Fluent Essays

This prompt is based on your three authors for Week 2:  Hesiod, Lucretius, and William Cullen Bryant.  Here it is:    Although each of these writers differs considerably in his message, each expands our idea of "nature" by commenting on the relationship between natural and spiritual (or supernatural).  The Ancient Greek writer Hesiod concludes that the fallen world has resulted from the habits shown by humankind of displeasing the Gods, which results in the degradation of the natural and civilized worlds.  Lucretius finds no connection between natural and spiritual realms, placing each within its own distinctive domain.  The painters of the Hudson River School portrayed natural scenes bathed in a warm, protective, quasi-divine quality of light. And Bryant's poem offers a massage that conjoins nature and spiritual experience in very overt ways, arguing that the experience of God can be found in nature.  Although differing in medium, theme, and content, each author offers us the idea that humans can find something meaningful in "natural" settings.  Since one of the goals of the class is to understand nature writers help us understand what it means to "live well" (as expressed on the Course Overview PowerPoint), please begin by considering which writer offers us the most powerful expression of what is meant by living well?  Please explain how each author develops this message over the space of about half to three-quarters of a page (single-spaced, otherwise using standard fonts), using specific quotes and allusions to the text to develop your points https://www.grin.com/document/16592 Greek and Roman Conceptions of Nature Understanding the origins of American thinking This presentation seeks to provide a basis for understanding where American attitudes about nature come from. Though reshaped by events and developments in subsequent ages, the power and influence of writers from the classical worlds of ancient Greece and Rome persisted into the age of early America, and so some attention is due to select writers from these periods whose influence shaped the perspectives of early American nature writers. 1 Greek and Roman Conceptions of Nature, as expressed in… Ancient Greece: myth Ancient Rome: myth turning toward to history Homeric Epics: The Iliad and Odyssey Pastorals Georgics Plays (Sophocles, etc.) Hesiod, Works and Days Lucretius, De Rerum Natura Virgil, Pastorals Virgil, the Aeneid Ovid, Metamorphoses Pliny the Elder, Writings Scipio, Writings The epics of Homer represent the best known works from ancient Greece, but other works, including those identified as pastorals and georgics, likewise captured nature in very specific ways. Before we consider these terms, let’s acknowledge that the Ancient Greek world, by virtue of its sheer remoteness and historical distance, exists more fully within a mythic realm beyond history. In contrast, the more recent literature of the Roman world, though still very difficult to date and understand in a full historical sense, offers us better opportunities to pinpoint writers and events within specific historical contexts. 2 Key Terms: Pastoral and Bucolic Pastoral Bucolic   adjective 1. having the simplicity, charm, serenity, or other characteristics generally attributed to rural areas: pastoral scenery; the pastoral life. 2. pertaining to the country or to life in the country; rural; rustic. 3. portraying or suggesting idyllically the life of shepherds or of the country, as a work of literature, art, or music: pastoral poetry; a pastoral symphony. 4. of, pertaining to, or consisting of shepherds. 5. of or pertaining to a pastor or the duties of a pastor: pastoral visits to a hospital. noun 7. a poem, play, image, or the like, dealing with the life of shepherds, commonly in a conventional or artificial manner, or with simple rural life generally; a bucolic. origin 1350–1400; Middle English < Latin pāstōrālis,  equivalent to pāstōr-,  stem of pāstor  ( see pastor) + -ālis - al1 (source: dictionary.com) adjective 1. of or pertaining to shepherds; pastoral. 2. of, pertaining to, or suggesting an idyllic rural life. Origin: 1525–35; < Latin būcolicus  < Greek boukolikós  rustic, equivalent to boukól ( os ) herdsman ( bou-,  stem of boûs  ox + -kolos  keeper + -ikos - ic The term “pastoral” or “bucolic” refers to categories of poetry that deal with settled, sedate depictions of country life. The Roman writers Virgil and Ovid were also inheritors of the Pastoral tradition, and with their enduring popularity these writers continued to shape the perceptions of later writers, including those in America in its early decades after the Revolutionary war. Some quick googling will supply additional explanation about these important terms, which depict humankind and nature living in settled and harmonious ways. 3 Noun: a poem concerning agriculture and other rural occupations; spec.