tion for the lower world! It is thus that we see every day the change of Diomed and Glaucus renewed. They give up the purer joys of heaven, and live like brutes on earth, to be afterwards treated like goats in hell for ever: fuch is the deplorable madness of mankind! -But let us go on. CHA P. VII. The infernal regions a dwelling for the learned. F you are curious of feeing, hearing, and becoming acquainted with the learned, where can you find so many of them as here? What expences would you not have been at, what difficulties not encountered, what fatigues would you not have undergone, for to fee, confult, and converfe, with these fagacious perfonages of antiquity? Would you have thought it too much to have undertaken, however fo expenfive, a voyage into Greece, for to fee Ariftotle, Socrates, Plato, Demofthenes, and many more learned men of the fame ftamp? We know that Nature, covetous of these most valuable gifts, beftows them fparingly; perhaps, fometimes not one in an age, which is the reason fo few perfons enjoy this advantage; but the cafe in hell is quite different. THERE, with one view, you fee them all affem bled, bled, as in an academy. Amongst the philofophers, befides thofe which I have already mentioned, you will fee a Pythagoras, an Epictetus, a Seneca, and a Pliny. Amongst the politicians, a Pedius, who was the friend and counsellor of Julius Cæfar, and a Mecænas, who was in the fame esteem with Auguftus; a perfonage who one might have thought deferved great refpect, and who might have laid claim to a place in Heaven, if it was poffible for any one to do fo. This he deferved not only for his own generofity, but also for the trouble he took in obtaining favours from his royal master, for all fuch as were diftinguished for genius and learning. There you may fee a Celfus *, who was the counsellor of Hadrian; a Scævola, the friend of Antoninus; a Papinian †, the * Juventus Celfus, a famous lawyer and counfellor to Hadrian, who was no less esteemed by him, than his predeceffor Trajan had been, who held the fame honourable poft under him. † Another celebrated lawyer, who lived under the emperor Severus, who had fo great an esteem for him, that he gave him the charge of his two fons, Caracalla and Geta; the former of whom was a perfect monster of cruelty, having killed his brother in his mother's arms, and having a defire for Papinian to authorize this murder, that good man anfwered, That it was not fo eafy to excufe a parricide as to the favourite of Severus; and, in fhort, a Machiavel ‡, whom every body will own, has well deserved to have the first place in hell: that famous politician, who has carried the fway above all writers who have ever written on this fubject; who first taught princes, that, to establish, ftrengthen, and perpetuate the fu preme authority, which they claim over their fubjects, they may, with the utmoft impunity, violate all the laws of humanity, tyrannize over their fub jects, enrich themselves with their spoils, and fatten on their ruin: maxims which minifters of state at prefent too often ufe; and, to authorize their plundering defigns, make their 'mafters to believe, that fubjects are never fo docile, fubmiffive, or fo much. devoted to their fovereign's fervice, as when they are robbed of every thing. As to what concerns the prince's commit it; Caracalla, being offended at this answer, caufed him to be beheaded, and his body, after having been shamefully dragged through the ftreets of Rome, to be thrown into the Tiber. This was done in the thirty. seventh year of Papinian's life. Nicolao Machiavielli, a Florentine, who wrote in, the fixteenth century. He made himself famous by his works, and particularly by his treatise on politics, called, The Prince. This fmall book, which is full. of vile maxims, has been often difapproved, and, lately, by a prince, who is looked upon to be one of the greatest and moft fkilful politicians in Europe. prince's person, they assure him, that, as there is no one in his kingdom equal to himself, he must be above all law, and confequently do whatever he chufes; that all their fortunes legally belong to him, their money bearing his name and arms; and that they are so strongly perfuaded of this truth, that they agree to whatever their fovereign demands. Such are the fine maxims that these great politicians would make every prince believe, who will liften to them, and which they make the basis of their practice in almoft all the courts of the universe. Are these not worthy of a place in hell? or can we deny the most diftinguished place of that habitation to the authorof their principles? But let us continue our review. ARE you defirous of feeing the hiftorians, ora. tors and poets; men, for the most part, liars by pro feffion, and flatterers for hire? What a croud your will find there and amongst the number you fee Herodotus, Thucydides, Polybius, Titus Livy, Suetonius, Cornelius Tacitus, Plutarch, and a number of others of every country and of every age. AMONGST the mathematicians you will find Thales, Anaxagoras, Archytas, Ptolemy, and many more, who, making the comtemplation of the hoquano their fole employment, while upon earth, have inadvertently tumbled into hell. AMONGST the orators, if you obferve, on that fide, you will fee Ifocrates, Efchinus, Cicero, and Hortenfius, with many more. Amongst the poets you you will find Homer, Pindar, Euripides, Sophocles, Virgil, Ovid, Horace, and fome others, who, having been banished by Plato from his republic, have, to repair that lofs, taken the road to the infernal regions, where they have been received with open arms, and enjoyed all the honours due to their ta lents. THE CHA P. VIII. Hell a habitation for ingenious artists. HE moft ingenious artifts fill up the place in Hell next to thefe fcientific perfonages, of whom I have been juft fpeaking; at the head of whom are the painters, fculptors and architects. There you will find a Dædalus, an Archytas, a Callicratest, a Ferillus, a Phidias ‡, a Lycippus §, an Appelles, + A Grecian fculptor, very ingenious; he was fo fkilful and delicate a workman, that, by the account of the hiftorians, he engraved fome verfes of Homer upon a grain of millet. He manufactured a chariot of ivory fo neatly, that it might be hid under the wing of a fly; and also carved emmets of the fame fubftance as fmall as life, the fmalleft and moft imperceptible parts of which you might distinguish. |