Zeus, lord of Mount Olympus and father of the d**hless gods, was also the father of human beings. The first generation of mortals to inhabit the earth was known as the Race of Gold. The mortals were pure in heart and in deed. They respected both their fellow human beings and the d**hless gods, and the immortal loved them in return. Because they treated on another justly, they needed neither written laws nor courts nor punishments. They lived carefree and easy lives, in freedom, safety, and peace. Since fear, grief and hard labour never touched their lives they live long without signs of aging.
The weather treated the Gold Race kindly, providing the warmth, beauty, and sustenance of an eternal spring. Mortals did not have to work to clothe or house themselves. Flowing nectar and milk formed their rivers, and the leaves of dwarf oak trees dripped honey. They feasted by gathering the wild grains and fruits that grew abundantly about them, and they leisurely shepherded their flocks of cattle and sheep in lush, green pastures. They had the time and the desire to enjoy the wildflowers that radiantly blossomed in the sunshine and the stars that shone in the night sky.
The Race of Gold had no wish to possess more than it already had. It was neither acquisitive nor aggressive. These mortals did not fashion boats in order to discover what lay beyond the boarders of their own land. They did not threaten other human beings, and in return, no one threatened them. They had no need to build defensive walls around their towns. They had no need to possess weapons. They had no armies, and they never heard the sound of a trumpet calling them to battle.
They died as peacefully as they lived; d**h came in the form of a gentle sleep. After their bodies became part of the earth, their spirits roamed across the land, hidden by the mists. They protected the living from any danger and taught them how to lead a just life.
When the first generation had pa**ed away, Zeus created a second generation of mortals. They were the Race of Silver, and they were far less virtuous than the Race of Gold. Although their bodies matured with the pa**age of time, the Silver Race remained juvenile in spirit. For 100 years each child stayed at home with his or her mother, isolated from the companionship and instruction of other human beings. During this time, these mortals devoted their lives solely to the pursuit of childish pleasure.
As a result, the lives of adults, the lives of the Silver Race were short and unhappy. They never learned to treat one another with kindness and consideration, and their selfish behavior created injustice and war. They did not respect the d**hless gods and made no effort to please them.
Because the Silver Race honored neither gods nor mortals, Zeus became angry with them. The father of gods and mortals changed the weather from eternal spring to a year of four seasons, which ranged from the icy cold of winter to the blistering heat of summer. Caves and sheltered forest areas no longer provided sufficient protection from the weather, so the Silver Race built the first houses.
Food was now less plentiful. The people began to yoke oxen in pairs and drive them across their fields, toiling each day during the growing season, first to plant seeds of corn and later to reap the mature ears. Zeus brought their life on earth to an early end when their bodies became part of the earth; their spirits entered the Underworld.
Then Zeus, father of gods and mortals, created the third generation of mortals, which became known as the Race of Bronze because their weapons and tools were bronze. These mortals were far inferior to the Silver Race because they were so cruel. They loved Ares, god of war, above all the other gods, and they lived by the sword. Their brute strength made them powerful, but their hearts were as unresponsive as the hardest rock.
Despite their strength and power, members of the Bronze Race died young. They brought Black d**h upon themselves through endless violence and war. When their bodies became part of the earth, their shades descended into the dark, dismal Underworld, and they left nothing of worth behind to give them a good name.
Next, Zeus created a fourth generation of mortals, which became known as the Race of Heroes. These human beings were more noble and virtuous than the members of the Silver or the Bronze Race. Some of them died in the war against Troy and in other wars, but Zeus placed those who survived upon the islands of the blessed at the ends of the earth. There, the heroes still live along the shores of Ocean*s in a land that bears a harvest of honey - sweet fruit three times a year. Grief can no longer touch them; only the honor and glory they earned during their ordinary lifetimes survive. Cronus, whom Zeus freed from his bondage in Tartarus for this purpose, rules them.
The fifth generations of mortals that Zeus placed upon the grain - giving earth is our own, the Race of Iron. Now each day is filled with work and with grief and each night many mortals die. The worst crimes in the history of humanity now occur throughout the world, and yet no mortal feels shame.
Justice and faith have left the world; treason and fraud, violence and greed have replaced them.
The Iron Race does not think of others' needs and does not share the bounty of the earth. Instead, we have divided up the earth's surface into a multitude of private properties, and we keep as we can for ourselves. We feel that the earth has not provided enough wealth in the grains she gives, so we have built ships and sailed into the unknown in order to acquire more wealth.
We have torn into the grain - giving earth, searching for riches she has hidden within her. We have found her secret treasure and have become powerful and wealthy from her deposits of iron and gold. The value of these metals has led to war, and mortal hands have become bloody as they greedily tried to grasp the golden treasures of victory.
If we do not change our ways, our behavior will destroy us. When the time comes that host and guest no longer act hospitably, when friend argues with friend and brothers are enemies, when children and their parents cannot agree with each other, when grown children forget what their parents have done for them and instead treat them with disrespect and dishonor them criticizing them and complaining bitterly because they have grown old and weak, when people who keep their word or are just or virtuous receive less respect than those who use their strength for violence and evil purposes, when those who are evil hurt those who are honorable , then Zeus will destroy our Iron Race, for we will have shown the father of gods and mortals that we are unfit to inhabit the earth the sustains us.