(usually with capital initial) each of the four books of Virgil's Georgics. Adjective:  Of or relating to agriculture, rustic; esp. (of poetry, music, pictures, etc.) concerning agriculture and other rural occupations (source: http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.mtsu.edu/view/Entry/77816?rskey=CniIef&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid) Key term: Georgic Another important term to recognize is “georgic,” which offers a different sense of the relationship between humans and nature. Writers within the Georgic mode, like Hesiod and, later, Virgil, write poetry with an instructional purpose. While the setting is still one of rural retreat, the message is one devoted to effective management of one’s country estate—how to cultivate maximized agricultural yields, manage livestock, maintain a rural household, etc. While the pastoral mode is devoted largely to celebrating rural simplicity, the georgic mode is devoted to explaining how to live within that country setting. 4 Golden (Cranach, c. 1550) Silver (Cranach, c. 1550) Bronze Heroic Iron (Virgil Solis, c. 1570) Any observations/patterns to note? Hesiod’s Works and Days: The Five Ages of Man (c.700 B.C.) One selection you’re likely to read comes from Hesiod’s Works and Days, where you’ll elements of both modes—georgic and pastoral--within the same work. Please stop now and read this work if you have yet to do so already. In the section you’re reading, you might be surprised to see the narrator describing a “fallen” world, one where the climate of corruption and deterioration across the “ages” distinguishes the fallen present from the golden, idealized historical past. This habit of thinking transcends history, and writers of all kinds are prone to compare the spoiled present with the idealized nostalgia of past worlds. 5 “Ages of Man,” as according to Lucas Cranach: Golden Age Silver Age These next few slides will highlight a couple of key concepts and figures from the Roman world whose influence extended into subsequent centuries. As shown in these images, the Sixteenth-century German painter Lucas Cranach the Elder was quite taken with Hesiod’s (and later, Ovid’s) concept of the Ages of Man, and produced these two images of the Golden and Silver Age to highlight this contrast. Please take a moment to study these two images to note the key differences between the worlds portrayed and the people depicted within those worlds. 6 Aeneid patterned after Homer’s Iliad, Odyssey, showing Roman culture’s habit of “borrowing” from Greeks. Eclogues (Bucolics, Pastorals), modeled after Greek poet Theocritus. Georgics (Mythic, Instructional), literary “guide” for farm management—crops, trees, animals, etc. Modeled after Greek poet Hesiod. Virgil: 70-19 B.C. Probably the best known poet from ancient Rome is Virgil, whose Aeneid is patterned after Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Virgil was also a well-known writer of pastoral poetry, with his Eclogues serving as the best demonstration of rural simplicity for centuries to come. Likewise, his Georgics served multiple purposes, including as guides for estate management and effective farming technique. 7 Lucretius (99-55 B.C.), De Rerum Natura Atomism: All material reducible to component parts Epicureanism: pleasure to be enjoyed in moderation and found in avoidance of needless pain, anxiety Another influential Roman writer is the poet Lucretius, whose life overlapped with Virgil’s. His epic poem De Rerum Natura, or On the Nature of Things, was rediscovered in the middle of the Fifteenth century and became a highly influential work that articulated the relationship between humankind and the natural world in new and unconventional ways. In giving voice to the unconventional philosophies of Atomism and Epicureanism, this work would challenge the entrenched authority of the late medieval church and would continue to reshape attitudes toward nature throughout the Renaissance period. 8 Hesiod, Greek (c. 700 B.C) vs. Ovid (Roman, 43 B.C.-17 A.D.). Works and Days vs. Metamorphoses: Any differences stand out? Do we see any evidence of Ovid’s less “mythic,” more “historical” world reflected in his “Ages of Man”? Ovid, Metamorphoses, Four Ages of Man Finally, the Roman poet Ovid, well known for his Amores, or Book of Love, is noteworthy also for his Metamorphoses, or Book of Changes. Here he transform’s Hesiod’s idea of the Five Ages of Man into his own model, which divided human history into four distinct ages. Some noteworthy differences emerge if you compare the two works directly. 