tions upon the authority of Tavernier and Chardin.^ " Ah! good heavens! ” said I to myself, “ what kind of man is this? He will know next all the streets in Ispahan better than I do! ” I soon knew what part to play — to be silent, and let him talk; and ^e is still laying down the law.
Paris, the 8th of the moon of Zilcade, 1715.
LETTER LXXIII t Rica to ^ * I HAVE heard much talk of a sort of court called the French Academy. There is no tribunal in the world which is less respected; for they say that no sooner does it issue a decree than the people break it, and substitute laws which the Academy is bound to follow.
» Some time ago, in order to establish its authority, it issued a code of its decisions.* This child of so many fathers may be said to have been old when it was born; and although it was legitimate, a bastard,* born before it, nearly strangled it at its birth.
Those who compose this court have no other function than to jabber perpetually: eulogy suggests itself as the one subject of their incessant babble; and as soon as they are initiated into its mysteries, a >• Tavernier (1605-1689) and Chardin (1643-1713), the Persian travellers from whose books Montesquieu derived his knowledge of Persia.
• The dictionary of the Academy.
• The dictionary of Furetifire. The author was expelled from the Academy in 1685, because he was accused of having profited by the work of his fellow-Academicians in the com- position of the dictionary which bears his name.
PERSIAN LETTERS frenzy of panegyric lays hold df them, and will 'not be shaken off.
This body has forty heads, all of them chokefnl of tropes, of metaphors, and of antitheses; so <that their lips sc^TTp.ly ever open without an exclamation, and their ears are always waiting to be touched/) with rhythm and harmony. As for their eyes, they are out of the question; the Academy seems to be intended to talk and not to see. It i^ not firm on its legs; for time, whigh is its scourge, smites it inces- santly and destroys all it does. It is said that at one time its hands \\jere grasping; I have nothing to say on the subject, and will leave those to decide it who know more about it than I do.
Such eccentricities, ♦ * are unknown in our Persia. We have no bent towards what is odd and extravagant; we endeavour to shape our simple customs and artless manners in, the mould of nature.
Paris, the 27th, of the moon of Zilhage, 1715.
LETTER LXXIV Usbek to Rica, at * * * Some days ago a man of my acquaintance said to me, “ I promised to introduce you to the best houses in Paris. I will take you now to that of a great lord who supports his rank as well as any man in France.”
” What do you mean by that, sir? Is he more refined, more polite than others? ” “ No,” said he.
“ Ah! I understand: he makes his superiority felt on all occasions by those who approach him. If that is it, I shall have nothing to do with him; I give up the whole case, and accept my inferiority.”
LETTER LXXV LETTER LXXV I had, however, to go; and I saw a little man, supercilious to a degree. He took a pinch of snuff with such a haughty air, he blew his nose so merci- lessly, he spat with such indifference, and caressed his dogs in a style so offensive to the onlookers, that I coul<^ not but marvel at him. “ Ah! sweet tieaven! ” said I to myself; "if, when I was at the court of Persia, I behaved in this way, I behaved like a great fool! ” We would have been very inferior creatures, Rica, had we offered a hundred little insults to those people who waited upon us daily in token of their goodwill. They knew well that we were above them; and if they had not, our favours would have made them daily conscious of it. There being no need to secure their respect, we did our utmost to win their affection: we were accessible to the humblest; in the midst of our greatness, usually so hardening, they found we had feelings; only our hearts appeared to belong to a higher order; we descended to their wants. But, when it was necessary to support the dignity of our sovereign in public ceremonies, to make the nation worthy of respect in the eyes of strangers; and, lastly, when, in times of danger, we required to animate our soldiers, our bearing became more lofty a hundred times than it had been before lowly; we resumed our haughty looks; and not seldom we were found to play our part at least adequately.
Paris, the loth of the moon of Saphar, 1715.
