Paris, the 25th of the moon of Zilcade, 1713.
LETTER XXXIV Usbek to Ibben, at Smyrna The Persian women are finer than the French women; but those of France are prettier. It is as difficult not to love the former, as it is to be displeased with the latter: these attract by their tenderness and modesty, while those conquer us with their sprightly humour.
That which preserves the beauty of the women in Persia is the regular life they lead: they neither gamble, nor sit up late; they drink no wine, and are never exposed to the air. It must indeed be admitted 99 PERSIAN LETTERS that the life of the seraglio is* more conducive to health than to happiness, it is so dull and uniform. Everything turns upon discipline and duty; the v^y pleasures are solemn, and mirth itself is sad; enpy- ment is hardly ever tasted except as an indication of authority and dependence.
Even the men are not so cheerful in Persia as in France: one never sees that freedom of spirit, and that air of contentment, which I find here among all sorts and conditions of men.
It is still worse hi Turkey. There, families may be found, in which, from father to son, no soul has laughed since the foundation of the monarchy.
This Asiatic gravity is the result of the unsocial life which people lead: they never see each other except on ceremonial occasions. Friendship, that dear solace of the heart, the sweetener of our life below, is almost unknown to them; they withdraw into their houses, where they always have the same companions; a.nd in this way each family is, as it were, isolated.
One day, when I was discussing the subject with a young man of this country, he said, " That which offends me most among your customs is the necessity you are under of living with slaves, whose thoughts and inclinations are always subdued to the vileness of their condition. These wretched creatures, by whom you have been beset from infancy, weaken in you, and ultimately destroy, those virtuous feelings which nature implants.
" For, in short, when you have cleared your mind from prejudice, what is to be expected from an up- bringing at the hands of a wretch, who makes his honour consistent with the guardianship of another's wives, and prides himself upon the most loathsome LETTER XXXV employment which society affords; whose only virtue, 11« fidelity, is utterly despicable, because it is prompted b^ envy, jealousy, and despair; who, belonging to neither sex, burns to be avenged on both, and yet submits to the tyranny of the stronger, in order that he may afflict the weaker; who, deriving from his imperfection, his ugliness, and his deformity, all the eclat of his position, is esteemed only because he is unworthy; vjho, finally, riveted for ever to the gate which he guards, harder than the bolts and bars which secure it, brags of fifty years in this ignoble station, where, as the ininistei>of his Piaster’s jealousy, he has given the rein to nil his own vileness? ” Paris, the 14th of the moon of Zilhage,* 1713.
LETTER XXXV Usbek to Gemchid, his Cousin, Dervish of the glorious Monastery of Tauris What is your opinion, sublime dervish, of the Chris- fians? Do you think that at the day of judgment, like the unbelieving Turks, who are to serve the Jews for asses, they will be hurried off at the gallop into hell? I am well aware that their abode will not be with the prophets, and that the great Kali’s mission was not to them. But, do you think they will be condemned to everlasting punishment because they have not been fortunate enough to find mosques in their country? Will God chastise them for failing to practise a religion which He has withheld from their knowledge? I may tell you, I have often examined these Christians; I have questioned them to find 1 More correctly, Zil Haj, the last month of the Persian year.
TOT PERSIAN LETTERS out if they had any idea about the great Hali, who was the most perfect of all men, and it is certain tlylt they have never even heard of him.
They are not like those infidels whom our holy prophets put to the sword, because they refused to believe in the miracles of Heaven: they are like those unfortunates who lived in the darkness of idolatry, before the divine light illumined the face of our great prophet.