9 Writers from the Classical world (Greeks and Romans) had vivid conceptions of nature, as expressed in Epic, Georgic, and Pastoral poetry. The key figures, including Hesiod, Theocritus, Homer, Virgil, Lucretius, and Ovid provide vivid images of nature as a benevolent and occasionally violent force. These perspectives establish context for, and continue to figure indirectly, in influencing American views of the natural world. Review: To review quickly: writers from the Greek and Roman worlds provided useful contexts for understanding the way early American writers portrayed nature. When American writers employ, as doThoreau, Bryant, or Whitman, the pastoral or georgic mode, they are partaking of a long tradition established by these writers from an earlier age. Likewise, these ancient writers also portray nature in varying ways, as both a benevolent and an occasionally violent force. Hope this quick introduction to these ancient writers was useful, and thanks for listening!   10 William Cullen Bryant. 1794–1878   18. A Forest Hymn     THE GROVES were God's first temples. Ere man learned   To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave,   And spread the roof above them—ere he framed   The lofty vault, to gather and roll back   The sound of anthems; in the darkling wood,          5 Amidst the cool and silence, he knelt down,   And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks   And supplication. For his simple heart   Might not resist the sacred influences   Which, from the stilly twilight of the place,   10 And from the gray old trunks that high in heaven   Mingled their mossy boughs, and from the sound   Of the invisible breath that swayed at once   All their green tops, stole over him, and bowed   His spirit with the thought of boundless power   15 And inaccessible majesty. Ah, why   Should we, in the world's riper years, neglect   God's ancient sanctuaries, and adore   Only among the crowd, and under roofs   That our frail hands have raised? Let me, at least,   20 Here, in the shadow of this aged wood,   Offer one hymn—thrice happy if it find   Acceptance in His ear.                  Father, thy hand   Hath reared these venerable columns, thou   25 Didst weave this verdant roof. Thou didst look down   Upon the naked earth, and, forthwith, rose   All these fair ranks of trees. They, in thy sun,   Budded, and shook their green leaves in thy breeze,   And shot towards heaven. The century-living crow,   30 Whose birth was in their tops, grew old and died   Among their branches, till, at last, they stood,   As now they stand, massy, and tall, and dark,   Fit shrine for humble worshipper to hold   Communion with his Maker. These dim vaults,   35 These winding aisles, of human pomp or pride   Report not. No fantastic carvings show   The boast of our vain race to change the form   Of thy fair works. But thou art here—thou fill'st   The solitude. Thou art in the soft winds   40 That run along the summit of these trees   In music; thou art in the cooler breath   That from the inmost darkness of the place   Comes, scarcely felt; the barky trunks, the ground,   The fresh moist ground, are all instinct with thee.   45 Here is continual worship;—Nature, here,   In the tranquillity that thou dost love,   Enjoys thy presence. Noiselessly, around,   From perch to perch, the solitary bird   Passes; and yon clear spring, that, midst its herbs,   50 Wells softly forth and wandering steeps the roots   Of half the mighty forest, tells no tale   Of all the good it does. Thou hast not left   Thyself without a witness, in these shades,   Of thy perfections. Grandeur, strength, and grace,   55 Are here to speak of thee. This mighty oak,—   By whose immovable stem I stand and seem   Almost annihilated—not a prince,   In all that proud old world beyond the deep,   E'er wore his crown as loftily as he   60 Wears the green coronal of leaves with which   Thy hand has graced him. Nestled at his root   Is beauty, such as blooms not in the glare   Of the broad sun. That delicate forest flower,   With scented breath and look so like a smile,   65 Seems, as it issues from the shapeless mould,   An emanation of the indwelling Life,   A visible token of the upholding Love,   That are the soul of this great universe.        My heart is awed within me when I think   70 Of the great miracle that still goes on,   In silence, round me—the perpetual work   Of thy creation, finished, yet renewed   Forever. Written on thy works I read   The lesson of thy own eternity.   75 Lo! all grow old and die—but see again,   How on the faltering footsteps of decay   Youth presses,—ever-gay and beautiful youth   In all its beautiful forms. These lofty trees   Wave not less proudly that their ancestors   80 Moulder beneath them. O, there is not lost   One of earth's charms: upon her bosom yet,   After the flight of untold centuries,   The freshness of her far beginning lies   And yet shall lie. Life mocks the idle hate   85 Of his arch-enemy Death—yea, seats himself   Upon the tyrant's throne—the sepulchre,   And of the triumphs of his ghastly foe   Makes his own nourishment. For he came forth   From thine own bosom, and shall have no end.   90      There have been holy men who hid themselves   Deep in the woody wilderness, and gave   Their lives to thought and prayer, till they outlived   The generation born with them, nor seemed   Less aged than the hoary trees and rocks   95 Around them;—and there have been holy men   Who deemed it were not well to pass life thus.   