ture, nor were arts necessary; there was no trade, and no money-the precious metals had not been discovered, nor was iron used for making the tools of industry or the weapons of destruction; there was no travelling by sea or land, neither roads nor ships; beasts were not noxious to man; no blood was shed; there was no eating of animal food, and wars were unknown. Everything was in common; the fields were without boundaries land was unappropriated-there were no houses, no walled cities, no families, and no government except the mild rule of Saturn. (109)

§ 21 This picture was, in fact, purely ideal: the ancients had no authentic traditions of any such state of society; never

of Pandora (Hesiod. Op. 61, 70), afterwards became the maker of men.Weiske's Prometheus, p. 497. As to the formation of men from stones by Pyrrha and Deucalion, see Apollod. i. 6, 2; Ovid, Met. i. 393-415; Virg. Georg. i 61. Respecting avroy@oves, or men formed from the earth (like myeveis), see Harpocrat. in v.; Wachsmuth, Hell. Alt. i. 1, p. 321, app. 11; Dion. Ant. Rom. i. 10; Censorinus, De Die Nat. c. 4. On the meaning of terræ filii, see Minucius Felix, in Oct. c. 22, cum not.

The origin of civil society, the invention of arts, the formation of governments, &c., are described by Thomson ('Autumn'):

These are thy blessings, industry,' &c.

(109) See, for the description of the kingdom of Saturn, Plato, Politicus, c. 12, p. 269; c. 15, p. 271-2; Leg. iv. 6, p. 713. The immediate government of the daípoves is much insisted on by Plato. Compare Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. i. 36-8; Virgil, Georg. i. 125-49; Georg. ii. ad fin.; Buc. iv.; Tibull. i. 3, v. 35-50; Ovid. Amor. iii. 8, 35; Lucian, Saturnal.; Macrob. Saturn. i. 7, 8; Justin. xliii. 1; Minuc. Fel. in Oct. c. 22, where Saturn is represented as a civilizer.

For humorous descriptions of the abundance of the age of Saturn, see the comic fragments in Athen. vi. p. 267-8 (Meineke, Fragm. Com. Gr. vol. iii. p. 108, 362). The age of Saturn' is used by Plutarch (Aristid. 24) to signify the good old time.' In Cimon, 10, it refers to community of goods.

For the golden age, see Hesiod, Op. et Di. 109; Arat. Phan. 100; Ovid. Met. i. 88-112; Cic. N. D. ii. 63; Juven. vi. 1-18; Babrius, Proœm, i.; Tacit. Ann. iii. 26; Senec. Epist. 90, § 3, 4. Compare Buttmann, Mythologus, vol. ii. p. 1. According to Dicæarchus, (Bios 'EXλádos, Fragm. 1-5; Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol. ii. p. 233-5, ed. Didot,) the primitive state of man was the golden age rationalized. The views of Dicæarchus are important, as showing the manner in which the poetical figments of the golden age were conceived by the philosophers.

The reign of Saturn and the golden age were sometimes confounded. Thus Virgil, in the Fourth Eclogue, after speaking of the return of the Saturnia regna,' adds:

Tu modo nascenti puero, quo ferrea primum Desinet, ac toto surget gens aurea mundo,' &c. Dicæarchus likewise identifies them. Virgil combines the ideas of primitive rudeness with the ideas of the golden age, the reign of Saturn, and the subsequent deterioration, as follows. He says that the indigenous, or

theless, to a certain extent they believed it to be real. Its details were varied according to the imagination of the narrator, but so long as the mythology of their religion retained its hold on their minds, this state of society was to them a reality. Accordingly, Plato proposes it as a real model for the imitation of mankind, in his Treatise of Laws: the most perfect state, he says, is that which resembles the reign of Saturn.(110) And, indeed, whether believed to be real or ideal, the vision of a Saturnian or golden age has guided the speculations of an ideal state, or, at least, has had its origin in the same class of autochthonous, population of Italy-men born from the trees of the forest-lived on the produce of the chase and wild fruits, without civilization, agriculture, or wealth. Saturn, being driven by Jupiter from Olympus, civilized this savage mountain race by collecting them in bodies, and giving laws to them. Under him was the golden age, a period of uninterrupted peace, until a worse age-that of iron-succeeded, which was accompanied by war and the desire of gain.—Æn. viii. 313-26. Decolor ætas' alludes to the dark colour of iron, as opposed to the brightness of gold. Plato, as we have seen above, attains a similar end by an inverse process: he supposes the golden age to have preceded, not succeeded, the brutish state.

The Islands of the Blest were considered a continuation of the kingdom of Saturn-a portion of the earth reserved for his happy rule, and excepted from the iron sceptre of his successor, Jupiter. See Horace, Epod. xvi. Jupiter illa piæ secrevit littora genti,

Ut inquinavit ære tempus aureum,
Ære, dehinc ferro duravit sæcula.'

