The Silver Age.
But when good Saturn, banish'd from above,
Was driv'n to Hell, the World was under Jove.
Succeedings Times a Silver Age behold,
Excelling Brass, but more excell'd by Gold.
Then Summer, Autumn, Winter did appear:
And Spring was but a Season of the Year.
The Sun his Annual Course obliquely made,
Good Days contracted, and enlarg'd the bad.
Then Air with sultry Heats began to glow;
The Wings of Winds were clogg'd with Ice and Snow;
And shivering Mortals, into Houses driv'n,
Sought Shelter from th' Inclemency of Heav'n.
Those Houses, then, were Caves, or homely Sheds;
With twining Oziers fenc'd; and Moss their Beds.
Then Ploughs, for Seed, the fruitful Furrows broke,
And Oxen labour'd first, beneath the Yoke.
The Brazen Age.
To this came next in course, the Brazen Age:
A warlike Offspring, prompt to bloody Rage,
Not impious yet
The Iron Age.
Hard Steel succeeded then:
And stubborn as the Mettal, were the Men.
Truth, Modesty, and Shame, the World forsook:
Fraud, Avarice, and Force, their Places took.
Then Sails were spread, to every Wind that blew,
Raw were the Sailors, and the Depths were new:
Trees, rudely hollow'd, did the Waves sustain;
E'er Ships in Triumph ploughed the watry Plain.
