandyears. They had mines of gold and silver, and pastures for elephants, andmany fragrant plants. They erected palaces and dug canals; and they builttheir temples of white, red, and black stone, and covered them with goldand silver. In these were statues of gold, especially one of the godPoseidon driving six winged horses. He was so large as to touch the roofwith his head, and had a hundred water-nymphs around him, riding ondolphins.
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