*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Pleased with earth’s unbought feasts: all ills removed,

Wealthy in flocks,[4] and of the Blest beloved,

Death, as a slumber, pressed their eyelids down:

All Nature’s common blessings were their own.

The life-bestowing tilth its fruitage bore,

A full, spontaneous, and ungrudging store.

They with abundant goods, ’midst quiet lands,

All willing, shared the gatherings of their hands.

When Earth’s dark breast had closed this race around,