Besides, an examination of their reUgion reveals the presence of some rudiments of our doctrines. I have often admi#ed the ‘secret workings of Providence, which seems in this way to have prepared them for a general conversion. One book of their learned men, entitled " Polygamy Triumphant,” ^ of which I have heard, proves that polygamy is enjoined upon Chris- tians. Their baptism is an emblem of our ablutions; and their only error consists in ascribing to that first ablution an efficacy which enables them to omit all others. Their priests and friars pray, like ours, seven times a day. They hope to inherit a paradise where, by means of the resurrection of the body, they will enjoy a thousand delights. Like us als6, they have appointed fasts, and times of mortification, by which they hope to move the divine clemency. They worship good angels, and are in dread of evil ones. They believe in miracles which God works by 1 The full title of the book to which Usbek alludes is, " Polygamia triumphatrix, id est discursus politicos de poly- gamia, auctore Theophilo Aletheo, cum notis Athanasii Vincentii, omnibus antipolygamis, ubique locorum, terrarum, insularum, pagorum, urbium, modeste et pie opposita.’’ It was printed in Holland, probably in Amsterdam, although the name of a Swedish town appears on the title-page. Had it not suited Montesquieu’s purpose to refer to it, the very name of the book would now be unknown except to a few specialists, as it is dull and uninteresting.
LETTER XXXVI means of His servants. They recognise, as we do, their own unworthiness, and the need they have for a]\ intercessor with God. Throughout their religion I find traces of Mohammedanism, although there is no word of Mohammed. It has been well said, that truth will break through the darkest clouds. The day is hastening when the Eternal will behold upon the earth none but true believers. Time, which devours all, will make away even with error. Men will be astonished to find themselves all under the same standard: everything, the law itself, will be accomplished; and the godly will ]^e taken from the earth, and carried to the mansions of the blest.
Paris, the 20th of the moon of Zilhage, 1713.
LETTER XXXVI Ushek to Rhedi, at Venice Coffee is very much used in Paris; there are a great •many public houses where it may be had. In some of these they meet to gossip, in others to play at chess. There is one ‘ where the coffee is prepared in such a way that it makes those who drink it witty: at least, there is not a single soul who on quitting the house does not believe himself four times wittier than when he entered it.
But that which shocks me most in these geniuses, is, that they are quite useless to their country, and amuse their talents with puerilities. For example, when I arrived at Paris I found them warm in dispute * The Caf6 Procope, a rendezvous of the wits of the eigh- teenth century.
PERSIAN LETTERS over the most trifling matter imaginable.^ It was all about an old Greek poet, whose birthplace and time of d)dng no one has known for two thousand yeafs. Both sides agreed that he was a most excellent poet: it was only a question of the degree of merit to be ascribed to him. Each wished to fix his rank; but among those apportioners of praise, some carried more weight than others. Here you have the whole dis- pute. It was a lively quarrel; for both sides abused each other most heartily with such gross aspersions, and such bitter raillery, that I admired the conduct of the quarrel, ^s mucji as the subject of it. “ If any one,” said I to myself, " were fool enough to attack, in the presence of the defenders of the Greek poet, the reputation of some honest citizen, he would surely find a warm reception; and, indeed, I believe that this extreme zeal for the reputation of the dead, would blaze up to some purpose in defence of the living. But, however that may be,” added I, “ God keep me from ever drawing on myself the enmity of these censors of this poet, who has not been saved from their implacable hate even after having lain two thousand years in his grave! At present they fight the air; but how would it be, if their rage were animated by the presence of an enemy? ” Those of whom I have told you dispute in the vulgar tongue; and must be distinguished from another set of disputants, who employ a barbarous language,* which seems to increase the fury and the obstinacy of the combatants. There are places * where these people are to be seen struggling as in a 1 The quarrel regarding the relative merits of the ancients and the moderns, in which Homer was the chief subject of dispute.
* The Latin of the schools.
• The Sorbonne and the University.
LETTER XXXVII battle, dismal and confused; they are fed upon subtleties, they live upon obscure arguments and false inl^rences. This profession, although one would think its followers would die of hunger, must pay in some way. A whole nation, driven from their own country,^ has been sent to cross the sea and establish itself in France, carrying with it no other means of providing for the necessities of life, than a notable talent.for debate. Farewell.
Paris, the last day of the moon of Zilhage, 1713.
