"Good old days"

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Oct 6, 2004, at 6:41 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ...It may be a little thing in the "history of ideas,"  but it must be
> of some cultural significance that for a number of generations we've
> had a universally used phrase to indicate  we think the past was
> better, whereas Shakespeare and Milton seemingly had not.

here's the crucial question.

the Golden Age idea was a commonplace in classical times.  when did it
ebb away, and what brought it back?

arnold, really really not a cultural historian