The author advances this justification out of his love for these great truths, independently of his respect for the human race, whose tenderest feelings he certainly did not intend to wound. The reader is, therefore, requested not for one moment to regard the remarks referred to as other than the result of amaze- ment in people who could not fail to be amazed, or as the paradoxes of men who were in no condition to be paradoxical. The reader should also observe that the whole charm of the work lies in the continuous contrast between the existing state of things and the * At one time Montesquieu intended to remove what he called '' certain juvenilia ” from the " Persian Letters ”; but the intention was never carried out.
33 c PERSIAN LETTERS remarkable, artless, or odd manner in which they are regarded. Beyond a doubt, the nature and design of the “ Persian Letters ” are so obvious that they can only deceive those who are inclined to deceive them- selves.
34 INTRODUCTION I AM not about to write a dedication, nor do I solicit protection for this work. It will be read, if it is good; and if it is bad, I am not anxious that it should be read.
I have issdfed these first letters in order to gauge the public taste; in my portfolio I have a goodly number more which I may hereafter publish.^ This, however, depends upon my remaining im- known; let my name once be published and I cease to write. I know a lady who walks well enough, but who limps if she is watched.* Surely the blemishes of my book are sufficient to make it needless that I should submit those of my person to the critics. Were I known, it would be said, " His book is at odds with his character; he might have employed his time to better purpose; it is not worthy of a serious man.” Critics are never at a loss for such remarks, because there goes no great expense of brains to the making of them.
The Persians who wrote these letters lodged at my house, and we spent our time together: they looked upon me as a man belonging to another world, and so they concealed nothing from me. Indeed, people so far from home could hardly be said to have secrets. They showed me most of their letters, and I copied them. I also intercepted some, mortifying to Persian vanity and jealousy, which they had been particularly careful to conceal from me.
^ Some of these letters were added in the edition of 1754.
• This lady has been identified with the author’s wife.
35 INTRODUCTION I am therefore nothing more than a translator: all my endeavour has been to adapt the work to our taste and manners. I have relieved the reader as much as possible of Asiatic phraseology, and have spared him an infinitude of sublime expressions which would have driven him wild.
Nor does my service to him end there. I have curtailed those tedious compliments of which the Orientals are as lavish as ourselves; and I have omitted a great many trifling matters which barely survive exposure to the light, and ought never to emerge from th^ obscurity proper to " small beer.”
Had most of those who have given the world collec- tions of letters done likewise, their works would have disappeared in the editing.
One thing has often astonished me, and that is, that these Persians seemed often to have as intimate an acquaintance as I myself with the manners and customs of our nation, an acquaintance extending to the most minute particulars and not unpossessed of many points which have escaped the observation of more than one German traveller in France. This I attribute to the long stay which they made, without taking into consideration how much easier it is for an Asiatic to become acquainted with the manners and customs of the French in one year, than it would be for a Frenchman to become acquainted with the manners and customs of the Asiatics in four, the former being as communicative as the latter are reserved.
Use and wont permits every translator, and even the most illiterate commentator, to adorn the begin- ning of his version, or of his parody, with a panegyric on the original, and to extol its usefulness, its merit, and its excellence. It should not be very difficult to 36 INTRODUCTION divine why I have^ot done so. One very excellent reason may be given: it would simply be adding tediousness to what is in itself necessarily tedious, namely, a preface.
1721. MONTESQUIEU.
37 PERSIAN LETTERS LETTER I Usbek to his friend Rustan, at Ispahan We stayed only one day at Koum. After having said our prayers before the tomb of the virgin who brought forth twelve prophets/ we resumed our journey, and yesterday, the twenty-sixth day sii^ce our departure from Ispahan, we came to Tauris.
Rica and myself are perhaps the first Persians who have left their native country urged by the thirst for knowledge; who have abandoned the amenities of a tranquil life for the laborious search after wisdom.
Although bom in a prosperous realm, we did not believe that its boundaries should limit our know- ledge, and that the lore of the East should alone enlighten us.