LETTER XXXVII Usbek to Ihhen, at Smyrna The King of France is old.* We have no examples in our histories of such a long reign as his. It is said that he posseSses in a very high degree the faculty of making himself obeyed: he governs with equal ability his family, his court, and his kingdom: he has often been heard to say, that, of all existing governments, that of the Turks, or that of our august Sultan, pleased him best: such is his high opinion of Oriental statecraft.* I have studied his character, and I have found 1 An allusion to a seminary of Irish priests instituted in 1677 by some refugees.
* Louis XIV. was then seventy-five years old, and had reigned for seventy.
• When Louis XIV. was in his sixteenth year, some courtiers discussed in his presence the absolute power of the Sultans, who dispose as they like of the goods and the lives of their subjects. " That is something like being a king," said the young monarch. Marshal d’£str£es, alarmed at the tendency revealed in that remark, rejoined, " But, sire, several of these emperors have been strangled even in my time."
PERSIAN LETTERS certain contradictions which I cannot reconcile. For example, he has a minister who is only eight^n years old,^ and a mistress who is fourscore; * he Icpes his religion, and yet he cannot abide those who assert that it ought to be strictly observed; * although he flies from the noise of cities, and is inclined to be reticent, from morning till night he is engaged in getting himself talked about; he is fond of trophies and victories, but he has as great a (Jread of seeing a good general at, the head of his own troops, as at the head of an army of his enemies. It has never I believe happened to <any one but himself, to be burdened with more wealth than even a prince could hope for, and yet at the same time steeped in such poverty as a private person could ill brook.
He delights to reward those who serve him; but he pays as liberally the assiduous indolence of his courtiers, as the labours in the field of his captains; often the man who undresses him, or who hands him his serviette at table, is preferred before him who has taken cities and gained battles; he does not believe that the greatness of a monarch is compatible with restriction in the distribution of favours; and, without examining into the merit of a man, he will heap bene- fits upon him, believing that his selection makes the recipient worthy; accordingly, he has been known to bestow a small pension upon a man who had run off two leagues from the enemy, and a good government on another who had gone four.
Above all, he is magnificent in his buildings; there are more statues in his palace gardens * than 1 Barbezieux, son of Louvois, Louis* youngest minister, held office at twenty-three, not eighteen; and he was dead in 2 Madame de Maintenon. * The Jansenists.
♦ At Versailles, LETTER XXXVIII there are citizens in a large town. His bodyguard is, as strong as that of the prince before whom all the thlpnes of the earth tremble; ^ his armies are as numerous, his resources as great, and his finances as inexhaustible.
Paris, the 7th of the moon of Maharram, 1713.
LETTER XXXVIII Rica to Ibben, at Smyrna It is an all-important question among men, whether it is better to deprive women of their liberty, or to leave them free. It seems to me that much is to be said on both sides. When Europeans declare that it is most ungenerous to keep those*whom we love in misery, we Asiatics reply that men'lower themselves by renouncing the dominion whichtnature has given them over women. If we are told how troublesome is it must be to have a crowd of women shut up to- gether, our reply is, that ten women who obey are less bother than one who does not. If we object, in our turn, that Europeans cannot be happy with women who are unfaithful to them; they answer that the fidelity we boast of does not prevent that disgust, which always follows a surfeit of desire; that our women belong to us too absolutely; that possession obtained so easily leaves no scope for hope or fear; that a little coquetry, like salt, stimulates the appetite, and prevents corruption. Perhaps even a wiser man than I would find this question difficult to decide; for, if the Asiatics do well in seeking due means to 1 The Shah];of Persia.
PERSIAN LETTERS quiet their uneasiness, the Europeans do equally well in not being uneasy.
After all, say they, though we should be unfortunfite as husbands, we can always find compensation as lovers. A man could have just reason to complain of the infidelity of his wife only if there were no more than three people in the world; odd may be made even, as long as a fourth can be found.
Another much-discussed question is, whether women are intended by nature to be subject to men. “ No,” said a very gallant philosopher to me the other day; " nature never dictated such a law. The dominion which we exercise over them is tyrannical; they yield themselves to men only because they are more tender-hearted, and consequently, more human and more rational. These advantages, which, had we been reasonable, would, without doubt, have given them the superiority, have been the cause of their subordination, because we are irrational.
