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In the Age of Gold, the world was first furnished with inhabitants. This was an age of innocence and happiness. Truth and right prevailed, thought not enforced by law, no was there any in authority to threaten or to punish. The earth brought forth all things necessary for man, without his labor in plowing or sowing. Perpetual spring reigned, flowers sprang up without seed, the rivers flowed with milk and wine, and yellow honey distilled from the oaks. The Silver Age came next, inferior to the golden. Jupiter shortened the spring, and divided the year into seasons. Then, first, men suffered the extremes of heat and cold, and houses became necessary. Crops would no longer grow without planting. This was a race of manly men, but insolent and impious. Next to the Age of Silver came that of brass, more savage of temper and readier for the strife of arms, yet not altogether wicked. Last came the hardest age and worst, - of iron. Crime burst in like a flood; modesty, truth, and honor fled. The gifts of the earth were put only to nefarious uses. Fraud, violence, war at home and abroad were rife. Jupiter, observing the condition of things, burned with anger, He summoned the gods to council. Jupiter set forth to the assembly the frightful condition of the earth, and announced his intention of destroying its inhabitants, and providing a new race, unlike the present, which should be worthier of life and more reverent toward the gods. Fearing lest a conflagration might set Heaven itself on fire, he proceeded to drown the world. Speedily the race of mean and their possessions, were swept away by the deluge. | 
