We have seen Chronos identified with the Atlantic, called by the Romans the “Chronian Sea.”  He was known to the Romans under the name of Saturn, and ruled over “a great Saturnian continent” in the Western Ocean.  Saturn, or Chronos, came to Italy:  he presented himself to the king, Janus, “and proceeded to instruct the subjects of the latter in agriculture, gardening, and many other arts then quite unknown to them; as, for example, how to tend and cultivate the vine.  By such means he at length raised the people from a rude and comparatively barbarous condition to one of order and peaceful occupations, in consequence of which he was everywhere held in high esteem, and, in course of time, was selected by Janus to share with him the government of the country, which thereupon assumed the name of Saturnia—­’a land of seed and fruit.’  The period of Saturn’s government was sung in later days by poets as a happy time, when sorrows were unknown, when innocence, freedom, and gladness reigned throughout the land in such a degree as to deserve the title of the Golden Age.” (Murray’s “Mythology,” p. 32.)

All this accords with Plato’s story.  He tells us that the rule of the Atlanteans extended to Italy; that they were a civilized, agricultural, and commercial people.  The civilization of Rome was therefore an outgrowth directly from the civilization of Atlantis.

The Roman Saturnalia was a remembrance of the Atlantean colonization.  It was a period of joy and festivity; master and slave met as equals; the distinctions of poverty and wealth were forgotten; no punishments for crime were inflicted; servants and slaves went about dressed in the clothes of their masters; and children received presents from their parents or relatives.  It was a time of jollity and mirth, a recollection of the Golden Age.  We find a reminiscence of it in the Roman “Carnival.”

The third and last on the throne of the highest god was Zeus.  We shall see him, a little farther on, by the aid of some mysterious engine overthrowing the rebels, the Titans, who rose against his power, amid the flash of lightning and the roar of thunder.  He was called “the thunderer,” and “the mighty thunderer.”  He was represented with thunder-bolts in his hand and an eagle at his feet.

During the time of Zeus Atlantis seems to have reached its greatest height of power.  He was recognized as the father of the whole world; he everywhere rewarded uprightness, truth, faithfulness, and kindness; he was merciful to the poor, and punished the cruel.  To illustrate his rule on earth the following story is told: