The Utopias--a Dialogue

Hiero. Yon have come in good time, drenmer. I was beginning to get tiied of myself; you come along witli your Utopins and that will re-toro my gniety. AscHiMGnea. I have no Utopins, Sire, [ predict ihe future, nol by special illuminalion, which often deceives, but by ealculation, whicli never lies. II. I do not deny your science ds to things present, my Prorne:heus, and I know how to appreciate your worth ; but ynur scif-ntific dreams and dist-ractions are very amusing neveriheless. A. VVli?n féá -vure inquiii.-g tbc quantity of gold which n jeweller hnd ahsiracted from your crown, you Imrdly suspected thnt thesolution of the probiem was in n bal li. II. (lauglting.) By Apoilo and Mercury ! you cal! to my mind one of youri most amusing absences. I seem to see i youstill running stark tmked tlirough the pnlace, crying Eurek'i ! Eureka ! Il was so dmll. a nuda piiilusopher, tliat I j hnd not strength t iórtnd the merriment of my slave, th"ig;i ihey are the worst raceihat lives beneuth the sun. A. They are bad tliey are hlnves. Tiiev nre Ia"zy hecause ihey hrve no motive to lab'H". Th is too is one of iboso things which il áisnppsHr, II. Nt so jont. Socieiy without slaves is ust ns impos.-iU}e as oralors wiihout voice, caris without lior.es vessels without onrs or saiN. and lampe w iut oil or grea-e. Belore we en gt almig without sl.ives, m.'in will cme to fly in the air, without getting drownód as lcarU did. A. You are qu'te iig!it, Sire, thnt nll tho-e impfisslbililies are of the farne order. PT, twe ly cniuries henee, your saliori c ul f bfi i ecilloct ono would laugh :it our liaving ,-et ddift) as impossible t!i ng? so clflfienlnry. Yon speak ot' uralora wiilioni voice. I nm su re ihednv will come MÜKn wiih ilisimple Inngunge of iho finges and geslurrs 11 deaf mute will excile as muc.h entliusiasm asDemostiienes d'd among tlie Athoni.ins. II. Ttiat dcif mutas moy como to understand fino nnotiier I admil ; bul to beI 'ieve tliat thy will ever arrive at eloquenre i n foolish Utopia. Yon might as well say llint clo'h will sume day be I woven out of stones, or that a limb will be ampuialed without giving íts owner finy pain. 5 A. You may laugli, but ihe day wil! cme, lliafjks to fire, paving stonpu will be trnnsi'jrmfid intosüken fabrics; when ihanks to an uiiknown fluid, surgicnl opprntions will be nerformed to the laughter of tho subjects. j II. (laughing.) Ha! lia! you abuse the permistión of serving me with slories. You sootí will be telling me thalfrorn any pnlace in Syracuse I can liearall that is s.:iid in that of the tyrant of Agrigentum, a;id converse with him. A. 1 sliould only s[ieak the truth if 1 did. Not oajjf will peoplo be able to converse f rom gyje to Agrigpntum, but lo Rome, lo Hfe, to Babylon, to the ends of tl.e world. It will take lesstime to converse nt such distances thari lo write the same words upou our tablels. H. By Poliux ! (aughing immodtralely.) Do you reckon then upon thelightning for your rasengr 1 A. Prrc'sely so. Tho lighining will one da y becomo the. carrier of letters. - You have heard of Snlmoneus, who once imiiated the thunder, in cooïempt of JuDi'ier ? Well, men will do more ; they will dlsarm Júpiter s:mply by bristling iheir houscs vvith point-:. They will confine the thunrfor in a tube and launch it at pleasure ; the length of this tube will nu: fixceed huif lli.t of your swor I. To pro. 'Juce tliisthunder, vliicb will bellow willi the viiioe of .Etna, it will only be nf-ces■s-irv for the filimenti of n plant or nn ld linon mg (n imbibe n certain liqiiirl, or it may be done by cotnbiuing charcos!Sllliihur and salipe're. EI. You are ciazy, my poor phüosopher, nnd I mn soivy for t, for you have more in your single head ihan all the sages who ypeak our Greek liinguag. A. The day will come, your majesty, ' when these copyists who t.-ike several days to copy sixty four pnges r.f wiiiing. will give pl.icft to a machine that will do t in less :han one fecond ; the day when one will have lo sit down befare one of ur mf talie mirrora to lenve li is portrni: impressed upon it ; whnl do 1 say, a porIrattl nny, the whlo panorama which ihe eye can embrace at once will remnin impressod upnn the mirrors. Cnrriages ill pnss tlirough spnee without hor.-es with the speed ol the uorth wind ; vpisel, of iion or wood at plensure, will brave the most lempesiuous wave wiihout I either sails or rowers ; and peopl ill pass thrmigh ihe nir with more e 'se than they nnw cross the Straits f Sioily. H. I must stop you, my dear Archimedes, for fear soine indiscrept person may overhear you und wri e down your conversatioo for the grpat amusement of the rabiile. All these Utopias wil] be rea'ized hen neiglibor shtill not be jenlous of neighbor, nor potter of potter, as Hesod s;iys. A. And that day, I beg your pardon, will come. A philosopher wil] be bom n Gaul, in the di-tnct of the Seqimui, who will teach them the laws of social ' harm'iny. He, ulso, will be treaied as a Utopiitst ; but, like me, the future will av e nge h:ni.