s her unfinished works,
and descends to the world below for succor against the conqueror.
Before the gates of Erebus, under the walls of the Stygian city,--

"Ante fores Erebi, Stygiae sub moenibus urbis,"--

are sisters, monsters of the earth, representing every vice,--thirst of
gold, drunkenness, gluttony, treachery, detraction, envy, hypocrisy,
adulation. In a distant recess is a perpetual furnace, where crimes are
punished, but not with equal flames, as some are tormented more lightly
and others more severely. Leviathan was in the midst of his furnace, but
he drops his serpent form and assumes that divine aspect which he had
worn when he wished to share the high Olympus,--

"Cum sidere solus
Clarior intumuit, tantamque superbia mentem
Extulit, ut summum partiri vellet Olympum."

To him the stranger appeals against the projects of Alexander, which
extend on one side to the unknown sources of the Nile and the Garden of
Paradise, and on the other to the Antipodes and ancient Chaos. The
infernal monarch convenes his assembly. He calls the victims from their
undying torments,--

"quibus mors
Est non posse mori,"--

where ice and snow are punishments, as well as fire. The satraps of Styx
are collected, and the ancient serpent addresses sibilations from his
hoarse throat:--

"Hie ubi collecti satrapae Stygis et tenebrarum,
Consedere duces, et gutture sibila rauco
Edidit antiquus serpens."

He commands the death of the Macedonian king before his plans can be
executed. Treason rises and proposes poison. All Hell applauds; and
Treason, in disguise, fares forth to instruct the agent. The whole scene
suggests sometimes Dante and sometimes Milton. Each was doubtless
familiar with it. Meanwhile Alexander returns to Babylon. The universe
is in suspense, not knowing to which side he will direct his arms.
Ambassadors from all quarters come to his feet. In the pride of power he
seems to be universal lord. At a feast, surrounded by friends, he drinks
the fatal cup. His end approaches, and he shows to the last his grandeur
and his courage. The poet closes, as he began, with a salutation to his
patron.

* * * * *

Such is the sketch of a curiosity of literature. It is interesting to
look upon this little book, which for a time played so considerable a
part; to imagine the youthful students who were once nurtured b