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.

EPISTLE TO THE KING, PRESENTED TO HIS MAJESTY AT THE CAMP BEFORE FREIBURG.

• King of benign, but of undaunted heart,
• As brave as mild, and prudent without art,
• Whither do you precipitately go?
• The fever escaping you provoke the foe!
• You haste to Freiburg, Peyronie in vain
• Strove your impetuous ardor to restrain.
• To risk your precious life, great king, beware.
• Fields suit not him who wants physician’s care.
• When laurels bind the conquering hero’s brow,
• Some care of health he surely may allow.
• Zeal spoke, but from you no attention drew,
• Deaf to advice, you to the combat flew;
• Inclement seasons with the foes conspire,
• You brave the seasons and the cannon’s fire:
• Your headlong courage fills with dread the state,
• But your foes dread it as they dread their fate.
• Give to Vienna, not to Paris fear,
• Make us rejoice to whom you are so dear;
• The hero they admire and love, once more
• To loving subjects graciously restore.
• A sage has said the only good below,
• The only solid bliss that mortals know,
• Springs from the tender sympathy of hearts,
• From the blest transports friendship’s force imparts;
• How happy then must be the monarch’s fate,
• Who’s loved by every member of the state!
• How blessed the king whose throne’s each subject’s breast!
• This bliss enjoy, by thee it is possessed.
• To Paris’s ramparts even from Alsace bound
• Approach, you’ll hear the voice of love resound.
• Subjects you’ll see whose bosoms transports fire,
• Blessing the hero whom their souls admire.
• Do you not see how on their knees they fall,
• How on your face are fixed the eyes of all,
• How our hearts leap with transport at the sight
• Of our loved king? This triumph’s your delight.
• Kings dragged like slaves, through an insulting throng
• Led to the capitol in chains along,
• Those glittering chariots, priests, that warlike host,
• That senate which made earth oppressed its boast.
• Wretches from the procession to the tomb
• Sent, were the triumphs both of pride and Rome:
• Yours is love’s triumph, and its glory pure,
• Their time effaced, yours ever will endure;
• They shocked mankind, the sinking world you raise.
• In you His image God on earth displays,
• In the blessed age of gold you had been king,
• Enjoy the days of happiness you bring,
• May peace forever bless their happy course,
• Peace makes blest days, the glorious, martial force.
• May she still hear the victor’s voice well-known,
• He combated for us and her alone.