Tell me, without flattery, what is said of our journey: I do not expect that it will be generally commended. Address your letter to Erzeroum, where I shall stay for some time. Farewell, my dear Rustan. Rest assured that in whatever part of the world I may be, you have in me a faithful friend.
Tauris, the 15th of the moon of Saphar,2 1711, 1 Fatima, daughter of Mohammed, and wife of Ali — accord- ing to the Koran, one of the four perfect women.
* More correctly Safar, the second month of the Persian year.
39 PERSIAN LETTERS LETTER II Usbek to the chief black Eunuch, at his Seraglio in Ispahan You are the faithful keeper of the loveliest women in Persia; I have entrusted you with what in this world is most dear to me; you bear the keys pf those fatal doors which are opened only for me. Whilst you watch over this precious storehouse of my affections, my heart, at res/', enjoys an absolute freedom from care. You guard it in the silence of the night as well as in the bustle of the day. Your unrelaxing care sustains virtue when it wavers. Should the women whom you guard incline to swerve from their duty, you would destroy their hopes in the bud. You are the scourge of vice, and the very monument of fidelity.
You command them and they obey. You fulfil implicitly all their desires, and exact from them a like obedience to the laws of the seraglio; you take a pride in rendering them the meanest services; you submit to their lawful commands with reverence and in dread; you serve them like the slave of their slaves. But, resuming your power, you command imperiously, as my representative, whenever you apprehend any slackening of the laws of chastity and modesty.
Never forget that I raised you from the lowest position among my slaves, to set you in your present place as the trusted guardian of the delights of my heart. Maintain the most humble bearing in the presence of those who partake of my love; but, at the same time, make them deeply conscious of their own 40 LETTER III powerlessness. Pr^ide for them all innocent plea- sures; beguile them of their anxiety; entertain them with music, dancing, and delicious drinks; persuade them to meet together frequently. If they wish to go into the country, you may escort them thither; but lay hands on every man who dares to enter their presence. Exhort them to that cleanliness which is the symbol of the soul’s purity; speak sometimes of me. I long to see them again in that delightful place which they adorn. Farewell.
Tauris, the i8th of the moon of LETTER III Zachi to Usbek, at Tauris We instructed the chief of the eunuchs to take us into the country; he w'ill inform you that we arrived there without accident. When we had to leave our litters in order to cross the river, we went, as usual, into boxes: two slaves carried us on their shoulders, and we were seen by nobody.
Dear Usbek, how can I endure existence in your seraglio at Ispahan! It recalls everlastingly my past happiness, provoking daily my desires with renewed vehemence.
I wander from room to room, always searching for you, and never finding you; mocked at every turn by the cruel memory of my vanished bliss. Some- times I behold you in that spot where I first received you in my arms; again I see you in the room where you decided that famous quarrel among your women. Each of us asserted a superiority in beauty. We 41 PERSIAN LETTERS came before you, after having Exhausted our fancy in decking ourselves with jewellery and adornments. You noted with pleasure the marvels of our art; you were astonished at the height to which we had carried our desire to please you. But you soon made those borrowed graces give way to more natural charms; you destroyed the result of our labours: we were compelled to despoil ourselves of those ornaments, now become tiresome to ^you, and to appear before you in the simplicity of nature. For me, modesty counted as nothing; I thought only of conquest. Happy Usbek! what charms did you then behold. Long you wandered from enchantment to enchantment, unable to control your roving fancy; each new grace required your willing tribute; in an instant you covered us all with your kisses; your eager looks strayed into the recesses of our charms; you made us vary our attitudes a thousand times; and new commands brought forth new obedience. I avow it, Usbek, a passion stronger even than ambition filled me with a desire to please you. Gradually I saw myself become your heart’s mistress; you chose me, left me, returned to me, and I knew how to keep your love: my triumph was the despair of my rivals. You and I felt as if we were the sole inhabitants of the world: nothing but ourselves deserved a moment’s thought. Would to Heaven my rivals had been brave enough to witness all the proofs of love you gave me! Had they watched well my transports they would have felt the difference between their love and mine; it would have been plain to them that, though they might dispute the palm of beauty, they could not vie with me in tender- ness...But what is this? Where has this vain rehearsal led me? It is a misfortune not to be loved, 42 LETTER IV but to have love ^thdrawn from one is an outrage. You abandon us, Usbek, to wander in barbarous climes. What 1 do you count it as nothing to be loved? Alas! you do not even know what you lose! The sighs I heave there is none to hear; my falling tears you are not by to pity. Your insensibility takes you further and further from the love that throbs for you in your seraglio. Ah! my beloved Usbek, if you only knew yjur happiness!