But let me often to these solitudes   Retire, and in thy presence reassure   My feeble virtue. Here its enemies,  100 The passions, at thy plainer footsteps shrink   And tremble and are still. O God! when thou   Dost scare the world with tempests, set on fire   The heavens with falling thunderbolts, or fill,   With all the waters of the firmament,  105 The swift dark whirlwind that uproots the woods   And drowns the villages; when, at thy call,   Uprises the great deep and throws himself   Upon the continent, and overwhelms   Its cities—who forgets not, at the sight  110 Of these tremendous tokens of thy power,   His pride, and lays his strifes and follies by?   O, from these sterner aspects of thy face   Spare me and mine, nor let us need the wrath   Of the mad, unchainèd elements to teach  115 Who rules them. Be it ours to meditate,   In these calm shades, thy milder majesty,   And to the beautiful order of thy works   Learn to conform the order of our lives.   Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, Book II excerpt, lines 1399-1443 Summary and Translation by Ian Johnston, 2010 Summary: Translation: Early 19th Century Perspectives on Nature Establishing a Context for What Comes Later This presentation seeks to provide some additional early context for our subject, which basically begins in the 1840’s with the writings of Henry David Thoreau. The new American Nation, founded in 1776 in the wake of the American Revolution, enabled a generation of writers to articulate a relationship to the natural world on their own terms. Unfettered by the need to maintain cultural connections to Great Britain and the continent, early American writers engaged with the vast American wilderness in multiple ways and, though mindful of the traditions extending back to the ancient worlds of the Greeks and Romans, developed their own traditions of nature writing. 1 James Fenimore Cooper, Leatherstocking Tales One such writer was James Fenimore Cooper, whose Leatherstocking Tales remain, along with his Last of the Mohicans, among the classics in early American Literature. These stories feature the uniquely American character of Natty Bumppo, who conjoins the best parts of Cristian civility and frontier sensibility. Engaging with early colonists and sometimes hostile Native Americans on his own terms, Natty combines the best elements of both as a sort of early frontier hero. Raised by missionaries but comfortable in the wilderness, Natty Bumppo stands as an early example of a new kind of literary character: the Christianized backwoodsman equally at home in wilderness and in civilized society. 2 Washington Irving, Prefact to Sketch Book “I visited various parts of my own country; and had I been merely a lover of fine scenery, I should have felt little desire to seek elsewhere its gratification, for on no country have the charms of nature been more prodigally lavished. Her mighty lakes, like oceans of liquid silver; her mountains, with their bright aerial tints; her valleys, teeming with wild fertility; her tremendous cataracts, thundering in their solitudes; her boundless plains, waving with spontaneous verdure; her broad deep rivers, rolling in solemn silence to the ocean; her trackless forests, where vegetation puts forth all its magnificence; her skies, kindling with the magic of summer clouds and glorious sunshine; — no, never need an American look beyond his own country for the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery.” Another early American Writer to recognize here is Washington Irving, whose Sketch Book records, documents, and recaptures the folklore of select localities in early America. Best known for the stories Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Irving also understood the distinctions between European and American culture as determined by landscape. His florid description of the vast American wilderness, included here, is intended to contrast with the historically infused, culturally established landscapes of Europe. Please pause and read this passage—a quick google search will allow you to access the entire piece and see the contrast more vividly. Basically, the “virgin” wilderness of America contrasts with the “storied” landscape of Europe, with its ruins, monuments, and historical baggage. 3 Ralph Waldo Emerson, on the character of Nature “The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship”  “The world is emblematic. Parts of speech are metaphors, because the whole of nature is a metaphor of the human mind.”  “Have mountains, and waves, and skies, no significance but what we consciously give them, when we employ them as emblems of our thoughts?” “In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, -- he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me”   “The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood.”  