AST OLYMPIC DIALOGUE. 33T 



people would be but poorly off, if kings had no fupe- 

 rior but me. I mould be obliged every moment to be 

 reminding them of it with thunder and lightning, or 

 they would rule juft as if there was no Jupiter over 

 them; even though they mould every morning, in 

 perfon, facrifice whole hecatombs to me, with the 

 greater!: folemnities. 



Juno 7^ Neither do I require that religion fhould 

 be the only thing they fhould refpe£L 



'Jupiter fomezvhat choleric^] The worft kings would 

 always refpecl: us moft. It is juft they who have ex- 

 alted the maxim of the great UlyfTes, that kings re- 

 ceive their feeptre from me, into a prime article of 

 faith ; and made the implicit obedience founded on it, 

 the moft facred of all duties to the people. 



Juno .] I ftill fay, that they ought to rule according 

 to laws framed for the public good. 



Jupiter . j The public good ! — Fine words ! — And 

 who is to give them thefe laws ? 



Juno7\ Gh, they have been long ago publifhed by 

 Themis over the face of the whole earth ! Where is 

 there a people fo barbarous, as to be unacquainted with 

 the univerfal laws of juftice and equity ? 



Jupiter. ~\ Thou aire cleft a fweet limplicity, my 

 child ! — And what if only kings and their tools, or 

 vice verfa, the imperious courtiers and minifters, and 

 their obedient tool$, the kings, notwitb ftanding old 

 Themis, and her muftv laws, ihould yet rule fblely by 

 their will, and — fiiice they have the power, and can- 

 not be called to account, — do as much harm, or ful- 

 ler as much to be clone (which to the people is- the 

 fame thing) as they pleafe ? How then ? 



Juno7\ That is exactly what we mould prevent* 



5 it 