The land of the Cyclopes, as conceived by Homer, brought forth everything spontaneously. It produced corn and wine without labour.-Odyss. ix. 108-11, 357.

The primitive state of virtuous simplicity, from which the poets took their idea of the golden age, and from which mankind is supposed to have since degenerated, is described in Thomson's Seasons (Spring'):

'But who their virtues can declare,' &c.

See also Voyages de Cyrus, liv. vi., and Locke on Government, b. 2, § 111. The passage in Cowper's Task, b. vi., respecting the millennium, 'O scenes surpassing fable, and yet true,' &c.

describes a state of innocence and happiness on earth, free from toil. On the millennium, as represented by the early fathers, see Gibbon, c. 15. Abundance of food and community of property were essential parts of it. The ideal pictures of a golden age represent man as retaining his desires, but as satisfying them without toil. It would seem a more simple and obvious hypothesis to describe him as freed from his animal appetites of hunger, thirst, &c. But it was seen that if desires were removed, no distinct idea of human happiness could be formed. Compare Rasselas, c. 2 and 3. Bodin. (Méthod. Hist. c. 7) gives a 'confutatio eorum qui quatuor monarchias aureaque sæcula statuunt.'

(110) λέγεταί τις ἀρχή τε καὶ οἴκησις γεγονέναι ἐπὶ Κρόνου μάλ ̓ εὐδαίμων ἧς μίμημα ἔχουσα ἐστιν ἥτις τῶν νῦν ἄριστα οἰκεῖται, Leg. iv. 6, p. 713. μιμεῖσθαι δεῖν ἡμᾶς οἴεται πάσῃ μηχανῇ τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ Κρόνου λεγόμενον βίον. 16. In like manner, Fenelon represents Minerva as informing Telemachus, that

notions.

The resemblance of the idealized pictures of the state of nature of the simple and primitive stage of human societyto the descriptions of the golden age is unmistakeable. Fenelon's painting of the happy land of Bætica("") in his Télémaque, and Pope's description of the state of nature in his Essay on Man, (2) reproduce many of the features of the golden agesoftened down, indeed, in order to give them some colour of probability, but of unquestionable resemblance. Such are, for example, social equality, community of possessions, perpetual peace, absence of money and trade, dislike of the precious metals, preference of an agricultural life, abstinence from animal food, contempt for riches, arts, and luxury. Some of these, such as community of goods, perpetual peace, abstinence from animal food, and proscription of money, (13) reappear in the ideal states.

Dicæarchus, a distinguished peripatetic philosopher, and

the duty of a good king is to renew the golden age: Lorsque vous régnerez, mettez toute votre gloire à renouveller l'âge d'or.'-Télémaque, liv. xviii.

Le pays sacré des Hespérides étoit un exemple de l'innocence, où se conservent quelques hommes éloignés du commerce des peuples, pervertis par le luxe et par l'ambition. Il ajouta que leur nation lui rappeloit véritablement l'âge d'or; non pas tel que des hommes corrompus se le repré sentent, mais tel que l'amour de la felicité publique en faisoit souhaiter le retour à des hommes sages.'-Sethos, tom. ii. p. 188.

The restoration of good government to Italy by Augustus, is represented by Virgil under the image of a return of the golden age, and of the reign of Saturn:

Augustus Cæsar, divum genus, aurea condet
Sæcula qui rursus Latio, regnata per arva
Saturno quondam.'
En. vi. 792.

(111) Liv. vii.: C'est ainsi que parlent ces hommes sages, qui n'ont appris la sagesse qu'en étudiant la simple nature. Ils vivent tous ensemble sans partager les terres. . . . Tous les biens sont communs Ainsi, ils n'ont point d'intérêt à soutenir les uns contre les autres, et ils s'aiment tous d'un amour fraternel que rien ne trouble . . . . Ils sont tous libres et tous égaux. On ne voit parmi eux aucune distinction que celle qui vient de l'expérience des sages vieillards, ou de la sagesse extraordinaire de quelques jeunes hommes qui égalent les vieillards, consommés en vertu.' If this is meant to be an ideal of a perfect community, it bears out to the full the doctrines of the communists of the present day. The last sentence is an anticipation of the St. Simonian doctrine, chacun selon sa capacité.'

(112) Ep. 3. v. 146.

