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THE FOUR AGES OF POETRY
Qui inter hec nutriuntur non magis sapere possunt, quam bene
olere qui in culina habitant. PETRONIUS,
Portry, like the world, may be said to have four ages,
but in a different order: the first age of poetry being the
agé of iron; the second, of gold; the third, of silver;
and the fourth, of brass.
The first, or iron age of poetry, is that in which rude
bards celebrate in rough numbers the exploits of ruder
chiefs, in days when every man is a warrior, and when the
great practical maxim of every form of society, “ to keep
what we have and to catch what we can,” is not yet dis-
guised under names of justice and forms of law, but is
the naked motto of the staked sword, which is the only
judge and jury in every question of meum and tuum. In
these days, the only three trades flourishing (besides that
of priest which flourishes always) are those of king, thief,
and beggar: the beggar being for the most part a king
deject, and the thief a king expectant. The first question
asked of a stranger is, whether he is a beggar or a thief *:
the stranger, in reply, usually assumes the first, and awaits
@ convenient opportunity to prove his claim to the second
appellation.
The natural desire of every man to engross to himself
as much power and property as he can acquire by any of
the means which might makes right, is accompanied by
* See the Odyssey, passim: and Thucydides, I. 5,
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