49、他们继续告诉我说，他们分为各个民族、家族和家庭，都与自己的亲戚分开生活。因此，他们只与自己的亲戚来往。没有人贪恋别人的财物；他们心里从不渴望占有别人的东西，更不用说阴谋骗取了，最不会入室抢劫。他们把这种行为视为违反人性的罪恶，因而觉得令人憎恶。当我想告诉他们，我们地球上有战争、抢劫和谋杀时，他们就转过身去不愿听。
天使告诉我，这个星球的上古之人也是这样生活的，也就是说，他们分成各个民族、家族和家庭。那时，所有人都满足于自己的财物，完全不知道利用别人的财物致富这种事，也不知道自私地去掌控别人。因此缘故，古时候，尤其上古时期，比以后的时期更蒙主悦纳。这就是他们的状态，所以与智慧结合的纯真在那里占主导地位。人人都出于良善行良善，出于公义行公义。他们不知道什么叫为了自己的名声或好处行良善和公义。同时，他们只谈论真理，与其说是出于真理谈论，不如说是出于良善谈论；也就是说，他们的动机不是出于脱离意愿的理解力，而出于与理解力结合的意愿。古时候就是这样；因此，那时天使能与他们交谈，几乎把他们的心智从身体提升出来，带他们上天堂。事实上，天使能带他们周游天堂，向他们展示那里的壮丽辉煌和蒙福的事物，和他们分享自己的幸福、快乐。古代作家们也知道这个时代，并称其为黄金时代或土星时代。
这个时代之所以是这样子，是因为那时人们分成各个民族，各个民族又分为各个家族，这些家族又分为各个家庭，每个家庭都分开单独居住。谁也没有侵犯别人遗产，从而为自己获取财富和统治权的想法。人们不知道爱自己、爱世界。人人都因自己的财物而非别人的财物欢喜快乐。但随着时间推移，当人们的思想充满对权力和巨额财产的贪婪时，这种场景就变了，完全走向反面。然后，为了自保，人类便聚集形成王国和帝国。由于被铭刻在人们心上的仁爱和良心的律法不再起作用，所以有必要立法制止暴行，甚至对守法行为奖以荣誉和利益，对不服从的行为施以惩罚。当尘世的状态发生如此大的变化时，天堂就远离了人；当人们不再知道天堂和地狱是否存在，甚至有些人还否认它们的存在时，天堂离当今时代越来越远。说这些话是为了通过并列来说明木星居民的状态，以及他们的正直和智慧从何而来。更多详情容后再述。
49. They went on to tell me that the inhabitants were divided into peoples, extended families, and individual households, 1and that all of the inhabitants lived separately like this, among their own. This meant that they spent most of their time with their relatives. Further, no one longed for anyone else’s possessions. It never crossed anyone’s mind to covet something that belonged to someone else, let alone to lay claim to it by some scheme, still less to break in and steal it. They regarded this as a crime against human nature-as something horrendous.
When I tried to tell them that in our world there are wars and robberies and murders, they turned away and did not want to hear it.
[2] Angels have told me that the earliest people on our planet lived like that. 2They too were divided into peoples, extended families, and households. All of them were content with what they had. Profiting at the expense of others and ruling over others out of self-love were utterly unknown to them. This was why ancient times on this earth and especially the earliest times were preferred by the Lord over later times. Since this was the prevalent state, innocence reigned supreme then, accompanied by wisdom. Everyone did what was good because it was good, and what was upright because it was upright. They knew nothing about doing things that were good and upright only for the sake of their own reputation or for profit. Back then people did not say anything unless it was true, and this was not so much because it was the truth as because doing so was good-that is, not just from their understanding by itself but from their will in conjunction with their understanding. That is what ancient times were like.
Because of this, angels were able to interact with people on earth in those days and lift people’s minds almost entirely out of their bodily perspective into heaven. Angels were able to take people around heaven and show them grand and joyful things, sharing their own joys and happiness with them. These times were well known to ancient authors, who called them the Golden or Saturnian Age. 3
[3] The reason those times were like this was, as just noted, that the ancients lived divided into peoples. The peoples were divided into extended families, the extended families were divided into households, and each household lived as a separate unit. It never crossed anyone’s mind to claim someone else’s inheritance in order to gain wealth and power. Self-love and love for the world were then far away. People were just as happy when things went well for someone else as when they went well for themselves.
[4] As time went on, though, and a craving for power and excessive wealth invaded the mind, the situation reversed. Humankind then gathered into kingdoms and empires for the sake of safety; and since the laws of caring and conscience that had been written on the human heart became no longer operative, people needed to enact laws to constrain violence, laws that used status and wealth as rewards and loss of status and wealth as punishments.
Because of this change in our state, heaven began moving farther and farther away from us; and this has continued to the present age, when people are no longer sure whether there is a heaven or a hell, and some even flatly deny that they exist.
I mention this to illustrate by parallelism what the state of people from Jupiter is like and why they have such integrity and wisdom, which will be described in what follows.
