from the earth and have the name of earth-born, and so the above legend

clings to them.

YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly that is quite consistent with what has

preceded; but tell me, was the life which you said existed in the reign

of Cronos in that cycle of the world, or in this? For the change in the

course of the stars and the sun must have occurred in both.

STRANGER: I see that you enter into my meaning;--no, that blessed and

spontaneous life does not belong to the present cycle of the world, but

to the previous one, in which God superintended the whole revolution of

the universe; and the several parts the universe were distributed under

the rule of certain inferior deities, as is the way in some places

still. There were demigods, who were the shepherds of the various

species and herds of animals, and each one was in all respects

sufficient for those of whom he was the shepherd; neither was there any

violence, or devouring of one another, or war or quarrel among them;

and I might tell of ten thousand other blessings, which belonged to that

dispensation. The reason why the life of man was, as tradition says,

spontaneous, is as follows: In those days God himself was their

shepherd, and ruled over them, just as man, who is by comparison a

divine being, still rules over the lower animals. Under him there were

no forms of government or separate possession of women and children;

for all men rose again from the earth, having no memory of the past. And

although they had nothing of this sort, the earth gave them fruits in

abundance, which grew on trees and shrubs unbidden, and were not planted

Statesman