The Seraglio at Fatme, the 21st of the moon of Maharram,! 1711.
LETTER IV Zephis to Usbek, at Erzeroum At length the black monster has resolved to drive me to despair. He is absolutely determined to deprive me of my slave, Zelida — Zelida, who serves me with such affection, and at whose magical touch new charms appear. Nor is he satisfied with the pangs this separation causes me; he is bent on my dishonour. The wretch pretends to treat as criminal the motives of my confidence, and because he was weary of stand- ing behind the door, where I always tell him to wait, he dares to imagine that he heard or saw things which my fancy cannot even conceive. I am very un- happy! Neither my isolation nor my virtue can secure me from his preposterous suspicions. A vile slave would drive me from your heart, and I am called on to defend myself even in your bosom! — 1 More correctly Muharram, the first month of the Persian year. Zachi's letter was, therefore, written about a month Defore the two that precede it.
43 PERSIAN LETTERS But no; I am too proud to justify myself: you alone shall vouch for my behaviour — your love and my love, and — ^need I say it, dear Usbek? — ^my tears.
The Seraglio at Fatme, the 29th of the moon of Maharram, 1711.
LETTER V Rustan to Usbek, at Erzeromt You are the one subject of conversation at Ispahan; nothing is talked of but your departure: some ascribe it to a giddy spirit, others to some heavy affliction; your friends are your only defenders, and they make no converts. People fail to understand why you should forsake your wives, your relations, your friends, and your native country, to visit lands of which Persians know nothing. Rica’s mother is in- consolable: she wants her son again, whom, she declares, you have decoyed away. As for me, my dear Usbek, I am, of course, anxious to approve of all your actions; but I do not see how I am to pardon your absence, and, however good your reasons may be, my heart will never appreciate them.
Ispahan, the 28th of the first moon of Rebiab,! 1711.
LETTER VI Usbek to his friend Nessir, at Ispahan At the distance of a day’s journey from Erivan we left Persian ground, and entered Turkish territory.
1 Rabi means " the spring ” in Persian. Rdbi-ul-awal, " the first (month) of spring," is the third of the Persian year.
44 LETTER VI Twelve days after* we reached Erzeroum, where we stayed three or four months.
I own, Nessir, I felt sorry, though I did not show it, when I lost sight of Persia and found myself among the treacherous Osmanli. It seems to me that I become more and more of a pagan the further I advance into this heathenish country.^ My fatherland, my family, and my friends came vividly befoje me; my affections revived; and, to crown all, an indefinable uneasiness laid hold of me, warning me that I had ventured on too great an undertaking for my peace of mind. ^ But that which afflicts me most is the memory of my wives. I have only to think of them to be con- sumed with grief.
Do not imagine that I love them: insensibility in that matter, Nessir, has left me without desires. Living with so many wives, I have forestalled love — it has indeed been its own destruction; but from this very callousness there springs a secret jealousy which devours me. I behold a band of women left almost entirely to themselves; except some low-minded wretches, no one is answerable for their conduct. I would hardly feel safe, if my slaves were faithful: how would it be if they were not so? What doleful tidings may I not receive in those far-off lands which I am about to visit! The mischief of this is, that my friends are unable to help me; they are forbidden to 1 The Persians generally belong to the sect of Shiites, who consider Abu Bekr, Omar, and Othman, the first three successors of Mohammed, as usurpers, and regard Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the prophet, as the first true Iman, and equal to Mohammed. The Shiites also reject as unworthy of credit the Sonna, a collection of traditions which is the canon of the faith of the Sunites, the sect to which the Turks belong.
