The age of iron came first, the infancy of society, when men were poor and ignorant of the arts; it is the present condition of the savages of Africa and America.

The age of bronze ensued, in which there was more security, better laws, and the invention of the most necessary arts began.

There followed the age of silver, and Europe has not yet emerged from it.

Our reason has indeed reached the point of considering how war may be abolished, and is thus approaching the golden age of the future; but the art of government and the general regulation of society, notwithstanding all the improvements of the past, is still in its infancy.

Yet all that is needed is a short series of wise reigns in our European states to reach the age of gold or, in other words, a paradise on earth.
A few wise reigns.