(113) The belief that the precious metals, and precious stones, are causes of wickedness, is of old standing and wide extent. Thus, Horace

a disciple of Aristotle, avowedly rationalized the golden age. He took the legendary description as founded on a basis of fact, and reduced it to conformity with the laws of nature, by separating and rejecting the marvellous ingredients. (1) He explained the subsistence upon the spontaneous bounty of nature by the primitive ignorance of agriculture: to the scanty and hard fare which this state of things produced, he referred the exemption from disease; and to the general poverty he traced the uninterrupted peace and concord, inasmuch as there was nothing worthy of contention. Posidonius, on the other hand, transferred to the golden age Plato's celebrated dictum, of philosophers being kings in the ideal state. (115)

The idealized descriptions of states of society, supposed to be real, likewise reproduce many features of the golden age: thus, fraternity and equality exist in the polity of Lycurgus, who likewise proscribes the use of money in his commonwealth. (116) Numa, during his happy reign, maintains an uninterrupted peace with the neighbouring states, and never sullies his hands

'Vel nos in mare proximum

Gemmas, et lapides, aurum et inutile,

Summi materiam mali,

Mittamus, scelerum si bene pœnitet.'

Also Ovid, in the description of the iron age:

Carm. iii. 24.

'Itum est in viscera terræ,

Quasque recondiderat, Stygiisque admoverit umbris
Effodiuntur opes, irritamenta malorum.

Jamque nocens ferrum ferroque nocentius aurum
Prodierat; prodit bellum, quod pugnat utroque.'

Met. i. 138.

It is observable that the golden age is particularly distinguished by the absence of the precious metals. Compare Livy (vii. 25), on the evils of wealth and luxury. The reign of Saturn was characterized by its social equality, of which the Roman festival of Saturnalia was commemorative, see Plutarch Comp. Lyc. et Num. 2.

(114) ἃ δὴ καὶ ἐξηγούμενος ὁ Δικαίαρχος τὸν ἐπὶ Κρόνου βίον τοιοῦτον εἶναί φησιν, εἰ δεῖ λαμβάνειν μὲν αὐτὸν ὡς γεγονότα καὶ μὴ μάτην ἐπιπεφημισμένον, τὸ δὲ λίαν μυθικὸν ἀφέντας εἰς τὸ διὰ τοῦ λόγου φυσικὸν ἀνάγειν.—Fragm. i. p. 233.

(115) Illo ergo sæculo, quod aureum perhibent, penes sapientes fuisse regnum Posidonius judicat.-Senec. Epist. 90, § 4. Posidonius was a stoic philosopher, contemporary with Cicero. See above, § 10.

(116) Plutarch, Lycurg. 8, 24.

with the blood of an enemy. (7) According to Plutarch, he exhibited a real type of the subsequent idea of Plato, that in a wellgoverned state the king must be a philosopher. Romulus likewise, according to Dionysius, proscribed all popular stories and legends concerning the gods, which imputed to them acts unworthy of the divine nature,(18) thus happily forestalling the principles laid down by Plato for his ideal republic.

The state of nature, as described by political speculators, is, in fact, no representation of a positive state of society, derived, directly or indirectly, from the testimony of percipient witnesses. It is a mere ideal picture, into which the painter has collected all those particulars which he considers characteristic of political and social excellence, and which embody his conception of human society as it ought to be. (119)

If a state of nature is formed by this process, it is naturally held up to imitation. It is an idealized real model of perfection.

(117) Dionys. Ant. Rom. ii. 60; Plutarch, Num. 20; Livy, i. 21; Cic. de Rep. ii. 14; Augustin. de Civ. Dei, iii. 9.

(118) See ii. 18.

(119) In this sense Cicero speaks of nature as being the pattern of positive legislation: Secundum naturam quæ norma legis est.'-De Leg. ii. 24.

The state of nature, as conceived by Rousseau, and his political doctrines on the subject, are well characterized by M. Comte: Une telle opposition s'était déjà ouvertement manifestée dès l'époque même de l'élaboration philosophique de cette doctrine, qu'on peut voir partout uniformément dominée par l'étrange notion métaphysique d'un prétendu état de nature, type primordial et invariable de tout état social. Cette notion, radicalement contraire à toute véritable idée de progrès, n'est nullement particulière au puissant sophiste qui a le plus participé dans le siècle dernier, à la co-ordination définitive de la métaphysique révolutionnaire. Elle appartient également à tous les philosophes qui, à diverses époques et dans différens pays, ont spontanément concouru, sans aucun concert, à ce dernier essor de l'esprit métaphysique. Rousseau n'a fait réellement, par sa pressante dialectique, que developper jusq'au bout la doctrine commune de tous les métaphysiciens modernes, en représentant, sous les divers aspects fondamentaux, l'état de civilisation comme une dégénération inévitablement croissante de ce premier type idéal.'-Phil. Pos. tom. iv. p. 72; and compare p. 330. Again, tom. v. p. 764: Mais, quels que soient, à cet égard, les reproches évidens que méritent pareillement toutes les sectes philosophiques du siècle dernier, ces torts ont été, sans doute, bien plus profondément propres à l'école de Rousseau, qui poussa, sous ce rapport, l'esprit de retrogradation jusqu'au plus extravagant délire, par cette sauvage Utopie, où un brutal isolement était directement proposé pour type à l'état social.' See also, ib. p. 678, 752.