Emererson, Nature Still another important early American writer is Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose essay Nature is of clear relevance to our subject matter. A quick survey of the quotes included in this slide establishes Emerson’s belief, shared by many others, that the natural world assumes Godly forms and nourishes the human soul. 4 William Cullen Bryant, “A Forest Hymn” All of this information serves as an important preface to the writer whose work I’ve asked you to read this week: William Cullen Bryant. His poem “A Forest Hymn” articulates—and reiterates—many of the key ideas expressed by his fellow early American writers about the unique, soul-nourishing character of American wilderness. Known for many other literary achievements across his storied career as a Victorian-era man of letters, Bryant’s poem serves as a useful starting point as we begin our progress through the rich topic of American Nature writing. 5 The Hudson River School Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880) “New York Harbor” Thomas Cole (1801-1848), scene from “Last of the Mohicans” Finally, the collective group of landscape artists, known as the “Hudson River School,” deserves mention here. The works of two of the better known figures within this movement, Stanford Robinson Gifford and Thomas Cole, are pictured here. You’ll note the unique character of the light and the generally pastoral effects that define both landscapes. A quick google search will put you into contact with a full field of other artists and dozens of images of their work. In many ways their works capture the same values articulated by Cooper, Irving, and Emerson about the vastness, power, and spiritual relevance of the American landscape. 6 Conclusions Although Henry David Thoreau is generally considered to be an early “environmentalist” voice, the traditions for writing about nature—and crediting it with supernatural characteristics, was pervasive throughout 19th Century American culture. From its early origins after the American Revolution, American literature, as expressed in the writings of Cooper, Irving, Emerson, and Bryant, and art, as captured in the many works produced by members of the “Hudson River School” of landscape artists, held distinct views about nature’s benevolence and spiritually uplifting capacities. These were at odds with the pioneering impulse and the ethos of expansion and development, but this is a contradiction that will be more present in works of later decades and eras. Here are some concluding thoughts. Even though Henry David Thoreau is generally thought of as an early voice for nature and “environmentalism,” he writes within a distinct tradition, established in the early decades of the American nation, which understood the power and redemptive value of natural scenery. As we’ll see, many contradictions exist within this habit of seeing nature in these idealized terms. But for our purposes, it is important to recognize that these ideas have a clear history and pattern of development. That concludes this presentation, and thanks for listening!   7 Hesiod, Works and Days Prose Translation by Hugh G. Evenlyn-Wright (source: http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/works.htm) Lines 1-201: “The Five Ages of Man” (ll. 1-10) Muses of Pieria who give glory through song, come hither, tell of Zeus your father and chant his praise. Through him mortal men are famed or un-famed, sung or unsung alike, as great Zeus wills. For easily he makes strong, and easily he brings the strong man low; easily he humbles the proud and raises the obscure, and easily he straightens the crooked and blasts the proud, -- Zeus who thunders aloft and has his dwelling most high. Attend thou with eye and ear, and make judgements straight with righteousness. And I, Perses, would tell of true things. (ll. 11-24) So, after all, there was not one kind of Strife alone, but all over the earth there are two. As for the one, a man would praise her when he came to understand her; but the other is blameworthy: and they are wholly different in nature. For one fosters evil war and battle, being cruel: her no man loves; but perforce, through the will of the deathless gods, men pay harsh Strife her honour due. But the other is the elder daughter of dark Night, and the son of Cronos who sits above and dwells in the aether, set her in the roots of the earth: and she is far kinder to men. She stirs up even the shiftless to toil; for a man grows eager to work when he considers his neighbour, a rich man who hastens to plough and plant and put his house in good order; and neighbour vies with is neighbour as he hurries after wealth. This Strife is wholesome for men. And potter is angry with potter, and craftsman with craftsman, and beggar is jealous of beggar, and minstrel of minstrel. (ll. 25-41) Perses, lay up these things in your heart, and do not let that Strife who delights in mischief hold your heart back from work, while you peep and peer and listen to the wrangles of the court-house. Little concern has he with