黃金年代

"A return to goodness produced each day in the tranquil and beneficent breath of the morning, causes that in respect to the love of virtue and the hatred of vice, one approaches a little the primitive nature of man, as the sprouts of the forest which has been felled. In like manner the evil which one does in the interval of a day prevents the germs of virtues which began to spring up again from developing themselves and destroys them.

"After the germs of virtue have thus been prevented many times from developing themselves, then the beneficent breath of evening does not suffice to preserve them. As soon as the breath of evening does not suffice longer to preserve them, then the nature of man does not differ much from that of the brute. Men seeing the nature of this man like that of the brute, think that he has never possessed the innate faculty of reason. Are those the true and natural sentiments of man?"

"The Golden Age was first created, which without any avenger
Spontaneously without law cherished fidelity and rectitude.
Punishment and fear were not; nor were threatening words read
On suspended brass; nor did the suppliant crowd fear
The words of their judge; but were safe without an avenger.
Not yet the pine felled on its mountains had descended
To the liquid waves that it might see a foreign world,
And mortals knew no shores but their own.
. . . . . . .

There was eternal spring, and placid zephyrs with warm
Blasts soothed the flowers born without seed."

奧維德 Ovid (43 B.C.-7 A.D.) Roman poet

孟子曰：“牛山之木嘗美矣，以其郊於大國也，斧斤伐之，可以為美乎？是其日夜之所息，雨露之所潤，非無萌櫱之生焉，牛羊又從而牧之，是以若彼濯濯也。人見其濯濯也，以為未嘗有材焉，此豈山之性也哉？雖存乎人者，豈無仁義之心哉？其所以放其良心者，亦猶斧斤之於木也，旦旦而伐之，可以為美乎？其日夜之所息，平旦之氣，其好惡與人相近也者幾希，則其旦晝之所為，有梏亡之矣。梏之反覆，則其夜氣不足以存；夜氣不足以存，則其違禽獸不遠矣。人見其禽獸也，而以為未嘗有才焉者，是豈人之情也哉？故苟得其養，無物不長；苟失其養，無物不消。孔子曰：‘操則存，舍則亡；出入無時，莫知其鄉。’惟心之謂與？”

在那個尚未有山老鼠的黃金年代，人內心的良善亦未嘗遭砍伐。所以人們沒有任何仇敵，也無需法律規範，忠誠及正直的德性自然就能培育滋養。沒有懲罰，也沒有恐懼，不用害怕法官的威脅與恐嚇。

古印度的韋達經典記載金器年代由眾神統治世界，所有的人事物都純真至善。這個時期沒有嫉妒、憎恨、驕傲、邪惡，也沒有恐懼及悲傷。人們沒有物質欲望，懷有純粹的靈性真我意識。經典中以公牛來比喻宗教：牛之四足好比宗教四大支柱，即仁慈、苦行、潔淨、真實。在金器年代，牛之四足完整，牛也得到人們小心看顧，正如未曾遭砍伐的牛山之木。