Footnotes:
1. The Latin word here translated “extended families” is familias; the word translated “individual households” is domus. The Latin word for family, like its English counterpart, may refer to a nuclear or extended family. However, a distinction is being made here between “families” and “households” that suggests that “extended family” is the intended meaning. It has a similar meaning at Other Planets 174 and Secrets of Heaven 1261, 5598. The elasticity of the term is worth noting: in the account of the spirits of Saturn in Other Planets 103, a “family” is explicitly said to consist solely of husband, wife, and immediate non-adult children; and at Secrets of Heaven 10272, a “family” is equated with a “household.” [SS, GFD]
2. For passages in which Swedenborg describes the character and lifestyle of the earliest people on our earth, and how they were different from people of later ages and from the people in the Christian church as it existed up to Swedenborg’s day, see Secrets of Heaven 54, 470-471, 483, 1246, 2896, 4489, 4493; New Jerusalem 9; Marriage Love 205. [LSW]
3. One of the earliest mentions in Western literature of four ages denoted by metals is the famous passage in the Works and Days (= Hesiod 1914) 109-201 of the Greek poet Hesiod (flourished around 700 B.C.E.). According to Hesiod, the people of the Golden Age “lived like gods without sorrow of heart” and supposedly survived in the form of “pure spirits dwelling on the earth, . . . kindly, delivering from harm, and guardians of mortal men.” The subsequent ages gradually declined to our age, the Age of Iron. The term “Saturnian Age” derives from the legend that Saturn (the Roman counterpart of the Greek Kronos, father of the gods) was the benign ruler of the Golden Age. For other classical references to the theme of the four ages, see Vergil Eclogues 4; Ovid Metamorphoses 1:89-112. Swedenborg discusses these ages in several of his other works including Worship and Love of God 1-2; Secrets of Heaven 1551:1, 5658:2, 10355:2-3; Heaven and Hell 115; Marriage Love 75-76; and True Christianity 762. For references to these ages in other literature of Swedenborg’s day, see Helander 2004, 430-433. [RS, JSR]
49. They went on to tell me that they are divided into tribes, families and households, each of which live in separate groups composed only of their own people. As a result they associate only with their kinsfolk. No one ever covets another's property, so it never occurs to anyone to desire anything which is another's, much less to devise schemes for getting hold of it, still less to seize and plunder it. They regard this as a crime against human nature and therefore repulsive. When I wanted to tell them that in our world we have wars, plundering and murders, they turned their backs, and refused to listen.
[2] I was told by angels that the earliest people in this world lived in similar fashion, divided into tribes, families and households. They were then all content with their own property, and it was unheard of to get rich at the expense of others' property, or selfishly to dominate others. For this reason ancient times, and especially the most ancient period, were more pleasing to the Lord than those which followed. Since such was their state, there was a reign of innocence coupled with wisdom. Everyone then did good out of goodness and honest deeds out of honesty. They did not know what it was to do good and honest deeds for one's own reputation or advantage. Then too they spoke nothing but the truth, not so much for truth's sake as because of goodness; that is to say, their motive came not from the intellectual faculty acting alone, but from the voluntary faculty combined with the intellectual.
Such were ancient times, so that angels could then mix with human beings, and virtually lift their minds out of bodily thoughts and carry them off into heaven. In fact, they could take them touring around heaven, showing off its magnificence and happiness, sharing with them their own happiness and pleasures. The ancient writers too knew about this period and called it the Golden Age or the reign of Saturn.
[3] The reason the period was like this was, as I said, that they lived divided into tribes, the tribes divided into families, and these into households, each household living by itself. Then it never occurred to anyone to seize another's inheritance in order to acquire wealth from it or power. Selfishness and love of the world were unknown. Every one was happy with his own property, and no less happy at other people's property. But as time went on, this scene changed and turned into its opposite, when men's minds were seized with the greed for power and great possessions. Then to protect itself the human race grouped itself into kingdoms and empires. Since the laws of charity and conscience, which men had had inscribed on their hearts, ceased to operate, it became necessary to pass legislation to control violent acts, so as to reward observance with honours and advantages and disobedience with punishments. This brought about so great a change that heaven itself moved away from men, retreating further and further down to the present age, when people no longer know whether heaven or hell exist, and some actually deny their existence. The purpose of these remarks is to illustrate by a parallel the condition of the people of the world of Jupiter, and to show where their uprightness and wisdom too come from. More will be said about this in what follows.
