128 
triumph! their very pontifexes will be 
proud of building to ‘us, under other 
names, the most magnificent temples. 
Jupiter (with a goblet of nectar in his 
hand ).—Here’s a hail to futurity!—¢ To 
Minerva.) Vo that period, my daughter, 
when thou shalt have transformed all 
Europe into a new Athens, filled with ly- 
ceums and academies; aud when even 
from the Caledonian wilderness the voice 
of philosophy shail more freely and loudly 
resound than of yore from the halls of 
Athens and Alexandria. 
Minerva (shaking her head ).—1 am glad, 
Jupiter, to see thee so courageous under 
the existing aspect of things; but thou 
must pardon me if I as little believe in a 
new Athens as in anew Olympia. 
Quirinus to Mercury.—1 cannot forget 
this St. Peter with his double key, who is 
to be my successor, What is this key, an 
emblematical or a real one, a natural ora 
magical key? Whence has he it? What is 
he to unlock with it? 
Mercury.—All that I know about it, 
Quirimus, is, that with this key he can, 
when he pleases, unlock the gates of Hea- 
ven, or of Tartarus. , 
Quirinus.—Tartarns he is very welcome 
to unlock; but Heaven tco:—that is of 
more consequence. 
Merew'y.—In fact, they have made every 
preparation for peopling heaven with so 
monstrous an assortment of new divinities 
of their stamp, that for us old ones there 
will soon be no room left. 
Jupiter. — Leave that to, my care, 
Hermes. Our temples and estates on 
earth they can easily take from us; but in 
Olympus we have been established too 
long to suffer expulsion. And, as a proof 
of our complete impartiality, we will con- 
cede to these new Komans a right of apo- 
theosis on the same conditions as to the 
ancient. As I hear that most of their can- 
didates, who lay claim to this increase of 
rank, are not persons of the best company, 
with: St. Peter’s leave, we shall always un- 
dertake a short investigation of the merits 
of those whom we are desired to admit. If 
his other qualities and merifs can claim a 
place among us, no objection shall he 
made to the golden circle about his head ; 
and Momus bimself shall not be allowed to 
taunt him with the miracles attributed to 
his bones, or to his wardrobe. 
Juno.—With the men you must do as~- 
you please; Jupiter ;. but, as to the ladies, 
I must beg to be excused. 
Venus.—It is said there are very elegant 
women among them. 
Jupiter.— Of that, when the case hap- 
pens, we will talk farther. A fresh goblet, 
Antinous. 
Many argumentative dissertations 
on the French revolution were written 
by Wieland between 1790 and 1796, 
The German Student, No. XXIX. 
[Sept. 1; 
and published in the ‘“ Mercur,” a 
periodical miscellany of which, until 
that date, he was the editor, ‘The 
‘*Aratho Demon,” a romance which 
attempts a probable history of Philos- 
tratus’s ** Apollonius of Tyana,” was 
composed about the year 1796; and 
reveals the creed: of the writer more 
than any of his works. His theology 
is nearly that of the Philonic. pay- 
theists: he describes himself, under 
the name of his prophet, as~** perpe- 
tually conscious of the presence of the 
universal genius of nature, or soul of 
the whole, of the living provident 
Father of all;” and he introduces a 
hristian philosopher, who attempts to 
solve the evangelical phenomena with- 
out the hypothesis of supernatural in- 
terposition, treating the resurrection 
from crucifixion as a natural recovery. 
The “Letters of Aristippus” were next 
undertaken; and to these succeeded 
““Menander and Glycerion,” and, 
lastly, ““Krates and Hipparchia.” Of 
this singular novel, a translation has 
just issued from the Norwich press: 
the heroine disguises herself in boy’s 
clothes, and,accompanied by a female 
friend similarly clad, attends the lec- 
tures of Krates, with whom she falls 
violently in*love. She declares her 
passion, and, after many difficulties, is 
united to the object of her intellectual 
affection. Bayle, in the article Hip- 
_ parchia, imputes to this lady a want of 
common decency; but Wieland skil- 
fully defends her against this charge, 
accounts for the scandalous epigrams 
in circulation by the jealousy of a dis- 
appointed lover, and displays through- 
out the story an amiable zeal for the 
reputation of philosophy, a, learned 
familiarity with Greek manners, and 
a profound knowledge of the human 
heart. 
Goesche, a bookseller of Leipzig, 
contracted with Wieland, in 1795, for 
an edition of his collective works; 
such was their popularity in Germany, 
that, although they consisted of nearly 
forty volumes, a quarto edition with 
plates, an octavo edition, and a duo- 
decimo, were issued at once; and 
every rank of society was thus accom- 
modated with the choice of a copy 
proportioned. to its habits of literary 
luxury. 
* The dissertation inserted in our 55th 
volume, p. 112, derives in a great degree 
from Wieland’s point of view. 
With 
