"a sumptuous palace, a masterpiece of skill, in which they male their
abode upon a mountain. The rock was called 'The Place of Heaven;' there
the gods first abode on earth, living many years in great rest and
content, as in a happy and delicious land, though the world still lay in
obscurity and darkness. The children of these gods made to themselves a
garden, in which they put many trees, and fruit-trees, and flowers, and
roses, and odorous herbs. Subsequently there came a great deluge, in
which many of the sons and daughters of the gods perished." (Bancroft's
"Native Races," vol. iii., p. 71.) Here we have a distinct reference to
Olympus, the Garden of Plato, and the destruction of Atlantis.

And in Plato's account of Atlantis we have another description of the
Garden of Eden and the Golden Age of the world:

"Also, whatever fragrant things there are in the earth, whether roots,
or herbage, or woods, or distilling drops of flowers and fruits, grew
and thrived in that land; and again the cultivated fruits of the earth,
both the edible fruits and other species of food which we call by the
name of legumes, and the fruits having a hard rind, affording drinks and
meats and ointments . . . all these that sacred island, lying beneath
the sun, brought forth in abundance. . . . For many generations, as long
as the divine nature lasted in them, they were obedient to the laws, and
well affectioned toward the gods, who were their kinsmen; for they
possessed true and in every way great spirits, practising gentleness and
wisdom in the various chances of life, and in their intercourse with one
another. They despised everything but virtue, not caring for their
present state of life, and thinking lightly of the possession of gold
and other property, which seemed only a burden to them; neither were
they intoxicated by luxury; nor did wealth deprive them of their
self-control; but they were sober, and saw clearly that all these goods