And if men once that treasure lack,
No gold on earth can win it back.
Then no man toiled in pilgrimage,
But lived from infancy to age
At home, nor cared to cross the wave
Of ocean for an outland grave.
LIII
How Jason erstwhile ploughed the sea,
To seek the gold-fleece bravery,
And by the folk where’er he went,
Was seen with fear and wonderment.
Jason’s journeying
Prince Jason ’twas who first of all
Built on the waves a vessel tall.
And voyaged therein to seek the fleece
Of gold, but Neptune deemed his peace
Invaded, and great Triton too,
And Doris with her daughters grew9970
Alarmed, and feared themselves betrayed,
Beholding these first men who made
Their road across the acres they
Had held with undisputed sway.
For earth’s first dwellers were content
To stay a-land, nor ever went
To plough the sea; enough they found
For all their needs on solid ground.
Where each man had what each required,
For none as yet ambition fired.9980
O happy men, of simple life—
Love reigned, and all unknown was strife
