Plato, Timaeus 25d · 25d
The island sinks
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Critias — ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς χαλεπῆς ἐπελθούσης, τό τε παρʼ ὑμῖν μάχιμον πᾶν ἁθρόον ἔδυ κατὰ γῆς, ἥ τε Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος ὡσαύτως κατὰ τῆς θαλάττης δῦσα ἠφανίσθη· διὸ καὶ νῦν ἄπορον καὶ ἀδιερεύνητον γέγονεν τοὐκεῖ πέλαγος, πηλοῦ κάρτα βραχέος ἐμποδὼν ὄντος, ὃν ἡ νῆσος ἱζομένη παρέσχετο. τὰ μὲν δὴ ῥηθέντα, ὦ Σώκρατες, ὑπὸ τοῦ παλαιοῦ
Critias: a day and night of misery came on, and the whole body of your warriors sank together into the earth, and the island of Atlantis likewise sank beneath the sea and vanished. This is why the sea there is even now impassable and cannot be explored: a very shallow mud lies in the way, which the island produced as it settled. These, Socrates, are the things told by the old
Word by word
The setting
In one terrible day and night the Athenian warriors went down into the earth and the island of Atlantis sank into the sea. The sea there is still impassable because of the mud. Critias then turns to Socrates, and the sentence trails off.
A note on this passage
The disaster is compressed into mias hēmeras kai nyktos chalepēs, with the numeral carried over from the end of 25c: one day and night, and a hard one. The same verb, dyō, "go under," is used for both victims. The Athenian fighting force edy kata gēs, went down beneath the earth, and the island dysa kata tēs thalattēs, went down beneath the sea. Then comes ēphanisthē, "was made unseen," a passive that leaves the island simply not there to be seen.
The sea afterward is aporon kai adiereunēton, a pair of negative adjectives meaning "without a way through" and "not to be searched out." The reason given is pēlou karta brachéos, "very shallow mud," which blocks the way, empodōn, literally "at the feet." The word toukei is a crasis of to ekei, "the one there." The section ends with Critias addressing Socrates and naming tou palaiou, "the old man," as the source of what he has told, and the sentence continues into the next section.
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