ody, began to
vanish away; and the bodies of those who had died by violence, in a few
moments underwent a parallel change and disappeared. In that cycle of
existence there was no such thing as the procreation of animals from one
another, but they were born of the earth, and of this our ancestors, who
came into being immediately after the end of the last cycle and at the
beginning of this, have preserved the recollection. Such traditions are
often now unduly discredited, and yet they may be proved by internal
evidence. For observe how consistent the narrative is; as the old
returned to youth, so the dead returned to life; the wheel of their
existence having been reversed, they rose again from the earth: a few
only were reserved by God for another destiny. Such was the origin of
the earthborn men.

'And is this cycle, of which you are speaking, the reign of Cronos,
or our present state of existence?' No, Socrates, that blessed and
spontaneous life belongs not to this, but to the previous state, in
which God was the governor of the whole world, and other gods subject
to him ruled over parts of the world, as is still the case in certain
places. They were shepherds of men and animals, each of them sufficing
for those of whom he had the care. And there was no violence among them,
or war, or devouring of one another. Their life was spontaneous, because
in those days God ruled over man; and he was to man what man is now
to the animals. Under his government there were no estates, or private
possessions, or families; but the earth produced a sufficiency of all
things, and men were born out of the earth, having no traditions of
the past; and as the temperature of the seasons was mild, they took no
thought for raiment, and had no beds, but lived and dwelt in the open
air.

Such was the age of Cronos, and the age of Zeus is our own. Tell me,
which is the happier of the two? Or rather, shall I tell you that the
happiness of these children of Cronos must have depended on how
they used their time? If having boundless leisure, and the power of
discoursing not only with one another but with the animals, they had
employed these advantages with a view to philosophy, gathering from
every nature some addition to their store of knowledge;--or again, if
they had merely eaten and drunk, and told stories to one another, and
to the beasts;--in either case, I say, there would be no difficulty in
answering the question. But as nobody knows which