LETTER LXXV Usbek to Rhedi, at Venice I MUST confess that I have not noticed in the Chris- tians that lively faith in their religion which prevails PERSIAN LETTERS among Mussulmans. With them there is a vast difference between profession and belief, bet\^een belief and conviction, between conviction and practice. Religion is not so much a matter of holiness as it is the subject of a debate, in which everybody has a right tC join. Courtiers, warriors, women even,prray themselves against the ecclesiastics, and insist upon their proving what they have made up their minds not to believe. Not that, willing to be guided by reason, they have taken the trouble to examine the falseness of that religion which they reject: they are rebels who have felt the yoke, and have shaken it off before knowing what it is. Nor are they any securer in their incredulity than in their faith: their life is a constant ebb and flow between belief and unbelief.^ One of them said to me once, “ I believe in the immortality of the soul for six months at a time; my opinions depend entirely upon my bodily condi- tion: I am a Spinozist, a Socinian, a Catholic, un- godly or devouh according to the state of my animal spirits, the quality of my digestion, the rarity or heaviness of the air I breathe, the lightness or solidity of the food I eat. When the doctor is at my bedside, the confessor has me at a disadvantage. I know very well how to prevent religion from annoying me when I am in good health; but I allow myself to be consoled by it when I am ill: when I have nothing more to hope for here below, religion offers itself, and gains me by its promises; I am glad to give myself up to it, and to die with hope on my side.”
A long time ago the Christian princes enfranchised 1 " All we have gained then by our unbelief Is a life of doubt diversified by faith, For one of faith diversified by doubt: We called the chessboard white, — ^we call it black."
— Browning.
LETTER LXXVI all the slaves in theii* dominions; because, said they, Christianity makes all men equal. It is true that this religious action was of great service to them, for by its means they diminished the power which the great lords exercised over the lower classes. Afterwards, having made conquests in countries where they founa it to their advantage to keep slaves,^ they per- mitted them to be bought and sold, forgetting that religious principle which had moved them so strongly. What can one say? Truth at one time, error at another. Why should we not do like the Christians? We were very simple-mind«d to reject settlements and easy conquests in pleasant climates,* because we could not find water pure enough to wash us accord- ing to the principles of our holy Koran. I give thanks to Almighty God, who sent His great prophet Hali, whence it is that I profess a religion which requires to be preferred before all human interests, and which is as pure as the sky from which it came.
Paris, the 13th of the moon of Saphar, 1715.
LETTER LXXVI Usbek to his friend Ibben, at Smyrna European law is dead against suicide. Those who kill themselves suffer, as it were, a second death: they are dragged with ignominy through the streets: their infamy is ptxblished, and their goods confiscated. It seems to me, Ibben, that tliis law is very unjust.
1 The French colonies.
* The Mohammedans had no wish to take Venice because they could not obtain water there suitable for their purifica- tions. — (M.)
PERSIAN LETTERS When I am loaded with grief, iSisery, and contumely, why should I be hindered from putting an end to my sufferings, and cruelly deprived of a remedy which is in my hands?
Why should I be forced to labour for a society to which"*! refuse to belong? Why in spite of ijuyself, should I be held to an agreement made without my consent? Society is fovmded upon mutual advantage; but, when it becomes burdensome to me, what hinders ( me from leaving it? Life was given me as a blessing; when it ceases to be so I can give it up: the cause ceasing, the effect ough<. also to cease.
Will any prince require me to be his subject, if I reap none of the benefits of subjection? Can my fellow-citizens require our lots to be so unequal; theirs, usefulness — ^mine, despair? Will God, unlike other benefactors, condemn me to receive favours which are a burden to me?
I am obliged to obey the laws while I live under them; but, if I cease to live, can they still bind me?
“ But,” some one may say, ” you disturb the order of Providence. God has joined your soul to your body; in separating them, you oppose His designs and resist His will.”
What force is there in this argument? Do I disturb the order of Providence, when I alter the qualities of matter, and square a ball which the first laws of motion, that is to say the laws of creation and preservation, made round? Certainly not; I only exercise a right which has been given me and, in that sense, I can disturb, as my fancy dictates, the whole order of Nature, without any one being able to say that I oppose Providence.
