The description of the _Fourth_ or _Heroic age_, which Dr. Hales remarks is included by Ovid in the Brazen age, extends from v. 157 to v. 174, and refers to the time when the men “spread over the boundless earth, were more upright and more just than those of the former age, and received the name of _Demigods_; these also, calamitous war and tremendous battle destroyed; some before the seven-gated Thebes, in the territories of Cadmus, fighting for the wealth of Œdipus: but others before the walls of Troy, having been transported across the broad sea in ships, on account of the fair-haired Helen: to the former, death brought final destruction; to the latter, father Jupiter, the son of Saturn, having granted life and a settlement apart from mankind, he planted them at the ends of the earth, far from the immortal gods, where Saturn reigns their king; and these happy heroes, having minds free from cares, dwell in the Islands of the Blessed, near the deep deep Ocean; to them, the fertile soil produces ripe fruit, as sweet as honey, three seasons of the year.” In this description there seems to be a very considerable want of incident, when we compare it with the history of Greece during the _Heroic age_. For, it was in this age, that the Kingdom of Athens was founded; that the flood of Deucalion took place; and that the chief founders of the Greek nation made their descent into the country itself, namely, Danaus, Pelasgus, Cadmus and Pelops. It was in this age also, that the events most celebrated in history and poetry took place; such as, the birth and the labours of Hercules; the expedition of the Argonauts; the wars at Thebes and the fall of Troy, which the poet has particularly noticed; the Return of the Heraclidæ; and the Æolic and Ionic Migrations. The meagreness of detail in this portion of the poem, therefore, would lead us to adopt the opinion of many critics, that it has not reached us in a perfect but in a fragmentary state; enough of it, however, remains to enable us to determine the limits of the poetical ages. We have seen that the flood of Ogyges was the event which, according to the testimony of the ancients, terminated the _Brazen age_, and of course, formed the commencement of the _Heroic age_; now, according to the testimony of Julius Africanus and others, this event was _coeval_ with the Exodus from Egypt; and, according to the testimony of Eratosthenes and others, as expiscated by Mr. Clinton, the Ionic migration was a few years earlier than the foundation of Solomon’s temple, and may, therefore, be considered as the event which terminated the _Heroic age_, and not the fall of Troy, as stated by Dr. Hales, which, according to the best authorities, occurred about a _century and a-half_ before the Scriptural era in question. No shorter period than this at least would be sufficient to settle all the mighty events which resulted from the ἰλιὰς κακῶν, or multitude of evils springing from the Trojan war, and the