Her. And we too, Socrates, as Timaeus says, will not be wanting in enthusiasm; and there is no excuse for not complying with your request. As soon as we arrived yesterday at the guest-chamber of Critias, with whom we are staying, or rather on our way thither, we talked the matter over, and he told us an ancient tradition, which I wish, Critias, that you would repeat to Socrates, so that he may help us to judge whether it will satisfy his requirements or not.

Crit. I will, if Timaeus, who is our other partner, approves.

Tim. I quite approve.

Crit. Then listen, Socrates, to a tale which, though strange, is certainly true, having been attested by Solon, who was the wisest of the seven sages. He was a relative and a dear friend of my great-grandfather, Dropides, as he himself says in many passages of his poems; and he told the story to Critias, my grandfather, who remembered and repeated it to us. There were of old, he said, great and marvellous actions of the Athenian city, which have passed into oblivion through lapse of time and the destruction of mankind, and one in particular, greater than all the rest. This we will now rehearse. It will be a fitting monument of our gratitude to you, and a hymn of praise true and worthy of the goddess, on this her day of festival.

Soc. Very good. And what is this ancient famous action of the Athenians, which Critias declared, on the authority of Solon, to be not a mere legend, but an actual fact?

ΕΡ. Καὶ μὲν δή͵ καθάπερ εἶπεν Τίμαιος ὅδε͵ ὦ Σώκρατες͵ οὔτε ἐλλείψομεν προθυμίας οὐδὲν οὔτε ἔστιν οὐδεμία πρόφασις ἡμῖν τοῦ μὴ δρᾶν ταῦτα· ὥστε καὶ χθές͵ εὐθὺς ἐνθένδε ἐπειδὴ παρὰ Κριτίαν πρὸς τὸν ξενῶνα οὗ καὶ καταλύομεν ἀφικόμεθα͵ καὶ ἔτι πρότερον καθ΄ ὁδὸν αὐτὰ ταῦτ΄ ἐσκοποῦμεν. [20d] ὅδε οὖν ἡμῖν λόγον εἰσηγήσατο ἐκ παλαιᾶς ἀκοῆς· ὃν καὶ νῦν λέγε͵ ὦ Κριτία͵ τῷδε͵ ἵνα συνδοκιμάσῃ πρὸς τὴν ἐπίταξιν εἴτ΄ ἐπιτήδειος εἴτε ἀνεπιτήδειός ἐστι.

ΚΡ. Ταῦτα χρὴ δρᾶν͵ εἰ καὶ τῷ τρίτῳ κοινωνῷ Τιμαίῳ συνδοκεῖ.

ΤΙ. Δοκεῖ μήν.

ΚΡ. Ἄκουε δή͵ ὦ Σώκρατες͵ λόγου μάλα μὲν ἀτόπου͵ παντάπασί γε μὴν ἀληθοῦς͵ ὡς ὁ τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφώτατος Σόλων ποτ΄ ἔφη. [20e] ἦν μὲν οὖν οἰκεῖος καὶ σφόδρα φίλος ἡμῖν Δρωπίδου τοῦ προπάππου͵ καθάπερ λέγει πολλαχοῦ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῇ ποιήσει· πρὸς δὲ Κριτίαν τὸν ἡμέτερον πάππον εἶπεν͵ ὡς ἀπεμνημόνευεν αὖ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὁ γέρων͵ ὅτι μεγάλα καὶ θαυμαστὰ τῆσδ΄ εἴη παλαιὰ ἔργα τῆς πόλεως ὑπὸ χρόνου καὶ φθορᾶς ἀνθρώπων ἠφανισμένα͵ [21a] πάντων δὲ ἓν μέγιστον͵ οὗ νῦν ἐπιμνησθεῖσιν πρέπον ἂν ἡμῖν εἴη σοί τε ἀποδοῦναι χάριν καὶ τὴν θεὸν ἅμα ἐν τῇ πανηγύρει δικαίως τε καὶ ἀληθῶς οἷόνπερ ὑμνοῦντας ἐγκωμιάζειν.

ΣΩ. Εὖ λέγεις. ἀλλὰ δὴ ποῖον ἔργον τοῦτο Κριτίας οὐ λεγόμενον μέν͵ ὡς δὲ πραχθὲν ὄντως ὑπὸ τῆσδε τῆς πόλεως ἀρχαῖον διηγεῖτο κατὰ τὴν Σόλωνος ἀκοήν;