When my soul shall be separated from my body, will there be less order, less harmony, in the universe?
LETTER LXXVII Do you think that tliht new combination will be less perfect, and less dependent upon general laws; that the world would lose anything by it; that the works of God would be less great, or rather less immense?
Do you think that my body, become^a blade of grass,^ worm, a grass-green turf, will be changed into a work of nature less worthy of her; and that my soul, freed from all its earthly trammels, will become less sublime? ^ All these ideas, my dear Ibben, have their only source in our pride. We do not feel our littleness; and, however small we may *>e, we wish to count for something in the universe, to cut a figure there, and to be of some consequence in it. We imagine that the annihilation of such a perfect being would degrade all nature: and we cannot conceive that one man more or less in the world — what do I say? — that the whole world, that a hundred millions of worlds ^ like ours, can be more than one small frail atom, which God perceives only because His kilowledge is all- embracing.
Paris, the 15th of the moon of * Saphar, 1715.
LETTER LXXVII* Ibben to Usbek, at Paris My dear Usbek, it seems to me that, in the eyes of a true Mussulman, misfortunes are not so much punish- ments as warnings. Those are priceless days upon ^ Cent millions de iHes in some editions. Terres seems preferable, however, as it is an anticlimax to proceed from all men to a hundred millions.
* This letter was inserted in the edition of 1754 as a foil to that which precedes it.
PERSIAN LETTERS which we are led to atone for Our offences. It is the time of prosperity that ought to be curtailed. To what end is all our impatience, but to show us that we are seeking happiness, independently of Him who gives it, because He is happiness itself?
If a human creature is composed of two beings, and if the acknowledgment of the necessity of pre- serving their union is the chief mark of submission to the decrees of our Creator, that necessity should be made a religious law; and if the enforced preserva- tion of this union wiU make men more responsible for their actions, it shovJd be made a civil law.
Smyrna, the last day of the moon of Saphar, 1715.
LETTER LXXVIII Rica to Usbek, at * * * I SEND you a copy of a letter, written by a Frenchman who is in Spain: I believe that you will be glad to see it.
I have travelled for six months in Spain and Portugal, where I lived among people despising all nations except the French, whom they honour with their hate. Gravity is the distinctive characteristic of both nations: it has two chief methods of mani- festation — spectacles and moustaches.
Spectacles demonstrate clearly that the wearer of them is an accomplished man of science, who has injured his sight by the extent and profundity of his reading; and every nose which they adorn or burden, may pass, without contradiction, for the nose of a savant.^ 1 Madame d’AuInoy has a similar eulogy of spectacles in her " Voyage d'Espagne."
LETTER LXXVIII As regards the moustache, in itself it is respectable, inde|)endently of results; although sometimes it has been of great use in the service of the king, and in the maintenance of national honour, as appears from the case of a famous Portuguese general in the Indies: ^ for, being in want of money, he cut off one of his moustaches, and offered it to the inhabitants of Goa as a pledge for the loan of twenty thousand pistoles, and the money was advanced at once; afterwards he redeemed his moustache with honour.
One can easily understand how such a grave and phlegmatic people might verj* well be haughty; and so they are. They usually base their *pride upon two matters of sufficient importance. Of those who live in Spain and Portugal, the most uplifted are such as are called old Christians; that is to say, such as are not descended from the converts to Christianity made by the Inquisition in later times. Those who dwell in the Indies are not less elated by the consideration that they have the sublime merit to be, as they say, white-skinned men. There was never in the seraglio of the Grand Seigneur, a sultana so proud of her beauty, as the oldest and ugliest rascal among them is of his complexion of pale olive, when in a Mexican town he sits at his own door with his arms folded. A man of such importance, a creature so perfect, would not work for all the wealth of the world; and could never persuade himself to compromise the honour and the dignity of his colour by vile mechanic industry.
