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The body ought therefore to be regarded as an engine, the
theoretical limit of whose efficiency had been reached.
So much I mention of the customs of the Atlanteans with regard
to marriage, education and religious sacrifices.
.pa
VIII.
OF THE HISTORY OF ATLAS, FROM
ITS EARLIEST ORIGINS
TO THE PERIOD IMMEDIATELY
PRECEDING THE CATASTROPHE.
The origin of Atlas is lost in the obscurity of antiquity. The
official religious explanation is this: "We came across the
waters on the living Atla", which is pious but improbable. A
mystic meaning is to be suspected. The lay historian says "We
came, escaping from destruction, eight persons in a ship, bearing
the living Zro." This reminds one of later legends of presumably
equal value. Poets frankly claim "We descended from heaven", and
it has been seriously urged that seafarers would have preferred
the plains to the rocks. The law of contrariety to Nature
explains this away. Others maintain that the earliest settlers
came 'by air,' or 'through air'. This must mean balloons or
airplanes, as flying was not known until centuries after. What is
definitely known is that the earliest settlers were of a purely
fighting race.
An Atlantean Homer, Ylo, has described the first battle in
such detail as to leave no doubt that he is retelling facts--a
marked contradiction to his earlier books. There appear to have
been but few Atlanteans, unless the names given are those of
chiefs, which internal evidence contraverts. Their valour seems
to have been prodigious. The natives were armed with every
possible instrument of precision, having cavalry and artillery in
abundance, as well as weapons that must have been as superior to
the modern rifle (unless Ylo exaggerates) as that is to the
arquebus. In spite of this the men of Atlas 'smote them with
rods' or 'fell upon them with their cones', and routed them
utterly. This mention of rods and cones has absurdly suggested
to commentators that the Atlanteans used their eyes, and
hypnotised the enemy. To state such an opinion is sufficient to
expose its author to the contempt of the thoughtful. Altogether
86 battles were fought, extending over five years, before the
natives were reduced to sue for peace. This was granted on
generous terms, which the colonists broke, as soon as they dared
to do so, in accordance with the invariable rule of colonists,
then as much as today. However, it was nigh on a hundred years
before the first college of magic was established. Previously the
Atla had been carried about as occasion demanded. It was now
enshrined with some decency of ceremonial upon a mountain. About
three hundred years later we find ourselves face to face with the
first great Mystery of Atlas. This is a translation of the record
of that most strange event.
"Now it came to pass that all men turned black and died, and
that the living Atla abode alone, bearing Mercury, whereof the
Sun knoweth. Thus came again the true men of Atlas, and their
women, bearing gods and goddesses. And the void suffered nothing,
and the earth was at peace. Now then indeed arose Art, and men
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