Its goat’s self, a Chimaera should breathe forth From such a body fierce flame at the mouth? Therefore he who can fable that when earth Was new and the sky young, such animals Could have been propagated, resting alone Upon this vain term, newness, he no doubt Will babble out many follies in like fashion, Will say that rivers then throughout the earth Commonly flowed with gold, that trees were wont To bloom with jewels, or that man was born Of such huge bulk and force that he could wade With giant strides across deep seas and turn The whole heaven round about him with his hands. For the fact that there were many seeds of things Within the earth at that time when it first Shed living creatures forth, is yet no proof That beasts could have been born of mingled kinds, Or limbs of different animals joined together; Because the various families of plants, The crops and thriving trees, which even now Teem upward from the soil luxuriantly, Can yet never be born woven together; But each thing has its own process of growth: All must preserve their mutual differences, Governed by Nature’s irreversible law. But that first race of men in the open fields Was hardier far, (small wonder, since hard Earth Had brought it forth,) built too around a frame Of bones more large and solid, knit together By powerful sinews; nor was it easily Impaired by heat or cold, nor by strange foods, Nor yet by any bodily disease. And during many revolving periods Of the sun through the sky, they lived their lives After the roving habit of wild beasts. No one was then the bent plough’s stalwart guide, None yet had knowledge how to till the fields With iron, or plant young saplings in the soil, Nor how to lop old boughs from the tall trees With pruning-hooks. What suns and rains had given, What of her own free will Earth had brought forth, Was enough bounty to content their hearts. ’Neath acorn-bearing oak-trees their wont was To alleviate their hunger; and those berries Which now upon the arbutus you see Ripening to scarlet hues in winter-time, The Earth then bore more plentifully and larger Than in these days. Moreover then the world’s Luxuriant youth gave birth to many kinds Of coarse food, ample enough for wretched men. But to allay their thirst rivers and springs Invited, as now waters, tumbling down From the great mountains with clear-sounding plash, Summon from far the thirsting tribes of beasts. Furthermore in their roamings they would visit Those renowned silvan precincts of the Nymphs, Caverns wherefrom they knew that copious streams, Gushing forth smoothly, bathed the dripping rocks, (The dripping rocks, o’er green moss trickling down,) Or sometimes welled up over the level plain. As yet they knew not how to employ fire,