45 PERSIAN LETTERS 45 PERSIAN LETTERS inquire into the sources of my misery; and what could they do after all? I would prefer a thousand times that such faults should remain unknown because uncorrected, than that they should become notorious through some condign punishment! I unbosom my- self to you, my dear Nessir: it is the only consolation left me in my misery.
Erzeroum, the loth of the second moon of Rebiab, 1711.
LETTER VII Fatme to Usbek, at Erzeroum You have been gone for two months, my dear Usbek, and I am so dejected that I cannot yet persuade myself you have been so long away. I wander through every comer of the seraglio as if you were there; I cherish that sweet delusion. What is there left to do for a woman who loves you; who has been accustomed to clasp you in her arms; whose only desire was to give you new proofs of her affection; who was bom to the blessings of freedom, but became a slave through the ardour of her passion?
W^en I married you, my eyes had not yet seen the face of man; and you are still the only man whom I have been permitted to look on: ^ for I do not count as men those frightful eunuchs whose least imperfec- tion is that they are not men. When I compare the beauty of your countenance with the deformity of theirs, I cannot forbear esteeming myself a happy woman: my imagination can conceive no more ravishing idea than the bewitching charms of your J- In Persia the women are confined much more closely than among the Turks or Indians. — (M.)
46 LETTER VII person. I pledge y«u my word, Usbek, that were I allowed to leave this place in which the necessity of my condition detains me; could I escape from the guards who hem me in on all sides — even if I were allowed to choose among all the men who dwell in this capital of nations — Usbek, I swear to you, I would choose none but you: there is no man else in the wide world worthy a woman’s love.
Do not think that your absence has led me to neglect those charms which have endeared me to you: although I may not be seen by any one, and the orna- ments with which I deck myself do not affect your happiness, I strive notwithstanding to omit no art that can arouse delight; I never go to rest until I am all perfumed with the sweetest essences. I recall that happy time when you came to my arms; a flattering dream deceives me, and shows me the dear object of my love; my fond imagination is whelmed in its desires; sometimes I think that, disgusted with the trials of your journey, you are hurrying home: between waking and sleeping the night is spent in such vague dreams; I seek for you at my side, and you seem to flee from me; until at last the very fire which burns me disperses these unsubstantial joys, and I am broad awake. Then my agitation knows no bounds...You will not believe me, Usbek, but it is impossible to live like this; liquid fire courses in my veins: why cannot I find words to tell you all I feel, and why do I feel so deeply what I cannot utter? In such moments, Usbek, I would give the world for a single kiss. What an unhappy woman is she who, having such passionate desires as these, is deprived of the company of him who alone can satisfy them! Abandoned to herself, with nothing to divert her, her whole life is spent in sighs and in the frenzy of a goad- 47 PERSIAN LETTERS 47 PERSIAN LETTERS ing passion. Instead of being happy, she has not even the privilege of ministering to the happiness of an-' other: a useless ornament of a seraglio, she is kept for her husband’s credit merely, and not for his enjoyment! You men are the cruellest creatures! Delighted when we have desires that we cannot gratify, you treat us as if we had no emotions — though you would be very sorry if that were so: you imagine that our long repressed love will be quickened when we behold you. It is very difficult for a man to make himself beloved; 'che easiest plan is to obtain from our constitutional weakness what you dare not hope to obtain through your own merit.
Farewell, my dear Usbek, farewell. Believe that I live only to adore you; the thought of you fills my soul; and your absence, far from making me forget you, would make my love more vehement, if that were possible.
The Seraglio at Ispahan, the 12th of the first moon of Rebiab, 1711.
LETTER VIII Usbek to his friend. Ruslan, at Ispahan I GOT your letter at Erzeroum, where I am now. I was quite certain that my departure would cause some stir, but that gives me no trouble: which would you have me obey — the petty maxims that guide my enemies, or the dictates of my own free soul?
