EXTRACT

F R O M

The Political Conferences,

Held on

PARNASSUS.

Beginning with the Storm of the first of January.

A N N O 1690.

The politicians on Parnassus, after having made Apollo’s head spin for a time with their disputations, and having kept him in uncertainty as to which form of government on earth is the best, His Serene Highness a title here ironically applied to Apollo, the god of wisdom finally wished to hear the truth and the decision of them all. He placed around him the ancients Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon, Demosthenes, thereafter Cicero, Livy, Tacitus, then Verulamius Francis Bacon, Lipsius, Machiavelli, and lastly Hobbes, La Court, Spinoza, and others. He demanded that they no longer formulate impracticable concepts, nor dwell on the sense or name of Monarchy, Aristocracy, Democracy, or arbitrary and subordinate government, but rather provide him with a practical example of good governance. When everyone here wanted to point to a Kingdom or State to defend their writings, His Serene Highness cut off their circumlocution by ordering that it had to be a Kingdom, State, or City currently in existence. Everyone was equally willing to speak again, yet to avoid confusion, which is very characteristic of politicians, Machiavelli and La Court were ordered to point out such an example of an unimpeachable government. While these two put their heads together, all the others pouted at missing that honor, and swore to