The Pagan Proletariat

I can't help but notice certain parallels between the Saturnian Golden Age described by Greek and Roman poets, and the general ideals of Communist and Socialist movements. Just look at a few of these quotes:

• "No one then owned any private property;/But all things were held in common, and men lived/Untroubled by greed or avarice./There was no fear of punishment, no courts of law;/For no one did wrong to his fellow-man." (Metamorphoses, 1.89-93)

• "No one then knew the greedy thirst for gold,/Or the desire for power; no one was forced/To toil in exile, or to fear the sword/Of an unjust judge; no one was condemned/To death for crimes he had not committed." (Metamorphoses, 1.121-5)

• "Golden was the age when man lived guiltless of care, Uncursed by toil, untroubled by poverty, And unacquainted with the laws of crime and justice, Nor did the stern decrees of Jove as yet Chill the rude world with punishments and fears. Then were the seasons mild, the fruits spontaneous, And the earth gave spontaneously her stores; The labouring ox unyoked with willing neck Returned to his stall, and the untended flocks Sought the cool streams and shady groves for food." (Eclogues, 4.1-9)

• "In those days, men lived without toil or trouble, and they had no need of money. They shared everything they had with each other, and there was no such thing as poverty." (Works and Days, 115-116)

Now of course I don't take these myths to be literal history, but rather allegorical longings for a better time. A time before poverty, oppression, and greed. It stands, to me, as a really powerful symbol that even back then, people wished for a better system. That these ideas are somewhat endemic to Pagan thought.