when in the world, the multitude of human beings was as great
as the earth could support; that it was fertile, and abounded in all
things; that the inhabitants desired no more than sufficed for the
necessities of life, and that what was not necessary they did not
regard as useful; and that therefore the multitude of human beings
was so great. They said that their principal care was the education of
their children, and that they loved them most tenderly.

49. They further related that on their earth they are distinguished
into clans, families, and households, and that all live together with
their own, separate from the others, and that therefore their habitual
intercourse is confined to their kindred: also that no one ever
desires another's goods; nor does it ever enter the mind (_animus_) of
any one to covet any of the goods of another, much less to obtain them
by any artifice, and still less to attack and plunder them; this they
consider a crime contrary to human nature, and horrible. When I wanted
to tell them that on this Earth there were wars, depredations, and
murders, they turned away, and refused to hear. It has been told me by
the angels that the Most Ancient inhabitants of our Earth dwelt in the
same manner, that is to say, distinguished into clans, families, and
households, and that all in those times were content with their own
goods; and that it was an entirely unknown thing for one to enrich
himself with the goods of others, or to assume dominion from the love
of self; and that on this account the Ancient, and especially the Most
Ancient times, were more acceptable to the Lord than those which have
succeeded them; and that, as their state was such, innocence then
reigned, and, together with innocence, wisdom; that every one then did
what was good for the sake of good, and what was just for the sake of
justice; that they did not know what it was to do what was good and
just with a view to their own honour, or for the sake of gain; and
that in those times they spoke nothing but what was true, and this not
so much from truth as from good, that is, not from the Intellectual
separate [from the Voluntary], but from the Voluntary conjoined with
the Intellectual. Such were the Ancient times. Angels then could
therefore have habitual intercourse with men, and carry their minds,
almost separated from corporeal things, into heaven, and could even
lead them about there, and show them the magnificent and goodly
things