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91
THE GOLDEN AGE.
‘Saturn, after having been deprived of his destructive power, escaped the fate of the other Titans, and fled to the plains of Latium, where he concealed himself, and transferred thither the Golden Age—that happy period when mankind lived in a state of perfect equality, and all things were in common. He is said to have arrived in a ship at the Tiber, in the dominions of Janus, and in union with him to have reigned over men with wisdom and benignity.’—
Dwight's Mythology.
A ship with lofty prow came down
To Latium's strand—
A God had burst from severed chains,
To rule the land.
To Latium's strand—
A God had burst from severed chains,
To rule the land.
Plenty and smiling Peace sprung up
Beneath his tread—
Earth blossomed like Hesperian fields—
Discord was dead.
Beneath his tread—
Earth blossomed like Hesperian fields—
Discord was dead.
Heaven, with its calm, supernal light,
Had blessed the spot—
And Misery in the enchanted realm,
Durst enter not.
Had blessed the spot—
And Misery in the enchanted realm,
Durst enter not.
92
Life passed away, like holy dreams
On spring-tide eves—
And melted as the sunset melts
From violet leaves.
On spring-tide eves—
And melted as the sunset melts
From violet leaves.
From haunted wood-shades genii flew,
In twilights dim—
Nature and human hearts drank deep
Their 'wildering hymn.
In twilights dim—
Nature and human hearts drank deep
Their 'wildering hymn.
Earth, air and heaven entrancèd were—
A cloudless clime
Hung, like transparent dews, around
That Golden Time.
A cloudless clime
Hung, like transparent dews, around
That Golden Time.
Those golden years have passed, to come
In purer light—
Their hopes that sleep, but are not dead,
Will chase the night.
In purer light—
Their hopes that sleep, but are not dead,
Will chase the night.
Time from the dungeon-vault of Sin
Will strongly burst,
And glorious in his wrath cast off
His chains accurst.
Will strongly burst,
And glorious in his wrath cast off
His chains accurst.
93
A God will reach from viewless realms
This mortal shore,
And dark-robed Misery flee his face,
Forevermore.
This mortal shore,
And dark-robed Misery flee his face,
Forevermore.
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