From my earliest youth I have been a courtier; and yet I make bold to say that my heart has remained uncorrupted: indeed, I conceived the grand idea of daring to be virtuous even at court. From the 48 LETTER VIII moment I recognised vice, I withdrew from it; after- wards, when I approached it, it was only to unmask it. I carried my veracity even to the foot of the throne, and spoke a language never heard there before; I disconcerted flattery, amazing at the same time the idol and its worshippers.
But when I saw that my sincerity had made me enemies, and had brought upon me the jealousy of the ministers^ without attracting the favour of the prince, I determined to forsake a corrupt court in which my unseconded virtue could no longer maintain me. I feigned a mighty interest in ^ience; and, by dint of pretending, soon became really attached to it. I ceased to be a man of affairs, and retired to a house in the country. But even here persecution followed me: the malice of my enemies almost deprived me of the means of protecting myself. Information received in secret led me to consider my position seriously: I resolved to leave my native land, and my withdrawal from court supplied a plausible excuse. I waited on the king; I emphasised the great desire I had to acquaint myself with the sciences of the west, and hinted that my travels might even be of service to him. I found favour in the king’s sight; I set out, and snatched from my enemies their expected victim.
Here, Rustan, you have the true motive of my journey. Let them talk in Ispahan; say nothing in my defence except to my friends. Leave the evil- disposed to their misconstructions; I would be too happy if that were the only harm they could do me.
They discuss me at present; perhaps I shall soon be forgotten, and my friends...But no, I will not, Rustan, resign myself to these sad thoughts: I PERSIAN LETTERS will always be dear to them; I rfcly upon their faith- fulness as upon yours.
Erzeroum, the 20th of the second moon of Gemmadi,^ 1711.
LETTER IX The Chief Eunuch to Ibbif at Erzeroum You follow your old master on his travels; you wander through pVovinces and kingdoms; no grief can make any impression on you; you see new sights aU day long; everything you behold entertains you, and you are unconscious of the flight of time.
It is not so with me. Shut up in a hideous prison, I am always surrounded by the same objects; there is no change even in what vexes me. Weighed down by fifty years of care and annoyance, I lament my wretched case: all my life long I have never passed a single untroubled day, or known a peaceful moment.
When my first master formed the cfliel design of entrusting his wives to my care, and induced me by flattering promises, supplemented by a thousand threats, to separate myself for ever from my manhood, tired of the toilsome service in which I was engaged, I calculated that the sacrifice of my passions would be more than repaid by ease and wealth. How unfor- tunate was I! Preoccupied with the thought of the ills I would escape, I had no idea of the others to which I fled: I expected that the inability to satisfy love 1 The two Gemmadis, or Gemalis, are the fifth and sixth months of the Persian year. Gemal-i-ul-awal is the first of these.
* This is the only letter to Ibbi, and there is only one from him, the XXXIX. He must not be confounded with Ibben, to whom many letters are addres-sed.
50 LETTER IX would secure me froln its assaults. Alas! although ‘passion had been rendered inefficient, its force re- mained unabated; and, far from being relieved, I found myself surrounded by objects which continually whetted my desires. When I entered the seraglio, where everything filled me with regret for what I had lost, my agitation increased each moment; a thousand natural charms seemed to unfold themselves to my sight only to tantalise me; and to crown my misery, I had constantly before me their fortunate possessor. While this wretched time lasted, I never led a woman to my master’s bed without feeling ^jild rage in my heart, and despair unutterable in my soul.
And thus I passed my miserable youth, with no confidant but my own bosom. Wearied with longing and sad as night, there was nothing left but to endure in silence. I was forced to turn the sternest glances on those very women whom I would fain have regarded with looks of love. It would have undone me had they read my thoughts; how they would have tyrannised over me! I remember one day, as I attended a lady at the bath, I was so carried away that I lost command ,of myself, and dared to lay my hand where I should not. My first thought was that my last day had come. I was, however, fortunate enough to escape a dreadful death; but the fair one, whom I had made the witness of my weakness, extorted a heavy price for her silence: I entirely lost command of her, and she forced me, each time at the risk of my life, to comply with a thousand caprices.