For you must know, that, when a man possesses some special merit in Spain, as, for example, when he can add to the qualities which I have already de- scribed, that of owning a long sword, or that of having learnt from his father to strum a jangling guitar, he 1 Jean de Castro. — (M.)
PERSIAN LETTERS works no more: his honour is ©Dncemed in the repose of his limbs. He who remains seated ten hours a day obtains exactly double the respect paid to one who rests only five, because nobility is acquired by sitting still, But.'^though these invincible foes of work ijnake a great show of philosophic calm, they have nothing of the sort in their hearts; for they are always in love. In d37ing of lamguor under their mistress's windows they have not their match in the world; no Spaniard is esteemed gallant who is without a cold.
They are, firstly, bights — secondly, jealous. They are particularly careful not to expose their wives to the attempts of a soldier riddled with wounds, or of some decrepit magistrate; but they will shut them up with a fervent novice who casts down his eyes, or a robust Franciscan with a bold glance.
They allow their wives to appear with uncovered bosoms; but they would not have any one see their heels, lest hearts should be ensnared by a glimpse of their feet.* They say all the world over that love is cruelly rigorous: in Spain it is especially so. The women cure love, but only with the substitution of other suffering: there often remains a long and dis- agreeable memorial of an extinguished passion.
They have certain little courtesies which in France would appear out of place; for example, an officer never strikes a soldier without asking his permission; and the Inquisition always apologises to a Jew before burning him.
Spaniards who are not burned seem so fond of the Inquisition, that it would be ill-natured to deprive i The exhibition of the foot, according to Madame d’Aul- noy*s " Voyage d'Espagne," was regarded in Spain as being " la derniife javeur" LETTER LXXVIII them of it. Indeed,* I should like to see another established; not for heretics, but for heresiarchs who ascribe to paltry monkish practices the same efficacy as to the seven sacraments; who worship what they should only respect; and who are so devojj|J that they are hardly Christians.
Wit^and common sense are to be found among the Spaniards; but let no one seek for them in their books. Glance at one of their libraries, with romances on the one side, and the schoolmen on the other; and you would say that the arrangement had been made, and the whole collected by some secret foe of human reason.
Their only good book is one which was written to expose the absurdity of all the others.^ They have made immense discoveries in the New World, and yet they do not know thoroughly their own country: there are upon their rivers an undiscovered bridge or two, and among their mountains races unknown to them.* * They say that the sun rises and sets within their dominions; but it must also be said that in making his jcAirney he encounters only ruined fields and desolate countries.
It would not grieve me, Usbek, to see a letter written to Madrid by a Spaniard who was travelling in France: I think he would have little difficulty in avenging his nation. What a grand opportunity for an even-tempered, thoughtful man! I imagine he would begin his description of Paris in this way: There is a house here in which they place mad 1 Don Quixote/' 2 The Batuecas. — (M.) This is an invention of some wag whom Montesquieu seems to have taken seriously.
PERSIAN LETTERS people: one would at first expect it to be the largest in the city; but no, the remedy is much too insignifi- cant for the disease. Without doubt, the French, being held in very slight esteem by their neighbours, shut u^^me madmen in this house, to create the impression that those who are at large are sane..
There I leave my Spaniard. Farewell, my dear Usbek.
Paris, the 17th of the moon of Saphar, 1715.
letter lxxix Usbek to Rhedi, at Venice Most legislators have been men of inferior capacity whom chance exalted over their fellows, and who took counsel almost exclusively of their own prejudices and whims.
It would seem that they had not even a sense of the greatness and dignity of their work: they amused themselves by framing childish institutions, well devised indeed to please small minds, but discrediting their authors with people of sense. *’ They flung themselves into useless details; and gave their attention to individual interests: the sign of a narrow genius, which grasps things piecemeal and cannot take a general view.
Some of them have been so affected as to employ another language than the vernacular — a ridiculous thing in a framer of laws; for how can they be obeyed if they are not known?
