Editing Three-age system (section)

=== The Progress of Lucretius ===
The moral metaphor of the ages of metals continued. [[Lucretius]], however, replaced moral degradation with the concept of progress,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beye |first=Charles Rowan |date=January 1963 |title=Lucretius and Progress |journal=The Classical Journal |volume=58 |issue=4 |pages=160–169}}</ref> which he conceived to be like the growth of an individual human being. The concept is evolutionary:<ref>[[De Rerum Natura]], Book V, about Line 800 ff. The translator is [[Ronald Latham]].</ref>

<blockquote>For the nature of the world as a whole is altered by age. Everything must pass through successive phases. Nothing remains forever what it was. Everything is on the move. Everything is transformed by nature and forced into new paths ... The Earth passes through successive phases, so that it can no longer bear what it could, and it can now what it could not before.</blockquote>

[[File:Lucretius De Rerum Natura 1675 page 1.jpg|thumb|First page of {{lang|la|De Rerum Natura}} (1675), with a dedication to {{lang|la|Alma Venus}}]]
The Romans believed that animal species and humans were spontaneously generated from the materials of the Earth, because of which the Latin word {{lang|la|mater}} 'mother', descends to English-speakers as ''matter'' and ''material''. In Lucretius the Earth is a mother, Venus, to whom the poem is dedicated in the first few lines. She brought forth humankind by spontaneous generation. Having been given birth as a species, humans must grow to maturity by analogy with the individual. The different phases of their collective life are marked by the accumulation of customs to form material civilization:<ref>''[[De Rerum Natura]]'', Book V, around Line 1200 ff.</ref>

<blockquote>The earliest weapons were hands, nails and teeth. Next came stones and branches wrenched from trees, and fire and flame as soon as these were discovered. Then men learnt to use tough iron and copper. With copper they tilled the soil. With copper they whipped up the clashing waves of war, ... Then by slow degrees the iron sword came to the fore; the bronze sickle fell into disrepute; the ploughman began to cleave the earth with iron, ...</blockquote>

Lucretius envisioned a pre-technological human that was "far tougher than the men of today ... They lived out their lives in the fashion of wild beasts roaming at large."<ref>''De Rerum Natura'', Book V around Line 940 ff.</ref> The next stage was the use of huts, fire, clothing, language and the family. City-states, kings and citadels followed them. Lucretius supposes that the initial smelting of metal occurred accidentally in forest fires. The use of copper followed the use of stones and branches and preceded the use of iron.