Plato, Timaeus 22e · 22e
Why Egypt keeps its records
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Critias — παρʼ ὑμῖν πόλεσιν εἰς τὴν θάλατταν ὑπὸ τῶν ποταμῶν φέρονται· κατὰ δὲ τήνδε χώραν οὔτε τότε οὔτε ἄλλοτε ἄνωθεν ἐπὶ τὰς ἀρούρας ὕδωρ ἐπιρρεῖ, τὸ δʼ ἐναντίον κάτωθεν πᾶν ἐπανιέναι πέφυκεν. ὅθεν καὶ διʼ ἃς αἰτίας τἀνθάδε σῳζόμενα λέγεται παλαιότατα· τὸ δὲ ἀληθές, ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς τόποις ὅπου μὴ χειμὼν ἐξαίσιος ἢ καῦμα ἀπείργει, πλέον,
Critias: Among you, the cities are carried by the rivers into the sea. But in this land, neither then nor at any other time does water flow down from above onto the fields; on the contrary, all of it is by nature disposed to rise up from below. This is why, and for these reasons, the things kept safe here are said to be the oldest. But the truth is that in every place where excessive storm or heat does not prevent it, more,
Word by word
The setting
The priest finishes the contrast between Greece and Egypt: Greek cities are swept into the sea, while in Egypt the water comes only from below, so the oldest things are kept.
A note on this passage
Between the two cities the priest draws a plain contrast of water. In Greece the potamoi, rivers, carry the survivors' cities eis tēn thalattan, into the sea, and the record goes with them. In Egypt the Greek is firmer: oute tote oute allote, "neither then nor at any other time," does water fall anōthen, from above, on the arouras, the fields. The flow is the reverse, to d' enantion katōthen pan epanienai pephyken, "all of it is by nature disposed to come up from below." The perfect pephyken gives this as a standing property of the country.
Having said why things sōizomena, "kept safe," here are called palaiotata, "oldest," he starts a correction with to de alēthes, "but the truth." The sentence is cut off after pleon, "more," and is finished in the next section, so the claim is not yet complete.
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