They have often abolished needlessly those which were already established — that is to say, they have plunged nations into the confusion which always accompanies change.
LETTER LXXIX It is true that, by •reason of some extravagance springing rather from the nature than from the mind of man, it is sometimes necessary to change certain laws. But the case is rare; and when it happens it requires the most delicate handling; muc^solemnity ought to be observed, and endless precautions taken, in ordtT to lead the people to the natural conclusion that the laws are most sacred, since so many formali- ties are necessary to their abrogation.
Often they have made them too subtle, following logical instead of natural equity.* As a consequence such laws have been found too severe; and a spirit of justice required that they should be set aside; but the cure was as bad as the disease. Whatever the laws may be, obedience to them is necessary; they are to be regarded as the public conscience, with which all private consciences ought to be in con- formity. ^ It must, however, be admitted that some legislators in their attention to one matter have sht)wn sufficient wisdom; and that is, in giving fathers so much power over their children: nothing is a better lightener of the magistrate’s labours, nothing tends more to keep the courts of justice empty, in short, nothing is more conducive to tranquillity in a state, for morality always makes better citizens than law.
Of all powers it is that which is least abused; it is the most sacred of all magistracies — the only one which does not spring from a contract, which, indeed, precedes all contracts.
It has been noticed that families are best ruled in those countries where there is a large paternal dis- cretion in matters of reward and punishment; fathers represent the Creator of the universe, who, ffithough able to lead men by His love, does not refrain from PERSIAN LETTERS binding them to Himself still nfore closely by motives of hope and fear.
I cannot finish this letter without pointing out the capricious turn of mind of the French. It is said that they have retained many things in the Roman laws which are useless, and even worse than useless; from them, however, they have not derivld the paternal power, which they have established as the source of all lawful authority.
Paris, the i8th of the moon of Saphar, 1715.
LETTER LXXX The chief black Eunuch to Usbek, at Paris Yesterday, some Armenians brought to the seraglio a young Circassian slave whom they wished to sell. I made her enter the secret apartments; I undressed her, I examined her with the eyes of a judge; and the more I examined, the more beauties I found. A virginal shame seemed anxious to hide them from my view: I saw how much it cost her to obey: she blushed upon beholding herself naked, even before me, exempt, as I am, from the passions which can alarm decency, and entirely delivered from the dominion of the sex — the servant of modesty in the freest actions, looking only with the chastest glance, and capable of inspiring nothing but innocence.
From the moment I judged her worthy of you, I cast down my eyes, and threw over her a scarlet cloak; I placed a ring of gold upon her finger, I prostrated myself at her feet, I adored her as the queen of your heart. I paid the Armenians, and hid her from every eye. Happy Usbek! you possess LETTER LXXXI more beauties than all»the palaces of the east enclose. What a pleasure to find on your return whatever Persia has that is most ravishing, and to see in your seraglio all the graces reborn as fast as time and possession work their destruction!
The Seraglio at Fatme, the ist of the nirst moon of Rebiab, 1715.
•letter LXXXI* Usbek to Rhedi, at Venice Since I have been in Europe, my de^t Rhedi, I have seen many forms of government. It is not here as in Asia, where the rules of policy are everywhere the same.
I have often inquired which form of government is most conformable to reason. It seems to me that the most perfect is that which attains its object with the least friction; so that the government which leads men by following their propensities and inclinations is the most perfect.
If uyder a mild government the people are as sub- missive as under a severe one, the former is to be preferred, since it is more rational, severity being a motive foreign to reason.
Remember, my dear Rhedi, that obedience to the laws in a state is not measured by the degree of cruelty in the punishments. In countries where penalties are moderate, they are dreaded as much as in those where they are atrocious and tyrannical.
