The fifth race is that which is now upon the earth: the iron race. They live in evil times and their nature too has much of evil, so that they never have rest from toil and sorrow. As the generations pass, they grow worse; sons are always inferior to their fathers.
 
A time will come when they have grown so wicked that they will worship power;
might will be right to them, and reverence for the good will cease to be.
 
At last when no man is angry any more at wrongdoing
or feels shame in the presence of the miserable,
Zeus will destroy them too.
 
And yet even then something might be done,
if only the common people would arise and put down rulers that oppress them.
 
Edith Hamilton (1867-1963)
Mythology (chapter 3)