At this point, Gulliver wants to leave Lagado and return home. He hears a ship is going to be built for him but is not yet ready, so he takes a side trip to an island called Glubbdubdrib. This is an island where magicians and sorcerers are common, including the governor who has the power to raise the dead. Gulliver is astonished and afraid when he sees a domestic servant of the governor disappear and he refuses to be a houseguest of the governor, choosing instead to seek lodging somewhere else. After about 10 days, Gulliver becomes less apprehensive and asks the governor to call up some ancient historical figures from the dead, which include Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Hannibal, and Brutus.

Gulliver spends more time discoursing with dead historical figures such as Homer, Aristotle, and Descartes. He also speaks with a Roman emperor. After spending five days speaking with men of antiquity, he meets with those who died more recently. Gulliver is able to discover the lineages of the elite of his day and learns how history is embellished by those who have power. Much of how lineage is portrayed in the present does not align with the commoners he visits with.