THE "PROPHET" DRABIK

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quarters, but also to obtain considerable sums of money as a remuneration for alleged negotiations with

Turkey.

It was indeed through him that Komensk^, who was

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integrity personified, was at Saros Patak accused of indelicacy in financial matters and of greediness for money. These accusations were afterwards echoed by the divines with whom Komensky was engaged in controversies during the last years of his life, and they also found their way into Bayle's Dictionnaire Historique et Critique, It must be sufficient to note the enormous influence Drabik acquired over Komensky ; to account for it is impossible, unless we assume that much suffering and This disappointment had weakened his intellect. however, disproved by the fact that the educational works which Komensky continued to write nearly to the end of his life show little trace of waning mental must be taken into account, also, that visions power. and prophecies found very general belief in those days. Mr. Keatinge, in his interesting book to which have already referred, mentions several instances of learned Englishmen who had read the prophecies of Drabik (or Drabicius, as he was called in England), and fully believed in them. Bayle also writes that when, in 1683, the news that the Turks were besieging Vienna reached Paris, the name of the prophet Drabik was in every mouth. Drabik at last came to an evil end. few months (fortunately) after Komensky's death, Drabik was arrested as swindler and conspirator. He confessed his impostures and was executed, though he had accepted the creed of Rome in the hope of saving his life. teacher while at Saros Patak Komensky's activity as He attempted to improve and rewas indefatigable.