In the midst of it was a sacred and glorious eminence--the umbilicus
orbis terrarum--"toward which the heathen in all parts of the world, and
in all ages, turned a wistful gaze in every act of devotion, and to
which they hoped to be admitted, or, rather, to be restored, at the
close of this transitory scene."

In this "glorious eminence" do we not see Plato's mountain in the middle
of Atlantis, as he describes it:

"Near the plain and in the centre of the island there was a mountain,
not very high on any side. In this mountain there dwelt one of the
earth-born primeval men of that country, whose name was Evenor, and he
had a wife named Leucippe, and they had an only daughter, who was named
Cleito. Poseidon married her. He enclosed the hill in which she dwelt
all around, making alternate zones of sea and land, larger and smaller,
encircling one another; there were two of land and three of water . . .
so that no man could get to the island. . . . He brought streams of
water under the earth to this mountain-island, and made all manner of
food to grow upon it. This island became the seat of Atlas, the
over-king of the whole island; upon it they built the great temple of
their nation; they continued to ornament it in successive generations,
every king surpassing the one who came before him to the utmost of his
power, until they made the building a marvel to behold for size and
beauty. . . . And they had such an amount of wealth as was never before
possessed by kings and potentates--as is not likely ever to be again."

The gardens of Alcinous and Laertes, of which we read in Homeric song,
and those of Babylon, were probably transcripts of Atlantis. "The sacred
eminence in the midst of a 'superabundant, happy region figures more or
less distinctly in almost every mythology, ancient or modern. It was the