Another story is that Pandora was sent in good faith, by Jupiter, to bless man; that she was furnished with a box, containing her marriage presents, into which every god had put some blessing.  She opened the box incautiously, and the blessings all escaped, hope only excepted.  This story seems more probable than the former; for how could hope, so precious a jewel as it is, have been kept in a jar full of all manner of evils, as in the former statement?

The world being thus furnished with inhabitants, the first age was an age of innocence and happiness, called the Golden Age.  Truth and right prevailed, though not enforced by law, nor was there any magistrate to threaten or punish.  The forest had not yet been robbed of its trees to furnish timbers for vessels, nor had men built fortifications round their towns.  There were no such things as swords, spears, or helmets.  The earth brought forth all things necessary for man, without his labor in ploughing or sowing.  Perpetual spring reigned, flowers sprang up without seed, the rivers flowed with milk and wine, and yellow honey distilled from the oaks.

Then succeeded the Silver Age, inferior to the golden, but better than that of brass.  Jupiter shortened the spring, and divided the year into seasons.  Then, first, men had to endure the extremes of heat and cold, and houses became necessary.  Caves were the first dwellings, and leafy coverts of the woods, and huts woven of twigs.  Crops would no longer grow without planting.  The farmer was obliged to sow the seed and the toiling ox to draw the plough.

Next came the Brazen Age, more savage of temper, and readier to the strife of arms, yet not altogether wicked.  The hardest and worst was the Iron Age.  Crime burst in like a flood; modesty, truth, and honor fled.  In their places came fraud and cunning, violence, and the wicked love of gain.  Then seamen spread sails to the wind, and the trees were torn from the mountains to serve for keels to ships, and vex the face of ocean.  The earth, which till now had been cultivated in common, began to be divided off into possessions.  Men were not satisfied with what the surface produced, but must dig into its bowels, and draw forth from thence the ores of metals.  Mischievous iron, and more mischievous gold, were produced.  War sprang up, using both as weapons; the guest was not safe in his friend’s house; and sons-in-law and fathers-in-law, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, could not trust one another.  Sons wished their fathers dead, that they might come to the inheritance; family love lay prostrate.  The earth was wet with slaughter, and the gods abandoned it, one by one, till Astraea alone was left, and finally she also took her departure.

[Footnote:  The goddess of innocence and purity.  After leaving earth, she was placed among the stars, where she became the constellation Virgo—­the Virgin.  Themis (Justice) was the mother of Astraea.  She is represented as holding aloft a pair of scales, in which she weighs the claims of opposing parties.