mentioned; to the age of Chus, and to the do mination of his sons. It is described as a period of great happiness: and the persons to whom that happiness is attributed, are celebrated as superior to the common race of men: and upon that account, after their death, they were advanced to be Deities. ότ Χρυσέον μεν πρωτιςα γενος μερόπων ανθρωπων Αυταρ επεί κεν τετο γενος κατα γαια καλυψε, The Immortals first a Golden race produced: These liv'd, when Saturn held the realms of heaven; And pass'd their time like Gods, without a care. Soon as this race was sunk beneath the grave; 3 Hesiod. Εργα και Ημερ. 1. 1. ν. 109. 1 Jove rais'd them to be Dæmons of the air, We have in this short account a just history of the rise of idolatry, when deified men had first divine honours paid to them and we may be assured of the family in which it began. The antients had a high notion of this Golden, or Cusean age; and always speak of. it with great deference, as a time of uncommon equity and happiness. They indeed take into the account the æra of patriarchal government, when all the world was as yet one family, and under the mild rule of the head of mankind. Aratus says, that this was the season when Astræa, or Justice, appeared personally in the world. * Τοφρ' ην, οφρ' ετι γαια Γενος Χρυσειον εφερεν. She stay'd, while yet the Race of Gold surviv'd, And he laments, that those excellent persons, who then flourished, should have been succeeded by a posterity so degenerate and base. * Phænom. v. 113. 3 Όσην Χρύσειοι Πατέρες γενεην ελιπόντε Χειροτερην ; What an unworthy and degenerate race 4 By this we find, that not only a particular age, but also persons were styled Xgσio, or Golden. Those who came into Greece, and built the temple at Olympia, are represented as Χρυσεν γενος, a Golden Race: by which is certainly meant Cusoan or Cusean. But however this people may have been celebrated, they were the first idolaters, who introduced a plurality of Gods, and made other innovations in life. 5 Αιθίοπες-πρωτοι δε Θεος ετίμησαν, και νόμοις έχρήσαντο. The thiopes, or Cuthites, were the first who paid honours to more Gods than one, and who enacted laws. The Grecians by rendering what should be Cusean, Xgurtov, Crusean, have been led still farther in characterising the times and to this supposed Golden Age, which they have embellished with many fictions, they have added an 3 Phænom. v. 123. age of Silver, and of Brass, and of Iron, In the first of these periods the poet manifestly alludes to the longevity of persons in the patriarchic age: for they did not, it seems, die at threescore and ten, but took more time even in advancing towards puberty. Αλλ' ἑκατον μεν παις ετεα παρα μητερ, κεδνη In early times, for full an hundred years He speaks, however, of their being cut off in their prime: and whatever portion of life Nature might have allotted to them, they were abridged of it by their own folly and injustice ; for they were guilty of rapine and bloodshed, and in a continual state of hostility. 7 * Αλλ' όταν ήβησειε, και ήβης μέτρον ἱκοντο, Παυρίδιον ζωεσκον επι χρονον, αλγε' έχοντες, Αφραδίαις ύβριν γαρ ατασθαλον εκ εδύναντο Αλληλων απέχειν. • Hesiod. Εργα και Ημερ. 1. 1. V. 130. 7 Ibid. v. 132. Soon to the term of blooming youth they came, They were at the same time highly irreligious, and great contemners of the Gods; and for that reason removed from all commerce with other beings. 8 Τ8ς μεν επειτα Ζευς Κρονίδης έκρυψε, χολωμένος ένεκα τιμας This race Jove soon consign'd to endless night; Vex'd, that due honours they should dare refuse To the great Gods, who high Olympus hold. Yet what is extraordinary, when they were, through the anger of the offended Gods, swept away from the face of the earth, they were made subordinate Deities, and great reverence was shewed to them: 9 Tin xa Tolov ondes: These too had their share of honour. 8 Hesiod. v. 137. 9 Τοι μεν υποχθόνιοι Μακαρες θνητοι καλεονται, Δεύτερος εμπης τιμη και τοισιν οπηδεί. ν. 141. |