consider a crime contrary to human nature, and horrible. When I wanted
to tell them that on this Earth there were wars, depredations, and
murders, they turned away, and refused to hear. It has been told me by
the angels that the Most Ancient inhabitants of our Earth dwelt in the
same manner, that is to say, distinguished into clans, families, and
households, and that all in those times were content with their own
goods; and that it was an entirely unknown thing for one to enrich
himself with the goods of others, or to assume dominion from the love
of self; and that on this account the Ancient, and especially the Most
Ancient times, were more acceptable to the Lord than those which have
succeeded them; and that, as their state was such, innocence then
reigned, and, together with innocence, wisdom; that every one then did
what was good for the sake of good, and what was just for the sake of
justice; that they did not know what it was to do what was good and
just with a view to their own honour, or for the sake of gain; and
that in those times they spoke nothing but what was true, and this not
so much from truth as from good, that is, not from the Intellectual
separate [from the Voluntary], but from the Voluntary conjoined with
the Intellectual. Such were the Ancient times. Angels then could
therefore have habitual intercourse with men, and carry their minds,
almost separated from corporeal things, into heaven, and could even
lead them about there, and show them the magnificent and goodly
things there, and also communicate to them their own happinesses and
delights. These times were also known to ancient writers, who called
them the Golden, and likewise the Saturnian times. The reason why
these times were such was, as has been stated, that men then lived
distinguished into clans, clans into families, and families into
households, and every household dwelt by itself; and that it then
never entered into any one's mind (_mens_) to seize upon another's
inheritance, and thus acquire for himself opulence and dominion: the