Whether a government be mild or cruel, there must be degrees of punishment; the gravity of the chastise- 1 This letter contains much that Montesquieu developed afterwards in his Esprit des Lois.** PERSIAN LETTERS merit must always be in proportion to the gravity of the crime. Our imagination adapts itself to the customs of the country in which we live. Eight days’ imprisonment, or a lighter punishment, has a greater effect on the mind of a European brought up in a mil(i-mannered country, than the loss of an arm has upon an Asiatic. A certain degree of “dread attaches to a certain degree of punishment, and each feels it in his own way: a punishment which would not rob a Turk of a single quarter of an hour’s sleep, would overwhelm a Frenchman with infamy and despair. • Besides, I do not see that police regulations, justice, and equity, are better observed in Turkey, in Persia, or in the dominions of the Mogul, than in the Republics of Holland, and of Venice, and even in England: it does not appear that fewer crimes are committed there, and that men, intimidated by the greatness of the punishments, are more obedient to the laws.
On the contrary, I note a source of injustice and vexation in the midst of these very states.
I find even the prince, who is himself the law, less master there than anywhere else.
I observe that, at times when severe punishments are inflicted, there are always tumults, which nobody commands, and that, when once authority depending upon violence is set at naught, there remains with no one sufficient power to restore it; That the certainty of punishment itself strengthens and increases the disorder; That in these states a petty revolt never takes place; and that an uprising follows the first murmur of sedition without a moment’s interval; That in them great events are not necessarily pre- pared by great causes: on the contrary, the least LETTER LXXXII accident produces a g^eat revolution, often as unfore- seen by those who cause it as by those who suffer from it.
When Osman, Emperor of the Turks, was deposed,^ none of those who committed that cryp.e had any intention of doing so: they simply asked, as sup- pliant^, that justice should be done for some wrong: a voice, which no one knew, issued from the crowd by chance; it projiounced the name of Mustapha, and suddenly Mustapha was Emperor.
Paris, the 2nd of the first moon of Kebiab. 1715.
LETTER LXXXII Nargum, Persian Envoy in Muscovy, to Ushek, at Paris Of all the nations of the world, my dear Usbek, none has excelled that of the Tartars in th5 splendour and magnitude of its conquests. This people is the veritable ruler of the earth; all the others seem to be intended for its service; it is alike the founder and the destroyer of empires; in all times, it has afforded the world signs of its prowess; in every age it has been the scourge of the nations.
Twice the Tartars conquered China, and they still keep it in subjection.
They rule over those vast territories which form the Mogul’s empire.
Masters of Persia, they sit upon the throne of C>tus and Hystaspes. They have subdued Muscovy. Under the name of Turks, they have made immense con- quests in Europe, Asia, and Africa; and they are PERSIAN LETTERS the dominant power in these 'three quarters of the earth.
In more remote times, from them issued forth some of those races who overthrew the Roman empire.^, What are the conquests of Alexander compared with those of Zenghis Khan?
Nothing is wanting to this victorious nation except historians to celebrate its achievements.
What immortal deeds have been buried in oblivion! Of how many empires founded by them is the origin unknown to us,! This’ warlike nation, occupied ex- clusively with its immediate glory, and certain of conquest in every age, gave no thought to the com- memoration of its fame.
Moscow, the 4th of the first moon of Rebiab, 1715.
LETTER LXXXIII Rica to Ihhen, at Smyrna Although the French are great talkers, there is nevertheless among them a sort of silent dervishes, called Carthusians. They are said to cut out their tongues on entering the convent; and it is much to be desired that all other dervishes would deprive themselves in the same way of that which their profession renders useless to them.
Talking of these taciturn people reminds me that there are others who excel them in taciturnity, and who have a very remarkable gift. These are they who know how to talk without saying anything; and who carry on a conversation for two whole hours > The Huns. iq8 LETTER LXXXIII without its being po^ible to discover their meaning, to rehearse their talk, or to remember a word of what they have said.
This class of people are adored by the women; but not so much as some others who have ^geeived from nature the charming gift of smiling at the proper time, that is to say, every moment; and who receive with delighted approbation everything the ladies say.
But these people carry wit to its highest pitch; for they can detect subtlety in everything, and perceive a thousand little ingenious touches in the merest commonplaces.
