Cursed steel and more accursed gold

The golden age was first, when Man yet new,
No rule but uncorrupted reason knew,
And, with a native bent, did good pursue.
Unforc'd by punishment, un-aw'd by fear,
His words were simple, and his soul sincere...

Hard steel succeeded then,
And stubborn as the metal, were the men.
Truth, modesty, and shame, the world forsook,
Fraud, avarice, and force, their places took...

Thus cursed steel, and more accursed gold,
Gave mischief birth, and made that mischief bold,
And double death did wretched Man invade,
By steel assaulted, and by gold betray'd,
Now brandish'd weapons glittering in their hands,
Mankind is broken loose from moral bands.

Ovid. Metamorphoses. Book The First. Sections from The Golden Age and The Iron Age.

Image: Rome Invicta courtesy of Total War: Rome II games.