ly by name. It has happened
to us in our turn as it happened to the ancients. For they were aware
that in times before their own the art of making glass malleable had
been discovered, so that it could be beaten into shape like copper. But
the manner in which it was accomplished was entirely unknown to them;
the fact was on record, but the cause lost. So now we know that those
who to us are the ancients had a way of making diamonds and precious
stones out of black and lustreless charcoal, a fact which approaches the
incredible. Still, we do not doubt it, though we cannot imagine by what
means it was carried out.

They also sent intelligence to the utmost parts of the earth along wires
which were not tubular, but solid, and therefore could not transmit
sound, and yet the person who received the message could hear and
recognise the voice of the sender a thousand miles away. With certain
machines worked by fire, they traversed the land swift as the swallow
glides through the sky, but of these things not a relic remains to us.
What metal-work or wheels or bars of iron were left, and might have
given us a clue, were all broken up and melted down for use in other
ways when metal became scarce.

Mounds of earth are said to still exist in the woods, which originally
formed the roads for these machines, but they are now so low, and so
covered with thickets, that nothing can be learnt from them; and,
indeed, though I have heard of their existence, I have never seen one.
Great holes were made through the very hills for the passage of the iron
chariot, but they are now blocked by the falling roofs, nor dare any one
explore such parts as may yet be open. Where are the wonderful
structures with which the men of those days were lifted to the skies,
rising above the clouds? These marvellous things are to us little more
than fables of the giants and of the old gods that walked upon the
earth, which were fables even to those whom we call the ancients.

Indeed, we have fuller knowledge of those extremely ancient times than
of the people who immediately preceded us, and the Romans and the Greeks
are more familiar to us than the men who rode in the iron chariots and
mounted to the skies. The reason why so many arts and sciences were lost
was because, as I have previously said, the most of those who were left
in the country were ignorant, rude, and unlettered. They had seen the
iron chariots, but did not understand the method of their const