" Now, if it is true that it is a tyrannical power which we have over women, it is none the less true that they exercise over us a natural dominion — that of beauty, which nothing can resist. Our power doss not extend to all countries, but that of beauty is universal. Why, then, should we have any privilege? Is it because we are stronger than they? But that would be the height of injustice. We use every possible means to discourage them. Our powers would be found equal if we were educated alike. Try women in those gifts which education has not weakened, and we will soon see which is the abler sex.”
It must be admitted, although shocking to our ideas of propriety, that, among the most polite people, women have always borne sway over their husbands; io8 LETTER XXXIX their authority wa^ established by law among the Egyptians in honour of Isis, and among the Baby- lonians in honour of Semiramis. It was said of the Rdmans that they, who ruled all the world, were ruled by their wives. I say nothing of the Sauro- mates,^ who were held in a state of slavery by their women; they were too barbarous to be cited as an example.
You see, my dear Ibben, that I have fallen in with the fashibn of this country, where they are fond of defending extraordinary opinions, and of reducing everything to a paradox. The prophet has decided this question, and has settfed the* rights of both sexes. " Women,” he says, “ ought to honour their husbands; and husbands, their wives: but men are a degree higher in the scale of creation than women.”
Paris, the 26th of the second moon of GemmadiT 1713.
LETTER XXXIX Jiagi* Ibbi to the Jew Ben Joshua, Mohammedan Proselyte, at Smyrna It seems to me, Ben Joshua, that prodigies always accompany the birth of extraordinary men, as if nature suffered a convulsion, and the celestial power could not bring forth without travail.
There is no birth so marvellous as that of Moham- med. God, who, by the decrees of His providence, had determined from the beginning to send to men that great prophet for the overthrow of Satan, created * Herodotus, iv. no-147.
2 A Hagi is a man who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
PERSIAN LETTERS a light two thousand years belore Adam, which, passing from elect to elect through the ancestors of Mohammed, reached him at last, as an authentic sign of his descent from the patriarchs. ' It was because of this very prophet that God willed that no child should be conceived, that women should cease to be unclean, and that man should be circumcised.
He came into the world circumcised already, and joy shone upon his face from his birth. The earth shook three times; as if she herself had brought forth; all the idols fell forward, and the thrones of kings were overturned.* Lucifer was cast into the depths of the sea, and it was only after forty days' immersion that he swam up from the abyss, and took refuge on Mount Cabes, whence, with a tenible voice, he cried to the angels.
That night, God placed a barrier between the man and the woman, which neither of them could pass. The art of the.magicians and of the necromancers cease to avail. A voice from heaven was heard cr3dng, “ I have sent into the world my faithful friend.” ^ According to the testimony of Isben Aben, all the birds, the clouds, the winds, and the hosts of angels, met together to bring up this child, and disputed who should have the preference. The birds said in their warblings that it was proper for them to have his upbringing, because they could so easily gather a variety of fruits from many places. The winds murmured and said, “ To us rather he should be committed, because we can bear him from all quarters the sweetest odours.” “ No, no,” cried the clouds; ” no: it is we who shoiild have charge of him, because we can refresh him at any moment with our showers.”
no LETTER XL no LETTER XL From on high the» angels indignantly exclaimed, " What will there be left for us to do? ” But a voice from heaven silenced their disputes and said, " He will not be withdrawn from mortal hands, because blessed shall be the breasts that suckle him, the hands that touch him, the house wherein he lives, and the bed on which he lies.”
After so many striking testimonies, my dear Joshua, only a heart of iron could refuse to believe his holy law. »What more could heaven itself have done to authorise his divine mission, ‘unless it had over- turned nature, and destroyed the very men whose salvation it desired.
Paris, the 20th of the moon of Rhegeb, 1713.
LETTER XL Ushek to Ibben, at Smyrna * When a great man dies, people assemble in a mosque to hear his funeral oration pronoimced — a discourse in his praise from which it would be very difi&cult to gather a true estimate of the deceased.
