Athenian:  And now, what will this city be?  I do not mean to ask what is or will hereafter be the name of the place; that may be determined by the accident of locality or of the original settlement—­a river or fountain, or some local deity may give the sanction of a name to the newly-founded city; but I do want to know what the situation is, whether maritime or inland.

Cleinias:  I should imagine, Stranger, that the city of which we are speaking is about eighty stadia distant from the sea.

Athenian:  And are there harbours on the seaboard?

Cleinias:  Excellent harbours, Stranger; there could not be better.

Athenian:  Alas! what a prospect!  And is the surrounding country productive, or in need of importations?

Cleinias:  Hardly in need of anything.

Athenian:  And is there any neighbouring State?

Cleinias:  None whatever, and that is the reason for selecting the place; in days of old, there was a migration of the inhabitants, and the region has been deserted from time immemorial.

Athenian:  And has the place a fair proportion of hill, and plain, and wood?

Cleinias:  Like the rest of Crete in that.

Athenian:  You mean to say that there is more rock than plain?

Cleinias:  Exactly.

Athenian:  Then there is some hope that your citizens may be virtuous:  had you been on the sea, and well provided with harbours, and an importing rather than a producing country, some mighty saviour would have been needed, and lawgivers more than mortal, if you were ever to have a chance of preserving your state from degeneracy and discordance of manners (compare Ar.  Pol.).  But there is comfort in the eighty stadia; although the sea is too near, especially if, as you say, the harbours are so good.  Still we may be content.  The sea is pleasant enough as a daily companion, but has indeed also a bitter and brackish quality; filling the streets with merchants and shopkeepers, and begetting in the souls of men uncertain and unfaithful ways—­making the state unfriendly and unfaithful both to her own citizens, and also to other nations.  There is a consolation, therefore, in the country producing all things at home; and yet, owing to the ruggedness of the soil, not providing anything in great abundance.  Had there been abundance, there might have been a great export trade, and a great return of gold and silver; which, as we may safely affirm, has the most fatal results on a State whose aim is the attainment of just and noble sentiments:  this was said by us, if you remember, in the previous discussion.

Cleinias:  I remember, and am of opinion that we both were and are in the right.

Athenian:  Well, but let me ask, how is the country supplied with timber for ship-building?

Cleinias:  There is no fir of any consequence, nor pine, and not much cypress; and you will find very little stone-pine or plane-wood, which shipwrights always require for the interior of ships.