Page:The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart.pdf/26

22 far more detail than that to any of the other "streets." The pilgrim visits consecutively the philosophers—here Komensky gives a curious list of philosophers founded on Andrea—the grammarians, rhetoricians, and poets. The writer violently attacks the heathen poets of Greece and Rome, whom, indeed, in his capacity as a pedagogue, he afterwards wished to expel from the schools and replace by Christian writers. Fortunately, from the point of view of classical scholarship, this attempt failed. The pilgrim, or rather Komensky, then visits the dwellings of those who teach the various other branches of learning, delivering short, and sometimes sharp, criticisms on the scientific theories that were current in his day. Sometimes he deals, with veiled irony, of matters also that are now no longer considered subjects of scientific research, such as the quadrature of the circle, the philosopher's stone, astrology and alchemy. As regards alchemy, we must, however, remember that it was considered by learned men a subject worthy of serious study, even many years after the "Labyrinth" was written.

The pilgrim next visits the street of the clergy. After referring briefly to the Jews and Mohammedans, Komensky devotes a long chapter (.) to the Christian creed. The comparative tolerance shown here to views different from those