I would abolish all funeral pomp. Men should be bewailed at their birth and not at their death. What good purpose do these ceremonies serve, with all the doleful shows that are paraded before a dying man in his last moments: the very tears of his family and the grief of his friends exaggerate for him the loss he is about to sustain.
We are so blind that we know neither when to mourn, nor when to rejoice; our mirth and our sadness are nearly always false.
When I see the Great Mogul foolishly place himself III PERSIAN LETTERS once a year in a balance to be ‘Weighed like an ox; when I see his people applaud the increase in weight of their prince, that is to say, the decrease in his capacity to govern them, my heart, Ibben, bleeds for the extravagance of humanity.
Paris, the 20th of the moon of Rhegeb, 1713.
LETTER XLI The chief black Eunuch to Ushek ISHMAEL, one ot your black eunuchs, O magnificent master, has just died; and I tried to avoid any delay in filling up his place. As eunuchs are very scarce at present, I thought of making use of a black slave whom you have in the country; but I have not yet succeeded in persuading him to undergo the sacrifice necessary for his consecration to that office. Knowing that this change would in the end work for his advantage, I wished the other day to employ towards him a little violence; and, in company with the supierintendent of your gardens, I commanded that, in spite of himself, he should be put into a fit state to render you those services which most appeal to your heart, and to live with me in those sacred quarters, which, at present, he durst not even look at; but he fell a-roaring, as if we had wanted to flay him, and made such a to-do that he escaped from our hands, and so avoided the fatal knife. I have only now learned that he intends to write you begging for mercy, and that he will urge in his defence that this design has been conceived by me, only in satisfaction of a relentless desire to be avenged for some cutting sarcasms which he says he vented against me. How- LETTER XLII LETTER XLII ever, I swear to j^ou by the hundred thousand prophets, that in this matter I have acted entirely for the benefit of your service, the only thing which is dear to me, beyond which I have not a single thought. I prostrate myself at your feet.
The Seraglio at Fatme, the 7th of the moon of Maharram, 1713.
LETTER XLII « Pharan to Usbek, his Sovereign Lord If you were here, magnificent lord, I would appear to you clad from head to foot in white paper; * and even that would not be enough to contain a descrip- tion of all the insults which your first black eunuch, the most malignant of men, has heaped upon me since your departure.
Under pretext of some sarcasms which he pretends I aimed at his unfortunate lot, he makes me the victim of an insatiable vengeance. He has stirred up against me the cruel superintendent of your gardens, who, eygr since you left, has laid upon me impossible tasks, in attempting which I have a thousand times taken leave of life, although I never for an instant lost my ardour in your service. Many a time have I said to myself, " I who have the gentlest of masters, am yet the most miserable slave on the face of the earth! ” I confess, most generous lord, that I did not believe myself destined to still greater miseries; but this felonious eunuch had yet to fill up the measure of his wickedness. Some days ago, on his unsupported authority, he destined me to the guardianship of 1 A " sublime expression ’’ which the reader is not spared. (See Introduction.)
«3 H PERSIAN LETTERS your sacred wives; that is to ^y, to a punishment which to me would be a thousand times more cruel than death. Those who, at their birth, have had the misfortune to undergo such treatment at the hands of their cruel parents, may perhaps comfort themselves with the thought that they have never known any other condition; but were I to lose my place among men, and be deprived of that which makes me human, I should die of grief, if I survived the barbarous knife.
I kiss your feet, sublime lord, in the deepest humility. Grant that I may feel the effects of your revered virtue. Let it not be said that, at your com- mand, there is upon the earth one more unhappy being.
The Gardens of Fatme, the 7th of the moon of Maharram, 1713.
LETTER XLIII Usbek to Pharan, at the Gardens of Fatme Rejoice in your heart, and acknowledge these sacred characters. Let the chief eunuch and the super- intendent of my gardens kiss this letter. I prohibit them from attempting anything against you: tell them to purchase the eunuch they require. Do your duty, as if you had me always before you; for know, that as my bounty is great, so, if you abuse it, will the measure of your punishment be.