At 1 ‘ngth, the fire of youth burnt out, I grow old and become, in that particular, at peace with myself. Women I regard with indifference, I pay them back for all their contempt, and all the torments which I suffered through them. I never forget that I was 51 PERSIAN LETTERS 51 PERSIAN LETTERS bom to command them, and in the exercise of my authority I feel as if I had recovered my lost manhood.’ I hate women now that I can regard them without passion, and detect and discuss all their weaknesses. Although I guard them for another, I experience a secret joy in making myself obeyed. When I take all their pleasures from them, I feel as if it were at my behest alone; and that always gives me satisfaction more or less direct. The seraglio is my empire; and my ambition, the only passion left me, finds no small gratification. I mark with pleasure that all depends on me, and that my presence is required at all times: I willingly incur the hatred of all these women, because that establishes me more firmly in my post. And they do not hate me for nothing, I can tell you: I interfere with their most innocent pleasures; I am always in the way, an insurmountable obstacle; before they know where they are they find their schemes frustrated; I am armed with refusals, I bristle with scruples; not a word is heard from me but duty, virtue, chastity, modesty. I make them desperate by dinning them with the weakness of their sex, and the authority of our master. Then I lament the necessity which requires me to be so severe, and lead them to believe that my only motives are their truest interests and my profound attachment to them.
Do not suppose that in my turn I have not to suffer endless unpleasantness. Every day these women seek occasions to repay me with interest, and their reprisals ^ are often terrible. Between us there goes on 1 Revers in the original. M. Laboulaye asserts that Montesquieu is the only writer who uses revers in the sense of revanche; but Littr6 gives examples of a similar use of the word in Moli^re and Bossuet.
52 LETTER IX 52 LETTER IX a constant interchaflge of ascendancy and obedience. ’They are always putting upon me the meanest ser- vices; they affect a sublime contempt; and, regard- less of my age, they force me to rise ten times during the night for the merest trifle. I am worn off my feet with endless commissions, orders, employments, and caprices; one would think that they take turn about in inventing occupations for me. They often amuse themselves b;^ making me doubly vigilant; they give me imaginary confidences. Sometimes I am told that a young man has been seen prowling round the walls, or a startling noise has been heard^ or some one is about to receive a letter. All this bothers me, and amuses them; they are delighted when they see me tormenting myself. Sometimes they station me behind the door, and keep me standing there night and day. They well know how to pretend to be ill, to swoon away, to be frightened out of their wits: they are never at a loss for some pretext to work their will on me. When they are in this mood, implicit obedi- ence, unquestioning compliance are my only resources: a refusal from such a man as I am would be a thing unheard of; and if I were to hesitate in obeying them, they could punish me at their discretion. I would sooner die, my dear Ibbi, than submit to such humilia- tion.
But this is not all. I am never for an instant sure of my master’s favour; for each of his wives is an enemy who never ceases to hope for my ruin. They take advantage of certain snatches of time when I cannot be heard, when he can refuse them nothing, and when I am always in the wrong. I conduct to my master’s bed women whose spite is roused against me: do you imagine that they will move a finger in my behalf, or say a single word in my favour? I have 53 PERSIAN LETTERS everything to fear from their tears, their sighs, their embraces, from their very pleasures; it is their time of triumph; their charms are arrayed against me: their present services obliterate in a moment all those rendered by me in the past; and nothing can plead for me with a master who is no longer himself.
Many a time I lie down high in my master’s favour, and awake to find myself disgraced. The day on which they whipped me so ignominiously round the seraglio, what had I done? I leave a woman in my master’s arms: when she sees him impassioned she bursts into a torfent of tears, and pours out complaints so skilfully that they become more anguished in pro- portion as the love she causes grows vehement. What could I do to defend myself at a crisis of that kind? When I least expected it, ruin overtook me; I was the victim of an amorous intrigue, of a treaty sealed with sighs. Behold, dear Ibbi, the wretched plight in which I have always lived.
