In the Age of Gold, the world was first furnished with inhabitants. This was an age of innocence1 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 forth2 all things necessary for man, without his labor3 in plowing4 or sowing. Perpetual spring reigned5, flowers sprang up without seed, the rivers flowed with milk and wine, and yellow honey distilled6 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 manly7 men, but insolent8 and impious.
Next to the Age of Silver came that of brass10, more savage11 of temper and readier for the strife12 of arms, yet not altogether wicked.
Last came the hardest age and worst, - of iron. Crime burst in like a flood; modesty14, truth, and honor fled. The gifts of the earth were put only to nefarious15 uses. Fraud, violence, war at home and abroad were rife13.
Jupiter, observing the condition of things, burned with anger, He summoned the gods to council. Jupiter set forth to the assembly the frightful16 condition of the earth, and announced his intention of destroying its inhabitants, and providing a new race, unlike the present, which should be worthier17 of life and more reverent18 toward the gods. Fearing lest a conflagration19 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 deluge20.
Parnassus alone, of the mountains, overtopped the waves, and there Deucalion, son the Prometheus, and his wife Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus, found refuge - he a just man and she a faithful worshiper of the gods. Jupiter, remembering the harmless lives and pious9 demeanor21 of this pair, caused the waters to recede22. Then Deucalion and Pyrrha, entering a temple defaced with slime, approached the enkindled altar and, falling prostrate23, prayed for guidance and aid. The oracle24 answered, "Depart from the temple with head veiled and garments unbound, and cast behind you the bones of your mother." They heard the words with astonishment25. Pyrrha first broke silence:"We cannot obey; we dare not profane26 the remains27 of our parents." They sought the woods. and revolved28 the oracle in their minds. At last Deucalion spoke29: "Either my wit fails me or the command is one we may obey without impiety30. The earth is the great parent of all; the stones are her bones; these we may cast behind us; this, I think, the oracle means. They veiled their faces, unbound their garments, and, picking up stones, cast them behind them. The stones began to grow soft and to assume shape. By degrees they put on a rude resemblance to the human form. Those thrown by Deucalion became men; those by Pyrrha, women.
