" COMRADE, the ancients for each other bore
True friendliness, living their lives in peace,
With neither villainy nor servitude
Nor other yokes; nor had they freedom sold
For all of Araby's or Phrygia's wealth.
The bargain had been bad at any rate.
They made no pilgrimages — never left
Their native shores in search of foreign lands.
Not yet had Jason passed beyond the seas;
And he was first to compass such a feat
When he his ships assembled for the search
Of fabled golden fleece. But when they saw
The sailing ships make war against the waves,
Neptune and Triton fell into a rage,
As Doris did, and all her daughters, too.
They thought they were by magic ruse betrayed,
They were so fearful when they saw the ships
Skimming the ocean at the sailors' will.
Our first forefathers never mounted ship.
What seemed worth seeking they found on the land.
Equally rich, they lived in loyal love;
And, since by nature each was loved by each,
They led in peace their simple, pleasant lives.
Love then depended not on simony,
For no one of his friend demanded aught.
" But then Deceit came charging, lance at rest,
And Sin and Evil Chance — Contentment's foes.
In state came Pride (she scorns equality)
With Covetousness, Envy, Avarice,
And all the other vices. Poverty
They brought from Hell, where she had lived so long
That none on earth knew anything of her;
For in this world she ne'er had been before.
Evil the early day when she appeared,
For her arrival was the worst of all!
Uneasy Poverty brought Theft, her son,
Who quickly to the gibbet found his way —
Thinking to aid his mother — and some day
Will hang, for Poverty can give no aid;
Nor can Faint Heart, his father, whose distress
At the event left him in sorry state;
Nor can the maid Laverna, guide of thieves,
Goddess and governess, who hides the crimes
Of night, and covers treacheries with mist,
So that they are not manifest, indeed,
Until investigation finds them out,
Arrests are made, and in the end all's proved.
She has no pity when one thrusts his neck
Within the noose, nor will she then go bail
Even for one she knows repents his deed.
" Soon as these cursed fiends, with fury fired,
Seeing men lead such lives, o'erran the earth
With Envy, Anger, Slander, Grief, and Hate,
And Discontent, sowing discord and war,
Men held gold dear, and so they flayed the earth —
Drew from her entrails, from her ancient caves,
Metals and precious stones which all desired;
For Avarice and Covetousness fixed
Within their hearts the urge to gather wealth.
One strove to gain; another sought to keep;
Neither would spend while he remained alive,
But, if no mishap fell, preserved his goods
For his executors and heirs at death;
And none would care enough to voice regret,
But all would say it was his proper end.
When once the fiends had thus seduced the folk
And led each one astray, they all forsook
Their former life, becoming cozeners,
Nor ever after left their evil deeds.
Then they established private real estate —
Apportioned out the land, and verges fixed,
And even fought about the boundaries,
Each taking what he could, the powerful
Obtaining necessarily the most.
But while these went about their enterprise
The lazy, who remained at home, despoiled
The caverns where the rich had stored their wealth.
" Then all agreed that one they'd find to guard
The homes, and seize the thieves, and be a judge
Of all complaints, nor opposition fear.
So they assembled to elect a king.
They chose a sturdy peasant, big of bone,
The largest limbed and tallest that there was,
To be of all the seignor and the prince.
He promised that he justice would dispense
And guard their homes, if individually
They would contribute means for him to live.
It was agreed, as books and records tell;
And for a time he that position kept.
But the malicious thieves, assembling oft
To steal the goods when they saw him alone,
Sound beatings gave him. Once again the folk
Assembled and agreed to pay a tax
Which should provide retainers for the prince.
They gave him large apportionment of land,
Tribute, and income. Thus the kings of earth,
And princes, had their origin, 'tis said
In ancient books. We should most grateful be,
And give great praise and thanks unto the men
Who wrote them; for 'tis only by their scripts
That we have knowledge of the ancients' deeds.
" Then men amassed great treasuries of gold
And precious stones and silver. They stamped coins
From both these metals, malleable and rare.
Vessels and buttons, clasps and rings they made,
And purses also from the costly ores.
From iron hard they armor forged: their knives,
Long swords and poleaxes and coats of mail
And daggers — fought their neighbors with all these.
Then towers and escarpments they must make,
And walls of quarried stone to hem their towns,
Their castles, and their gated palaces;
For every rich man trembled in his fear
Lest all the gold he'd gathered should be lost —
Stolen by craft or carried off by force.
Much did their woes increase in that sad hour
When not a wretch could longer be assured
Of that which formerly had been as free
As sun and air; so were men bound to wealth
That avarice made them appropriate
All that they could, till one man was more rich
Than twenty should be. No good came from that!
" Certainly I'd not two buttons give
For such base gluttons; little would I care,
No matter how much happiness they lacked.
Let them or love or hate, or sell their love!
And yet it is too bad, and cause for grief,
When clear-eyed ladies, fair and frolicsome,
Who should a loyal love preserve and prize,
Descend into such slavery; a thing
Too foul it is to hear that they should sell
Their all-too-noble bodies for the love of gold. "