What happiness is yours! Your duties are con- fined to attendance on Usbek. It is easy for you to please him, and to retain his favour to your dying day.
The Seraglio at Ispahan, the last day of the moon of Saphar, 1711.
LETTER X Mirza to his friend Usbek, at Erzeroum You alone could recompense me for the absence of Rica, and it is only Rica who could console me for yours. We miss you, Usbek; you were the very life of our circle. How hard it is to break away from those attachments in which both the heart and the mind are engaged!
54 LETTER XI We have great debates here, our talk turns princi- pally on morality. We disputed yesterday whether true happiness consists in pleasure and sensual grati- fication, or in the practice of virtue.
I have heard you often affirm that men were made to be virtuous, and that justice is as indispensable to existence as life itself. I beg you to explain to me what you mean by this.
I have spoken of this to the mollahs/ but they exasperate me with their quotations from the Koran; for I do not consult them as a trfie believer, but as a man, a citizen, and the father of a family. Farewell.
Ispahan, the last clay of the moon of Saphar, 1711, LETTER XI Usbek to Mirza, at Ispahan You waive your own judgment in deference to mine; ® you even deign to consult me; you profess your belief in my ability to instruct you. My dear Mirza, if there is one thing which flatters me more than your good opinion of me, it is the friendship which prompts it.
In the fulfilment of the task you have prescribed me, I do not think there is any necessity for argument of an abstruse order. There are certain truths which it is not sufficient to know, but which must be realised: such are the great commonplaces of morality. Prob- 1 Montesquieu spells it “ Mollaks.” In Persia the mollah is a devotee; in Turkey, a judge.
* " Essayer la mienne," a Gascon provincialism for " user,” etc. The meaning is, therefore, as above, and not " to test mine."
55 PERSIAN LETTERS ably the following fable will affect* you more than the most subtle argument: Once upon a time there dwelt in Arabia a small tribe called Troglodites, descendants of the ancient Troglo- dites, who, if historians are to be believed,^ were likcr beasts than men. They were not, however, counter- feit presentments of the lower animals. They had not fur like bears; they did not hiss like serpents; and they did possess two eyes: ® but they were so mali- cious, so brutish, that they lacked all notion of justice and equity. * A king of foreign origin reigned over them. Wishing to correct their natural wickedness, he treated them with severity; but they conspired against him, slew him, and exterminated his line.
They then assembled to appoint a governing body. After many dissensions, they elected magistrates. These had not been long in office, when they found them intolerable, and killed them also.
Freed from this new yoke, the people were swayed only by their savage instincts. Every man deter- mined to do what was right in his own eyes; and in attending to his own interests, the general welfare was forgotten.
This unanimous decision gave universal satisfaction. They said: “ Why should I kill myself with work for those in whom I have no interest? I will only think of myself: how should the welfare of others affect me? I will provide for my own necessities; and, if these are satisfied, it is no concern of mine though all the other Troglodites live in misery.”
Each man said to himself in seed-time, ” I shall > Herodotus, Plutarch, Pomponius Mela, and Pliny the Elder, are the authorities for the Troglodites.
* Ck)ntradictions of assertions in Pomponius Mela.
56 LETTER XI till no more land tlTan will supply me with com enough * for my wants. What use have I for any more? I am not going to bother myself for nothing.”
The land in this little kingdom was not all of the same quality: some of it was barren and mountain- ous; and other portions, lying low, were well-watered. One year a drought occurred, so severe, that the up- lands bore no crop at all, whilst those that were well- watered brought forth abundantly. In consequence of this, the liighlanders almost all died of hunger, because the people of the lowlands had no mercy on them, and refused to share the harvest.
The year after, the weather being very wet, the higher grounds produced extraordinary crops, whilst the lowlands were Hooded. Again half the people were famine-stricken; but the wretched sufferers found the mountaineers as hard as they themselves had been.