Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Silver Age
1:144 But when good Saturn, banish'd from above,
1:145 Was driv'n to Hell, the world
was under Jove.
1:146 Succeeding times a silver age
behold,
1:147 Excelling brass, but more excell'd
by gold.
1:148 Then summer, autumn, winter did
appear:
1:149 And spring was but a season of
the year.
1:150 The sun his annual course obliquely
made,
1:151 Good days contracted, and enlarg'd
the bad.
1:152 Then air with sultry heats began
to glow;
1:153 The wings of winds were clogg'd
with ice and snow;
1:154 And shivering mortals, into houses
driv'n,
1:155 Sought shelter from th' inclemency
of Heav'n.
1:156 Those houses, then, were caves,
or homely sheds;
1:157 With twining oziers fenc'd; and
moss their beds.
1:158 Then ploughs, for seed, the fruitful
furrows broke,
1:159 And oxen labour'd first beneath
the yoke.
Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Silver Age
1:144 But when good Saturn, banish'd from above,
1:145 Was driv'n to Hell, the world
was under Jove.
1:146 Succeeding times a silver age
behold,
1:147 Excelling brass, but more excell'd
by gold.
1:148 Then summer, autumn, winter did
appear:
1:149 And spring was but a season of
the year.
1:150 The sun his annual course obliquely
made,
1:151 Good days contracted, and enlarg'd
the bad.
1:152 Then air with sultry heats began
to glow;
1:153 The wings of winds were clogg'd
with ice and snow;
1:154 And shivering mortals, into houses
driv'n,
1:155 Sought shelter from th' inclemency
of Heav'n.
1:156 Those houses, then, were caves,
or homely sheds;
1:157 With twining oziers fenc'd; and
moss their beds.
1:158 Then ploughs, for seed, the fruitful
furrows broke,
1:159 And oxen labour'd first beneath
the yoke.