The works of Lucian

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goVernor, our a me, and the ames Dyour friend and relations is otiliave any, and where the live. V ather, replied I m nam is Lucius, in brother' surnam is Caius, the est of What e re called by is commonto us both am a riter of historie an dither books h mahes legi es, and is an excellent poet; andri come frona Patiae, a cit of Achaia. Thegovernor earing this leaped rom his eat, embraced, indoissed me ou are the son, se id he of m dea rest friend3 and acquaintance, horeceived me mos hospital, ly at thei horas , and ad me severat presenis Pana lare thei son could neve teli a falshood. He then too an carried me ho me illi hi m. In the mean time, my brother, hora ad eard of the assair, came to me, and rought me money, and other necessaries, hicli Iwas much in antis The governor, efore ali the eo Ple acquitted me. We then ent down together to the ea-shore, looked abo ut for a stip, and put ou bundies boary the win blowin sat frona the arbour, esset sali, an in a se days, reached iur native country Here I sacrificesto the tutelar deities, and offeret gist in than kful return or my a fety an lpreservation, after the many totis and anger I ad suffered, ut in i aDy

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T utent of this Dialogue is evidenti nothin tes than to turn into Ridicule therebole abs rd Sulem os Religio that s long prevalled in the mathen Morid, and

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Observe me, hen; ou have read the poenas of Homer an Hesiod in forna me, heresere, hether thati true hicli the have sun concern instille Fates, thar, hateve the determine at ou birili, is absolutet un-

Defraudi nitatem at thy fame to come ;we must suppos him orae a litile ut of his senses. JUPITER. No oubiis it noth in must transgress the lare of the Parcae, orareahthei thread. Whateve poets nil, inspirationis themuses, is true butwhen the are deserte by the God desses, and mahe verses of theiriwn heads, then the mistahe an contradidi thenaseives a men, OKever, the are intille to pardon, though ignorant of truth, Rhen that o e is no longer

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IUPITER. Right. CYNISCUS. Fate and Fortune, then, hos hackneye names, Ulia are they, and whatis the power of each of them λ are they equa to the Fates, o superior psoru ear ali the worid crying ut nothiniis greater than ate and Fortune. IUPITER. C, ni scias, ou must notano e very thinx but hy so inquisitive abo ut the Fates

I was ust callindito in thos verses of ' Homer, herebo are brought in haran ruing the god in coxa iacit, and threate ning them; here o arere presente xa hangingill things in a goiden chain, an saying that henyo let it down irona heaven, Dat the od a the en o it ruere o pullso ainst ou they could no moverit, ut that 3 ou illi ease, Cou'd heave the go is, the ocean, and the land . You deme then tot possesse of a mos aston ista in power, and when Iread hos verses, I saud de rex at the thought oscit; ut ore o appea tome with ohar long chain and ou threais, O an g, as ne a say, by asen de thread. Clotho, in m opinion, has more right o boast that hecan iit ou up at the end of her mutile, illi a much eas as an angier oes fisi a the end of his rod. IUPITER. am atra os to conceive hat 3 ou aim a b ali hos questions.

Atropos ut ost the thread, andiu an nyto theaeing Their severat employments are allput into the bllowin Latin verse, Clotho colum retinet, Lachesis net, Atropos occat.

It wouldaeis ver eas lassicio confine ali the sense of this in an Englissi neu do it then is

tho cansi, genti reader,

Et eris mihi magnus Apollo. Homer. See Iliad book viii. l. s. Theclines have ali eady been quoted sto Pope.

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is in the poweros the Fates, and nothing hicli the have decreed, an hyan mean si reverse hy hould, mortal bring ou hecatombs and sacrifices o ou, or ' put parayer sor blesing hom ou my pari, Pseeno advantage that an result si Om it, is urarayers an ei ther avert evit, nor procure good for us frona the divine Being. IUPITER. Iano where o pic up ou stabile arguments fro in hos cur sed so- Phisis, holera our providen ce, and no content illi astin these impio usquestions dissuade ther frona praying o sacrificindito us teli ing them, itis ali in vain, o that e take no care abo ut arthly things, O are able todo any thinisor man kindri ut the stallio long rejoice in thei iniquity. CYNISCUS. Psivear, Jupiter, b Clotho' sh utile, it a noti ny thing hicli the Didthat in ahes me tal so; ut it seem to follo frona oui confession, that sacrifices a re rathe superfluous for te me ast yo only one thing, dono b angry ON, ut ans Ner me. IUPITER. Vell, i yo have noth in eis to do ut o prate bout thes things, assicit. CYNISCUS. Every thing, ou say, is determined by the Fates IUPITER. Certain ly. CYNISCUS. Andris it in your po ero change or annui it λIUPITER.

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IUPITER CONFUTED.

brothe was to Laomedon, an Apollo to Admetus There stem toleno great happines in ali his Gome of Ou, perhaps may be fortunate, and other just the contrary. Not to mentio that Ou osten et among thievesulio roblandit under ou, and o sal frona assiuenc into penury; Dyou

have decreed.

JUPITER. Yo are ver abusive Cyniscus; ut o ma repent itinereaster.

Rope. Alludin to the chain, a mentionedie re, in the secon book of the Iliad. Acircumstance Whicli Luci an is perpetuali maxin merr With. - a be . J Saturn See the whole absurdiory, old a large in Lucian's Theogony. LDot er. Neptune, Gare old, a banished rom heaven or conspiring against Iupiter, Who sent hi in dorun to earth, and obliged hi in ossi into the service of Laomedon, the ather os Priam, and Lingis Troy who employed hi in making dixe to prevent inundations whicli, itisems, heinis illed a Neptune must have been in ali maritime flairs, he performe to

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is JUPITER CONFUTED.

