Plato, Critias 114d · 114d
The line of Atlas and its wealth
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Critias — Ἄτλαντος δὴ πολὺ μὲν ἄλλο καὶ τίμιον γίγνεται γένος, βασιλεὺς δὲ ὁ πρεσβύτατος ἀεὶ τῷ πρεσβυτάτῳ τῶν ἐκγόνων παραδιδοὺς ἐπὶ γενεὰς πολλὰς τὴν βασιλείαν διέσῳζον, πλοῦτον μὲν κεκτημένοι πλήθει τοσοῦτον, ὅσος οὔτε πω πρόσθεν ἐν δυναστείαις τισὶν βασιλέων γέγονεν οὔτε ποτὲ ὕστερον γενέσθαι ῥᾴδιος, κατεσκευασμένα δὲ πάντʼ ἦν αὐτοῖς ὅσα ἐν πόλει καὶ ὅσα κατὰ τὴν ἄλλην χώραν ἦν ἔργον κατασκευάσασθαι. πολλὰ μὲν γὰρ διὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν αὐτοῖς προσῄειν
From Atlas there came a line that was large and honoured. The eldest king, always handing the kingship down to the eldest of his descendants, kept it for many generations. They possessed wealth in such an amount as has never yet existed in any dynasty of kings before, and is not easily going to exist again afterwards. And everything was provided for them that it was a task to provide, in the city and in the rest of the country. For many things came in to them because of their empire,
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The setting
The descendants of Atlas form a numerous and honoured line. The eldest of each generation holds the kingship, and they have a wealth no royal house had before or will easily have again.
A note on this passage
The line of Atlas is called polỳ állo kaì tímion génos, "a large and honoured line," with állo adding "besides." Here tímion comes from timḗ, honour or worth, and génos is the line of descent, the same word used for a race. Succession is stated as a rule. The oldest king passes the kingship to the oldest of his descendants, tōi presbytatōi tōn ekgonōn, and the verb is diésōizon, "they kept it safe through," with the prefix dia- carrying it through the generations. The subject changes from the one king to the plural "they" in the same sentence.
The wealth is measured against all kings. Ploûton ... plḗthei tosoûton hósos means "wealth in quantity as great as," and then two negatives, oúte pō prósthen ... oúte potè hýsteron, rule out any earlier or later house. The adjective rháidios, "easy," makes the second half a statement of how unlikely it is, not a flat denial. The next sentence turns to what was kateskeuasména, "furnished," using the verb kataskeuázō twice, and the section ends mid-sentence on the first of the reasons they had so much, dià tḕn archḕn, "because of the empire."
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