49. They further related that they are there distinguished into nations, families, and houses, and that they all live apart with their own kindred; and that hence their interaction is confined to relatives; likewise, that no one ever covets the goods of another; and that it never enters into their minds to desire the possessions of another, still less to obtain them fraudulently, and least of all to break in and plunder. This they consider as a crime against human nature, and regard it as horrible. When I would have told them that on this earth there are wars, depredations, and murders, they then turned away, and were unwilling to hear. It was declared to me by the angels that the most ancient people on this earth lived in like manner, namely, that they were distinguished into nations, families, and houses that all at that time were content with their own possessions that it was a thing altogether unknown for one person to enrich himself from the goods of another, and to have dominion from self-love; and that on this account the ancient times, and especially the most ancient, were more acceptable to the Lord than succeeding times: and such being the state of the world, innocence also then reigned, and with it wisdom; every one then did what was good from good, and what was just from justice. To do what is good and just with a view to their own honor, or gain, was unknown. At the same time they spoke nothing but what was true, and this not so much from truth as from good, that is, not from the understanding separate from the will, but from the will conjoined with the understanding. Such were the ancient times; wherefore angels could then converse with men, and convey their minds, almost separate from things corporeal, into heaven, yea, lead them about, and show them the magnificent and blessed things there, and likewise communicate to them their happinesses and delights. These times were known also to the ancient writers, and were by them called the golden and also Saturnian ages. The reason that those times were such, was owing to this, that men were then distinguished into nations, nations into families, and families into houses, and every house lived apart by itself; and it then never entered into any one's mind to invade another's inheritance, and thence acquire to himself opulence and dominion. Self-love and the love of the world were then far removed; every one rejoiced in his own, and not less in his neighbor's good. But in succeeding times this scene was changed, and totally reversed, when the lust of dominion and of large possessions invaded the mind. Then mankind, for the sake of self-defense, collected themselves into kingdoms and empires; and because the laws of charity and of conscience, which were inscribed on the hearts, ceased, it became necessary to enact laws in order to restrain violence, in which honors and gains were rewards, and privation of them punishments. When the state of the world was thus changed, heaven removed itself from man, and this more and more even to this age, when it is no longer known whether there is a heaven and a hell, yea, by some it is denied. These things are said, that it may be illustrated by the parallel, what is the state of the inhabitants of the earth Jupiter, and whence they have their probity, and also their wisdom, concerning which more will be said hereafter.
49. Porro narrabant, quod ibi distincti sint in gentes, familias et domos, et quod omnes separatim cum suis habitent; quodque conversationes sint inde intra affinitates: tum quod nusquam aliquis alterius bona cupiat; et quod nec in animum veniat aliquid ex alterius bonis concupiscere, minus aliqua arte sibi vindicare, et adhuc minus invadere et diripere; hoc ut facinus contra naturam humanam, ac ut horrendum, reputant. Cum dicere vellem, quod in hac Tellure sint bella, depraedationes, et neces, tunc avertebant se, et aversabantur audire. Quod Antiquissimi in hac Tellure Similiter habitaverint, mihi ab angelis dictum est, nempe quod distincti in Gentes, Familias et Domos, et quod omnes tunc contenti suis bonis fuerint; et quod ex bonis aliorum ditescere, ut et dominari ex amore sui prorsus ignotum fuerit: et quod ideo antiqua tempora, ac imprimis antiquissima, Domino prae sequentibus accepta fuerint: et quia talis status fuit, quod etiam tunc regnaverit Innocentia, et cum illa Sapientia; quod quisque tunc bonum egerit ex bono, ac justum ex justo; quid facere bonum et justum propter honorem sui, aut propter lucrum, quod non sciverint; et quod tunc non loquuti sint nisi verum, et hoc non ita ex vero quam ex bono, hoc est, non ex intellectuali separato, sed ex voluntario cum intellectuali conjuncto. Talia fuerunt Tempora antiqua; quapropter tunc potuerunt Angeli conversari cum hominibus, ac illorum mentes paene separatas a corporeis in coelum auferre, imo illas ibi circumducere, et magnifica ibi et felicia monstrare, ut et felicia sua et jucunda cum illis communicare: haec Tempora etiam Scriptoribus antiquis fuerunt nota, et ab illis appellata Aurea, et quoque Saturnina. Causa, quod illa Tempore talia fuerint, erat, ut dictum, quod vixerint distincti in gentes, ac gentes in familias, et familiae in domos, ac unaquaevis domus per se habitaverit; quodque tunc non alicui in mentem venerit, haereditatem alterius invadere, ac inde opulentiam sibi et dominium acquirere; longe aberat tunc amor sui et amor mundi; quisque tunc laetus erat ex suo, et non minus ex alterius bono. Sed haec scena mutata est, et in contrariam versa, succedente tempore, cum animos invasit cupiditas dominandi et multa possidendi; tunc Genus humanum se tutandi causa congregavit in Regna et Imperia; et quia cessaverunt leges charitatis et conscientiae, quae inscriptae cordibus fuerunt, leges ad compescendas violentias ferre necessum fuit, in quibus honores et lucra erant praemia, ac privationes illorum poenae. Cum ita status mutatus est, ipsum coelum se removit ab homine, et hoc magis et magis usque ad haec saecula, dum non amplius scitur num Coelum et num Infernum sint, imo ab aliquibus negatur quod sint. Haec dicta sunt, ut per parallelismum illustretur, qualis status illorum est qui in tellure Jovis, ac unde illorum probitas, et quoque sapientia, de qua plura in sequentibus.