4 Lastis. Se the Phaenisi eis Euripides. De E . . Id his a the ans ervii ven to Laius by the oracle of Apollo, Which was aste ardιso Lacit an literati fultille in the destruction of the unliappy Oedipus, and whicli furnish-ed Sophocles, illi the subjectis his finest an naost perfect tragedy, of the Oedipus Tyrannus. Halys. The Linous Croesus, in o Lydia, havinis to the Delphic oracle to knowwhether it was decreed by Fate that heirould passive the rive Halys in his march against the Persis os, and lio long the empire bould remat in his hands, the oracle returned serrans ruer, ilia iste passed the rive Halys hesiliould deliro a reat empire, and that his power stould rem ain uni halieno illla mule stiould sit on the thronem Persia.' Croesus a satisfied illi therei ly, and though himself, fas a Macbeth did, ben the witches toldaim beNeed not ea an thing, Tili Birnam, diuiould moveri Dunsinane. The ansive of the oracle, lihe that of Shakspeare' ivitches, was evasive. We didiso teli yoti,

lial Persian, at Mede a Persiani his ather, and a Mediani his Other.

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JUPITER CONFUTED.

mould e deceived by an oracle, as I supposse, decreed by Fate, hic hii ad ove his threa in lac his manner, that he couldio clearly under standitie prophecy so that our po eri divination it self, is, aster ali, nothinni, ut the work of Fate. IUPITER. B and by ou ill leaveras nothing Werare gods, it seems, o very lirile purpose, for e ah no care of human assairs, nor have an claim o sacrisce, hein no more, in reali ty than si many axes an ham mers : ut I deserve ali his contempt for standing thus illi a thunder-bolt in m ha nil, and notpunisi ingIour insoleiace. CYNISCUS. Strihe, I beseech ou i iti si decreed, I mali not lanae o for theblo , ut Clotho, ho by you thus makes an nil of me. But et me athyo an Fate ne more question, an ans er me for bothci ho happens itthat, takin no notice of thieves, russians, and Urthere rS,IOU throw ourthunde alia ks, and lones the mamos, hip that neve dii an harna, orno and then a oor innocent travelleri ha say ou Iupiteri is hisanother thing Rhiches must nolinquire asteri IUPITER. It is, o are implous inquisitive I Nonder here 3 o piched pili hissiussio perplex me illi.

Mixiv lje. Croesus, ho, e ma suppose, as a sceptic, o Dee-thinher, illi re gard to oracles, sent mes etager to Delphos and ther places, equestin them to resolve his question, via. 'hat is Croesus, in o Lydia, o doing PV The ansive froin Delphos was VI mellta strong mellis a tortoi se mixed init lamb'siem, Oiled in a cauldron, that is bras above and brassi below.V Croesus, i seems, litile hinking that the oracle could di ovet whatae Nas about was at that ver instant divertingit in self ithaollinilamb' flessi and tor miseri a bragen esset. How the oracle, o the prie sis belongin tocit, o intelligence of hiam esty' strange employmen a that time, has neverae been discovere certain, however,it is that rcelus, frona that time, conceived a io opinion of the oracle, and consul texit everaster: ut Apollo, e find, relente the trich hicli Croesus aut e to play pon him, and punissa ediim accordingly See Herodotus' account of this transactiora.

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supposie, I must not assi ou, o Fate, o Provide nce, hy that goodand just man Phocyon die for Nant, or be fore im, Aristides; hi istitiose debauched 3 ouilis, Callias, and Alcibiades, live in iuuence and prosperit : as etl a the proud Midias, and Charops of AEgina that in Dinous

ed by the jud ges, instea dis Melitus or hy the esseminate Sardanapalus rei gned in peace, hi lis many brave Persian were destro; ed by him, sormurmuring at his actions : hy, in saori, the covetous, the base, and wiched a re prosperous an happy, hilst the good an pio us are oppressed by Nant, orro , dista se, and very ther calami ty. IUPITER. But thou knowest not Cyniscus, hat punishments are reserved for thewicked in another ii se, nor,hat happines for the good an virtuous. CYNISCUS.

You an to frighte me illi the inferna regions, it hoour Tityus, and γ ou Tantalus; heia Pana dead, I hallano Nohether here is an suehthing in the mean time I Would vim to live happil here, e the time everso hori, though a cor of ' vultur Nereo prey pon m live in thasiades below, nor ould Pthir for ver in his life like Tantalus for thesak of drin Lindineinar illi the heroes, in the Isand of the Blest, o repos- in gin thea Elysia Field hereaster.

Theseometotis, laso. I wasarieved says David), at the iched. I do is se the ungodlyin suci prosperi ty the are in no perit o death, ut are lust an strong the come in noniis forthme, like ther sol k, ei ther are the plagued like ther men these prosper in theworid, thes have ches in possessiona an Psaid then have Ι cleanse m hear in vain, and washed in hand in innocency. Seerasal lxxiii. i. Vtiliars. J Alludin to the punishment of Prometheus. Elf La fel is. J The happines of the good and virtuous after death, accordin to the Pagati

system, stem to have been meret negative, an to have constite rather in an exemption Dompain and solicitude, than in the aestuat enJoymen o any leasures, ither mutua or corporeat. The arch- imposior, ahomet, o doubtia the absurdit of this plan, and allured his followers by the offer os a sensual paradi seu and his scheme though visionary, and ill- unded, ascertaini a much more rational one than that of the heathen poets an philosophers. ut horupoor an contemptibi are both of them, hen compared to the glorious prospecti immort