Paris, the 25th of the moon of Rhegeb, 1713.
LETTER XLIV LETTER XLIV Usbek to Rhedi, at Venice There are in France three privileged classes: the church, the sword, and the gown. Each has such a sovereign contempt for the other two, that some- times a man who deserves to be looked down upon because he is a fool, is despised only because he is a lawyer.
All classes, including the meanest workmen, contend for the excellence of the craft they have chosen; each man exalts himself at the expense of some other of a different profession, according to the idea which he has formed of the superiority of his own.
They all resemble, more or less, a certain woman of the province of Erivan, who, having received some favour from one of o\ir monarchs, wished a thousand times, in the blessings she showered lipon him, that Heaven would make him governor of Erivan.
I have read in a history, how some men belonging to*the crew of a French vessel which had anchored off the coast of Guinea, went ashore in order to buy some sheep. They were led before the king, who was administering justice to his subjects under a tree. He sat upon his throne, that is to say, upon a block of wood, as proudly as if it had been the seat of the Great Mogul. His guard consisted of three or four men armed with pointed staves; an umbrella served as canopy to protect him from the heat of the sun; for ornaments, he and his consort wore nothing but their own black skins and some rings. This prince, whose vanity was greater even than his poverty, asked the strangers if they talked much of PERSIAN LETTERS him in France. He imagined that his fame must have gone forth to the ends of the earth; and, unlike that conqueror of whom it is said that he had silenced all the earth, he for his part believed that he kept*the whole world chattering.
When the Khan of Tartary has eaten, a herald announces that all the princes of the earth may now go to dinner if they wish; that barbarian, whose food is milk, who has no house, and who lives only by brigandage, looks upon all the kings of the world as his slaves, and insults them regularly twice a day.
Paris, the 28th the moon of Rhegeb, 1713.
LETTER XLV Rica to Usbek, at * * * Yesterday morning, as I lay in bed, I heard a violent knocking at my door, which was suddenly opened, or driven in, by a man with whom I have some slight acquaintance, and who appeared to me to be quite beside himself.^ ‘ His dress was, to say the least, very homely; his wig, all askew, had not even been combed; he had not had time to mend his black waistcoat; and he had, for that day, omitted the wise precautions with which he was in the habit of concealing the dilapida- tion of his attire.
“ Rise,” he said; “ I shall want you all day. I have a thousand purchases to make, and it will be 1 In this letter Montesquieu was probably thinking of a physician named Boudin, who imagined that he had redis- covered the secrets of the alchemists. Saint-Simon has an admirable description of this man.
II6 LETTER XLV a great convenience to me to have you with me. First of all, we have to go to the Rue Saint Honors to see a notary, who is commissioned to sell an estate worth five hundred thousand livres. On my way here, I stopped a moment in the Faubourg Saint Germain, where I hired a house at two thousand crowns; I hope to sign the contract to-day.”
As soon as, or rather before, I was dressed, my gentleman hurried me downstairs. “ Let us start,” said he, “ by buying and setting up a coach.” As a matter of fact, we bought, not only a coach, but — and that in less than an hoiv — a hundred thousand francs’ worth of goods: all this was done with prompti- tude, because my gentleman haggled about nothing, kept no account, and paid no money. I reflected upon it all; and, when I examined this man, I found in him such an extraordinary mixture of indications of both wealth and poverty, that I knew not what to think. But at last I broke silence, and taking him aside, I said, “ Sir, who is to pay for all this? ” " Myself,” said he. ” Come to my room, and I will show you immense treasures, and riches envied by tht greatest kings — but not by you, because you will always share with me.” I followed him. We climbed up to his fifth storey, and by means of a ladder hoisted ourselves to a sixth, which was a closet open to all the winds, and contained nothing but two or three dozen earthenware basins filled with different liquors. “ I rose very early,” he said, " and, as I have done every morning for the last twenty-five years, I paid a visit to my work. I saw that the great day had come, the day which would make me the richest man in the whole world. Do you see this ruddy liquor? It possesses at present all the qualities required by philosophers for the transmutation of metals. I have PERSIAN LETTERS PERSIAN LETTERS collected those grains which you see, and which are, as their colour shows, pure gold, although they are a little deficient in weight. This secret, which Nicholas Flamel discovered, but which Raymond Lully ^ and a million others have sought in vain, has been revealed at last to me; and to-day I find myself a happy adept. May God grant that with the treasures which He has committed to me I may do nothing but for His glory! ” Transported with anger, I left the room, and descended, or rather threw myself down the stairs, and left this min of boundless wealth in his garret. Farewell, my dear Usbek, I will visit you to-morrow, and, if you wish, we can return to Paris together.
