Classic Poem

Then formd our Father Jove a third Descent;
Whose Age was brazen; clearely different
From that of Silver. All the Mortalls there,
Of wilde Ashe fashiond; stubborne and austere;
Whose Mindes the harmefull facts of Mars affected;
And Petulant Injurie . All Meates rejected,
Of Naturall fruits, and Hearbs. And these were They,
That first began that Table Cruelty,
Of slaughtering Beasts; And therefore grew they fierce;
And not to be indur'd, in their Commerce.
Their ruthlesse Mindes in Adamant were cut;
Their strengths were dismall; And their shoulders put
Inaccessible hands out, over all
Their brawny limbs, armd with a brazen wall.
Their Houses all were brazen; All of Brasse,
Their working Instruments; for blacke Iron was
As yet unknowne: And, these (their owne lives ending;
The vast, and cold-sad house of hell-descending)
No grace had in their ends: But though they were
Never so powrefull; and enforcing feare;
Blacke Death reduc't their Greatnes in their spight,
T'a little Roome; And stopt their chearefull light.