Gold

[sdi]

Socrates. [...] I think, indeed, that [Hesiod] calls [dæmons] a "golden race," not as naturally composed from gold, but as being beautiful and good: but I infer this, from his denominating our race an "iron" one.

(Plato, Cratylus 397e)

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When asked how men might live most virtuously and most justly, Thales said, "If we never do ourselves what we blame in others."

(Diogenes Laertius, The Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers I ii "Thales" §19)

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One wonders if the "golden race" is "golden" because they practice the "golden rule?"

Comments

[sdi]

And if the "iron race" is "iron" because they practice the "iron rule" (e.g. "might makes right")?