HAZEL. 
249 
HAZEL. 
PEACE, RECONCILIATION. 
There was a time when men were not united 
by any tie. Deaf to the voice of Nature, the 
mother would snatch from her famished son the 
wild fruit with which he was striving to appease 
the craving of hunger. If calamity reconciled 
them for a moment, all at once the sight of an 
oak loaded with acorns, or a beech-tree covered 
with mast, made them as hitter enemies as 
ever. The earth was then a scene of misery. 
There was neither law, religion, nor language. 
Man knew not his high prerogatives; his rea¬ 
son was not yet awakened; and frequently he 
proved himself more cruel than the ferocious 
beasts, whose fearful howlings he imitated. 
The gods at length took pity on men. Apollo 
and Mercury made presents to each other, and 
descended to the earth. The god of harmony 
received from the son of Maia the shell of a 
tortoise, out of which he had constructed a lyre, 
