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【正文】 progress and also evil（文明和邪惡） . ? 5)The Four Ages ? There had been four ages since the human world first came into existence ? In his Works and Days, Hesiod holds that there were five ages, and that between the age of Bronze and that of Iron there had been a Heroic Age when men, half Human and half god, were all brave and noble and great ,and performed heroic deeds of which the wars of Thebes and Troy were but two notable examples. ? This view was accepted by Gustav Schwab (1792 1850) when he attempted to tell the stories of gods and heroes in a consistent and more systematic way. However, books on Greek and Roman mythology are legion and opinions sometimes vastly differ. When Ovid gives an account of the four ages in his Metamorphosis his version is followed by quite a few writers of later times. Sir Gee was one of them. The Golden Age was the best of all. It was an age when Kronus sat on the throne. ? Bounteous nature satisfied all the wants of men. There were no extremes of cold and heat. And the evils of the human world were still kept in the cask which Epimetheus guarded and Pandora was not yet made to lived a blissful life, for ever young, always feasting and revelling（狂歡） , and knowing neither toil nor sorrow. When death came it came like a peaceful sleep, and they became good spirits watching over mortal men. ? The Sliver Age was one in which the human race was somewhat inferior in body and mind. The period of helpless infancy lasted a hundred years, and the time of manhood, short and troubled, men spent in ignorance and evil. They no longer worshipped the gods and offered no sacrifices. However, as the race of the Silver Age was not entirely devoid of virtue, they had some honour and lived on as spirits under the earth. ? During the Age of Bronze men further degenerated. Clad in bronze and armed with weapons of bronze, they lived in houses of bronze. Ruthless and ferocious, they delighted in war and perished in ceaseless internecine strife（內(nèi)訌） . When they died they descended into the darkness of the lower world. ? The last age, that of Iron, was one of endless care and grief. There was no family love, no sense of filial duty, no friendship and hospitality. Nor was there any faith, truth and justice. Evil was rampant, might was right and the flames of war scorched the earth. It was a race of men deserted by gods. ? 6)The Flood ? Towards the end of the Age of Bronze the human world became very wicked. Men grew greedy, insolent and impious. Neither right nor law was respected any longer, and the rule of hospitality was fotten. Disguised in human form, Zeus visited Arcadia and Thessaly, and was disgusted with the deadly sins of men. He decided to clear the earth of them all. Without hesitation he released the rainy south wind and called upon the merciless Poseidon to help. ? Soon the whole world was submerged in a boundless ocean, and the entire human race perished in the unprecedented flood, all but two humble Thessalians. These were an old childless couple, kind and pious and contented with life. The man was called Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha. Son of Prometheus, Deucalion had been forewarned by his father of the forthing flood and had made himself a huge chest. When the roaring deluge came the ? couple took refuge in it and floated for nine days until it touched land again on Mt Parnassus. The once bustling world presented an unnerving sight. It was now all death and devastation. Feeling lonely and insecure, the old couple prayed to the gods for help. An oracle instructed them to cast the bones of their mother about. The son of the wise Titan, having divined the true meaning of the mysterious mand
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