Paris, the last day of the moon of Rhegeb, 1713.
LETTER XLVI Usbek to Rhedi, at Venice I MEET here certain people who are never done dis- cussing religion, but who seem at the same time* to contend as to who shall observe it least.
These disputants are, however, no better Christians, nor even better citizens, than others; and that it is that moves me: for the principal part of any religion consists in obedience to the laws, in loving mankind, and in revering one’s parents.
Indeed, ought it not to be the chief aim of a religious man to please the Deity who has founded the religion * Nicholas Flamel, a citizen of Paris (1330-1418), was regarded aS an alchemist by those who envied his great fortune. Raymond Lully, a Spanish savant (1235-1313), was considered, rightly or wrongly, one of the most famous alchemists.
LETTER XLVI which he professes? But the surest way to please God is, without doubt, to obey the laws of society, and do our duty towards men. For, whatever religion we may profess, as soon as we grant its existence, it becomes at once necessary to assume that God loves men, since He establishes a religion for their happiness: then, since He loves men, we are certain of pleasing Him in loving them too — ^in other words, in fulfilling all the duties of charity and humanity, and in breaking none^ of the laws under which men live.
We are much more certaii\ of pleasing God in this way, than in the observance of this or that ceremony; for ceremonies have no goodness in themselves; they are only relatively good, and on the supposition that God has commanded them. But this is a subject which might be discussed endlessly; and one could easily deceive oneself regarding it, because it is necessary to choos’e the rites of one religion from among those of two thousand. ’ A man prayed to God daily in the following terms 1 " Lord, I do not understand any of those discussions that are carried on without end regarding Thee: I would serve Thee according to Thy will; but each man whom I* consult would have me serve Thee according to his. Wlien I desire to pray, I know not in which language to address Thee. Nor do I know what posture to adopt: one bids me pray standing; another, sitting; and another requires me to kneel. That is not all: there are some who insist that I ought to wash every morning in cold water; others maintain that Thou regardest me with horror if I do not remove a certain small portion of my flesh, I happened the other day to eat of a rabbit in a caravansary: three men who were present PERSIAN LETTERS PERSIAN LETTERS made me tremble: all three maintained that I had grievously ofiended Thee; one/ because that animal was unclean; another/ because it had been strangled; and the third/ because it was not a fish. A Brahmin who was passing by, and whom I asked to be our judge, said to me, ‘ They are all wrong, for it appears that you did not kill the animal yourself.’ ‘ I did, though,’ said I. ‘ Ah, then, you have committed an abominable act, which God will never pardon,’ said he to me, in a^severe tone. ‘ How do you know that the soul of your father had not passed into that beast? ' All these things, O Lord, trouble me beyond expression. I cannot move my head but I am threatened with Thy wrath. Nevertheless I would please Thee, and devote to that end the life which Thou hast given me. I may be deceiving myself; but I think that the best means to accomplish this aim is to live as a good citizen in the society where Thou hast placed me, and as a good father in the family which Thou hast given me.”
Paris, the 8th of the moon of Chahban, 1713.
LETTER XLVII Zachi to Usbek, at Paris I HAVE great news for you. Zephis and I are recon- ciled, and the seraglio, which had taken sides in our quarrel, is reunited. I need nothing now in this abode of peace but you. Come, my dear Usbek, come to me, and let love be triumphant.
I made a great feast in honour of Zephis, to which LETTER XLVII