I know others of them who are fortunate enough to be able to introduce into conversation inanimate things, and to make a long story about an embroidered coat, a white peruke, a snuff-box, a cane, a pair of gloves. It is well to begin in the street to make one- self heard by the noise of a coach and a thundering rap at the door: such a prologue paves the way for the rest of the discourse; and when*the exordium is good, it secures toleration for all the nonsense which follows, but which, fortunately, arrives too late to be detected.
I assure you that these little gifts, which wth us are of no account, are of great advantage here to those who are happy enough to possess them; and that a sensible man has no chance of shining where they are displayed.
Paris, the 6th of the second moon of Rebiab, 1715.
PERSIAN LETTERS LETTER LXXXIV Usbek to Rhedi, at Venice If there is a, God, my dear Rhedi, He must of necessity be just; because, if He were not so. He would be the worst and most imperfect of all beings. ' Justice is a true relation existing between two things; a relation which is always thg same, whoever contemplates it, whether it be God, or an angel, or lastly, man himself.
It is true that men ek) not always perceive these relations: often indeed, when they do perceive them, they turn aside from them, their own interest being always that which they perceive most clearly. Justice cries aloud; but her voice is hardly heard in the tumult of the passions.
Men act unjustly, because i,t is their interest to do so, and because they prefer their own satisfaction to that of others. They act always to secure some advantage to themselves: no one is a villain gratis; there is always a determining motive, and that motive is always an interested one.
But it is not possible that God should ever commit an injustice. As soon as we grant that He perceives what is right, it becomes necessary that He should follow it: were it not so, as He has no need of any- thing and is sufficient to Himself, He would be the most wicked of all beings, having no motive for wickedness.
And so, even if there were no God, we ought always to love righteousness; that is to say, we should endeavour to resemble that Being of whom we have so lofty an idea, and who, if He did exist, would of necessity be righteous. Freed as we would be LETTER LXXXIV from the yoke of religion, we would still be bound by that of justice.
Here you have, Rhedi, that which makes me believe that justice is eternal and independent of human conditions. And, if it were dependent^on them, it would be a truth so terrible that we would be com- pelled to hide it from ourselves.
We are surrounded by men stronger than ourselves; they can injury us in a thousand different ways, and with impunity three times out of four: what a satis- faction it is for us to know that there is in the heart of all men, an innate principle \fhich fights in our favour, and shields us from their attempts!
Without that we would be in continual terror; we would move among men as among lions; and we would never feel sure for an instant of our property, our honour, and our lives.
All these considercvtions incense me against those doctors who represent God as a being who makes a tyrannical use of His power; who mffke Him act in a manner which we would ourselves eschew for fear of offending Him; who charge Him with all the imper- fections which He punishes in us; and who, in their inconsistency, represent Him, now as a malicious being, and now as a being who hates evil and punishes it.
When a man examines himself, what a satisfaction for him it is to find that he has a righteous heart! That delight, austere as it is, sliould ravish him: he perceives that he is a being as far above those who have it not, as he is above tigers and bears. Yes, Rhedi, were I sure of following always and inviolably that idea of righteousness which I have before my eyes, I would believe myself the best of men.
Paris, the ist of the first moon of Gernmadi, 1715.
PERSIAN LETTERS LETTER LXXXV Rica to * * * Yesterday I was at the Hotel des Invalides; if I were a king' I would rather have founded that estab- lishment than have gained three battles. Throi^ghout it the hand of a great monarch appears. I think it is worthier of respect than any other institution in the world.
What a sight to see assembled within the same walls all those who have suffered for their country, who lived only to defend it; and who, high-hearted as ever, but lacking their old vigour, complain only of their inability to sacrifice themselves again!
What could be worthier of admiration than the sight of these disabled warriors in their retirement, observing a discipline as strict as if they were con- strained by the presence of an enemy, seeking their last satisfaction in that semblance of war, and dividing their thoughts and emotions between the duties of religion and those of their profession.