quarrels and courts who has not a year's victuals laid up betimes, even that which the earth bears, Demeter's grain. When you have got plenty of that, you can raise disputes and strive to get another's goods. But you shall have no second chance to deal so again: nay, let us settle our dispute here with true judgement which is of Zeus and is perfect. For we had already divided our inheritance, but you seized the greater share and carried it off, greatly swelling the glory of our bribe-swallowing lords who love to judge such a cause as this. Fools! They know not how much more the half is than the whole, nor what great advantage there is in mallow and asphodel (1). (ll. 42-53) For the gods keep hidden from men the means of life. Else you would easily do work enough in a day to supply you for a full year even without working; soon would you put away your rudder over the smoke, and the fields worked by ox and sturdy mule would run to waste. But Zeus in the anger of his heart hid it, because Prometheus the crafty deceived him; therefore he planned sorrow and mischief against men. He hid fire; but that the noble son of Iapetus stole again for men from Zeus the counsellor in a hollow fennel-stalk, so that Zeus who delights in thunder did not see it. But afterwards Zeus who gathers the clouds said to him in anger: (ll. 54-59) `Son of Iapetus, surpassing all in cunning, you are glad that you have outwitted me and stolen fire -- a great plague to you yourself and to men that shall be. But I will give men as the price for fire an evil thing in which they may all be glad of heart while they embrace their own destruction.' (ll. 60-68) So said the father of men and gods, and laughed aloud. And he bade famous Hephaestus make haste and mix earth with water and to put in it the voice and strength of human kind, and fashion a sweet, lovely maiden-shape, like to the immortal goddesses in face; and Athene to teach her needlework and the weaving of the varied web; and golden Aphrodite to shed grace upon her head and cruel longing and cares that weary the limbs. And he charged Hermes the guide, the Slayer of Argus, to put in her a shameless mind and a deceitful nature. (ll. 69-82) So he ordered. And they obeyed the lord Zeus the son of Cronos. Forthwith the famous Lame God moulded clay in the likeness of a modest maid, as the son of Cronos purposed. And the goddess bright-eyed Athene girded and clothed her, and the divine Graces and queenly Persuasion put necklaces of gold upon her, and the rich-haired Hours crowned her head with spring flowers. And Pallas Athene bedecked her form with all manners of finery. Also the Guide, the Slayer of Argus, contrived within her lies and crafty words and a deceitful nature at the will of loud thundering Zeus, and the Herald of the gods put speech in her. And he called this woman Pandora (2), because all they who dwelt on Olympus gave each a gift, a plague to men who eat bread. (ll. 83-89) But when he had finished the sheer, hopeless snare, the Father sent glorious Argus-Slayer, the swift messenger of the gods, to take it to Epimetheus as a gift. And Epimetheus did not think on what Prometheus had said to him, bidding him never take a gift of Olympian Zeus, but to send it back for fear it might prove to be something harmful to men. But he took the gift, and afterwards, when the evil thing was already his, he understood. (ll. 90-105) For ere this the tribes of men lived on earth remote and free from ills and hard toil and heavy sickness which bring the Fates upon men; for in misery men grow old quickly. But the woman took off the great lid of the jar (3) with her hands and scattered all these and her thought caused sorrow and mischief to men. Only Hope remained there in an unbreakable home within under the rim of the great jar, and did not fly out at the door; for ere that, the lid of the jar stopped her, by the will of Aegis-holding Zeus who gathers the clouds. But the rest, countless plagues, wander amongst men; for earth is full of evils and the sea is full. Of themselves diseases come upon men continually by day and by night, bringing mischief to mortals silently; for wise Zeus took away speech from them. So is there no way to escape the will of Zeus. (ll. 106-108) Or if you will, I will sum you up another tale well and skilfully -- and do you lay it up in your heart, -- how the gods and mortal men sprang from one source. (ll. 109-120) First of all the deathless gods who dwell on Olympus made a golden race of mortal men who lived in the time of Cronos when he was reigning in heaven. And they lived like gods without sorrow of heart, remote and free from toil and grief: miserable age rested not on them; but with legs and arms never failing they made merry with feasting beyond the reach of all evils. When they died, it was as though they were overcome with sleep, and they had all good things; for the fruitful earth unforced bare them fruit abundantly and without stint. They dwelt in ease and peace