And its memory is possibly preserved in the tradition of the Golden Age, golden only in the sense that man was not troubled either by memory or anticipation, and lived only for the day.

The entire insecurity of life and its frequent end by starvation or a violent death did not therefore trouble him any more than is the case with animals.

He took no thought for the morrow, nor did the ills of yesterday oppress his mind.

As when one of a herd of deer is shot by a hunter and the others stand by it pityingly as it lies dying on the ground, uncertain of its mishap, though they would help it if they could; yet when they perceive the hunter they make quickly off and in a few minutes are again grazing happily a mile or two away: little or no more than this can primitive man be supposed to have been affected by the deaths of his fellows.

But possibly, since he was carnivorous, the sick and old may have been killed for food, as is still the practice among some tribes of savages.