The Online Library of Liberty

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• The Works of Voltaire
• The Dramatic Works of Voltaire Vol. X— Part I
• ZaÏre
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• An Epistle Dedicatory to Mr. Falkener, an English Merchant, Since Ambassador At Constantinople, With the Tragedy of Zaïre.
• A Second Letter to Mr. Falkener, Then Ambassador to Constantinople.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• CÆsar.
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• The Prodigal
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Preface to Mariamne.
• Preface to Orestes.
• Preface to Catiline.
• Preface to MÉrope.
• Preface to the Prodigal.
• Preface to Nanine.
• 1 Preface to Socrates.
• Note On Mahomet.
• Preface to Julius CÆsar.
• Voltaire the Lisbon Earthquake and Other Poems Vol. X— Part Ii
• Author’s Preface to the Lisbon Earthquake.
• The Lisbon Earthquake. *
• Preface to the Poem On the Law of Nature.
• The Law of Nature.
• The Temple of Taste. *
• The Temple of Friendship.
• Thoughts On the Newtonian Philosophy, Addressed to the Marchioness Du ChÂtelet.
• On the Death of Adrienne Lecouvreur, a Celebrated Actress.
• To the King of Prussia On His Accession to the Throne.
• From Love to Friendship.
• The Worldling. *
• On Calumny.
• The King of Prussia to M. Voltaire.
• The Answer.
• On the English Genius.
• What Pleases the Ladies.
• The Education of a Prince.
• The Education of a Daughter.
• The Three Manners.
• Thelema and Macareus.
• Azolan.
• The Origin of Trades.
• The Battle of Fontenoy.
• The Man of the World. *
• The Padlock. *
• In Camp Before Philippsburg, July 3, 1734.
• Answer to a Lady, Or a Person Who Wrote to Voltaire As Such. *
• Envy.
• The Nature of Virtue.
• To the King of Prussia.
• To M. De Fontenelle.
• To Count Algarotti At the Court of Saxony.
• To Cardinal Quirini.
• To Her Royal Highness, the Princess of ***.
• To M. De Cideville.
• To ****.
• Epistle XIII. *
• To the Duke of Richelieu, Marshal of France, In Whose Honor the Senate of Genoa Had Just Before Caused a Statue to Be Erected. *
• To Madam De ***, On the Manner of Living At Paris and Versailles.
• To the Prince of Vendôme.
• To Madam De Gondoin, Afterward Countess of Toulouse, On the Danger She Had Been Exposed to In Passing the Loire In 1719.
• To the Duke Delafeuillade.
• To Marshal Villars. *
• To Monsieur Genonville.
• To the Countess of Fontaine-martel. *
• Written From PlombiÉres to M. Pallu, Intendant of Lyons.
• The Nature of Pleasure.
• The Utility of Sciences to Princes. to the Prince Royal of Prussia, Since King of Prussia.
• Epistle In Answer to a Letter, With Which, Upon His Accession to the Throne, the King of Prussia Honored the Author.
• Epistle to the King, Presented to His Majesty At the Camp Before Freiburg.
• On the Death of the Emperor Charles.
• To the Queen of Hungary.
• Inscribed to the Gentlemen of the Academy of Sciences, Who Sailed to the Polar Circle and the Equator, In Order to Ascertain the Figure of the Earth.
• To M. De Gervasi, the Physician. *
• The Requisites to Happiness.
• To a Lady, Very Well Known to the Whole Town.
• Fanaticism. *
• On Peace Concluded In 1736.
• To AbbÉ Chaulieu. *
• Answer to the Foregoing.
• To President HÉnault, Author of an Excellent Work Upon the History of France.
• Canto of an Epic Poem. *
• Epistle On the Newtonian Philosophy. * to the Marchioness of ChÂtelet.

TO THE KING OF PRUSSIA ON HIS ACCESSION TO THE THRONE.

• • At length arrives the blest auspicious day,
  • Which sheds its kindest influence on thee;
  • A day which fills thee only with dismay,
  • Whilst others wish thy exalted state to see.
• • Fly hence you fanatic, ye fraudful bands,
  • Ye persecutors, who enslave the mind;
  • Whose souls implacable and frantic hands,
  • Delight in carnage, and destruction find.
• • Shall odious calumny still lift her head?
  • Monster thou didst, with cursed rage inspired,
  • On famed Descartes and Bayle thy venom shed,
  • On Wolfe who Leibnitz to approach aspired.
• • You from the sacred altar took a sword,
  • Whose point you turned against each far-famed sage;
  • By the same weapon shall your breast be gored,
  • Your blood shall expiate your frantic rage.
• • He strikes, you die, his arm asserts truth’s cause;
  • Truth is restored, and error disappears;
  • Philosophy is freed from tyrant laws,
  • The face of nature glorious freedom cheers.
• • And you, your odious rules, by Borgia taught,
  • The art in governing mankind to oppress;
  • The art of crimes with vilest maxims fraught,
  • The art which tyrants openly profess.
• • May you to oblivion ever be consigned,
  • With too much ease men learn the dangerous art
  • The crafts of policy show a narrow mind.
  • The best of statesmen has a generous heart.
• • The annals of all nations amply show,
  • That tyrants never tasted sweet repose,
  • But suffer all their lives unceasing woe,
  • As they on others bring a load of woes.
• • They died with infamy, they died with rage,
  • But Trajan, Titus, Antoninus wise;
  • The ornaments and blessings of their age
  • Lived blest, and calmly closed their dying eyes.
• • In thee those heroes shall again arise,
  • Virtue with happiness shall still be crowned;
  • You may with justice claim fair virtue’s prize,
  • Since in you every royal virtue’s found.
• • Upon the throne we now behold a sage,
  • A blessing which men rarely can obtain;
  • He who is able to instruct the age,
  • Is doubtless worthy o’er mankind to reign.
• • Presumptuous ignorance long has spurned the head
  • Of patient merit, which defenceless lay;
  • The fury dared on sciences to tread,
  • And virtue’s self was forced to bear her sway.
• • Immersed in soft delights, the courtly train
  • Think man was never born the truth to know;
  • All knowledge they despise as weak and vain,
  • Though science can content of mind bestow.
• • Dunces to truth can scarcely ope their eyes,
  • Their souls are wrapt in darkness black as night;
  • Behold a northern Solomon arise,
  • Approach barbarians to the source of light.