upon their lands with many good things, rich in flocks and loved by the blessed gods. (ll. 121-139) But after earth had covered this generation -- they are called pure spirits dwelling on the earth, and are kindly, delivering from harm, and guardians of mortal men; for they roam everywhere over the earth, clothed in mist and keep watch on judgements and cruel deeds, givers of wealth; for this royal right also they received; -- then they who dwell on Olympus made a second generation which was of silver and less noble by far. It was like the golden race neither in body nor in spirit. A child was brought up at his good mother's side an hundred years, an utter simpleton, playing childishly in his own home. But when they were full grown and were come to the full measure of their prime, they lived only a little time in sorrow because of their foolishness, for they could not keep from sinning and from wronging one another, nor would they serve the immortals, nor sacrifice on the holy altars of the blessed ones as it is right for men to do wherever they dwell. Then Zeus the son of Cronos was angry and put them away, because they would not give honour to the blessed gods who live on Olympus. (ll. 140-155) But when earth had covered this generation also -- they are called blessed spirits of the underworld by men, and, though they are of second order, yet honour attends them also -- Zeus the Father made a third generation of mortal men, a brazen race, sprung from ash-trees (4); and it was in no way equal to the silver age, but was terrible and strong. They loved the lamentable works of Ares and deeds of violence; they ate no bread, but were hard of heart like adamant, fearful men. Great was their strength and unconquerable the arms which grew from their shoulders on their strong limbs. Their armour was of bronze, and their houses of bronze, and of bronze were their implements: there was no black iron. These were destroyed by their own hands and passed to the dank house of chill Hades, and left no name: terrible though they were, black Death seized them, and they left the bright light of the sun. (ll. 156-169b) But when earth had covered this generation also, Zeus the son of Cronos made yet another, the fourth, upon the fruitful earth, which was nobler and more righteous, a god-like race of hero-men who are called demi-gods, the race before our own, throughout the boundless earth. Grim war and dread battle destroyed a part of them, some in the land of Cadmus at seven- gated Thebe when they fought for the flocks of Oedipus, and some, when it had brought them in ships over the great sea gulf to Troy for rich-haired Helen's sake: there death's end enshrouded a part of them. But to the others father Zeus the son of Cronos gave a living and an abode apart from men, and made them dwell at the ends of earth. And they live untouched by sorrow in the islands of the blessed along the shore of deep swirling Ocean, happy heroes for whom the grain-giving earth bears honey-sweet fruit flourishing thrice a year, far from the deathless gods, and Cronos rules over them (5); for the father of men and gods released him from his bonds. And these last equally have honour and glory. (ll. 169c-169d) And again far-seeing Zeus made yet another generation, the fifth, of men who are upon the bounteous earth. (ll. 170-201) Thereafter, would that I were not among the men of the fifth generation, but either had died before or been born afterwards. For now truly is a race of iron, and men never rest from labour and sorrow by day, and from perishing by night; and the gods shall lay sore trouble upon them. But, notwithstanding, even these shall have some good mingled with their evils. And Zeus will destroy this race of mortal men also when they come to have grey hair on the temples at their birth (6). The father will not agree with his children, nor the children with their father, nor guest with his host, nor comrade with comrade; nor will brother be dear to brother as aforetime. Men will dishonour their parents as they grow quickly old, and will carp at them, chiding them with bitter words, hard-hearted they, not knowing the fear of the gods. They will not repay their aged parents the cost their nurture, for might shall be their right: and one man will sack another's city. There will be no favour for the man who keeps his oath or for the just or for the good; but rather men will praise the evil-doer and his violent dealing. Strength will be right and reverence will cease to be; and the wicked will hurt the worthy man, speaking false words against him, and will swear an oath upon them. Envy, foul-mouthed, delighting in evil, with scowling face, will go along with wretched men one and all. And then Aidos and Nemesis (7), with their sweet forms wrapped in white robes, will go from the wide-pathed earth and forsake mankind to join the company of the deathless gods: and bitter sorrows will be left for mortal men, and there will be no help against evil.