The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 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.

ON THE DEATH OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES.

• • The cedar which so long defied the rage
  • Of winds and storms, now sinks upon the ground;
  • That cedar which could flourish even in age,
  • And with its boughs o’ershade the states around.
  • The stroke is given, the cedar dies,
  • And on the plain extended lies.
• • Behold the king of kings supreme in power,
  • Death from his brow has thirty diadems torn;
  • His power extensive’s vanished in an hour,
  • Crowns can’t preserve the men by whom they’re worn.
  • Oh, haughty race! oh, race august!
  • You now are levelled with the dust.
• • The tomb absorbs his very name,
  • He’s now no longer the renowned;
  • That he once reigned is all his fame,
  • No courtiers now his praise resound.
  • Thus kings, when once life’s breath is fled,
  • Are numbered with the vulgar dead.
• • Ah! wherefore did he not his squadrons head,
  • Where Eugene deluged deep the ensanguined field;
  • His numerous cohorts by their monarch led,
  • Had made the allied army quit the field.
  • Their arms the Empire had upheld,
  • And the invading Turks repelled.
• • Had he not idly loitered in a town,
  • And none but his own chiefs with dread inspired;
  • Had he to pull the haughty sultan down,
  • Warm with ambition’s noble flame aspired:
  • Had he fell Turkish rage restrained,
  • And from his subjects’ blood refrained;
• • All war declining like a monarch sage,
  • Had he to mankind shown himself a friend;
  • With virtue, arts, and plenty, blessed the age,
  • And to alarms and discord put an end;
  • Revived the peace to Rome once known,
  • When great Augustus filled the throne;
• • Then fame had round him waved her purple wings.
  • With glorious light his head encircled round:
  • He had been placed among illustrious kings,
  • He had been as a patriot king renowned.
  • Happy had been the monarch’s fate,
  • Esteemed not only good but great.
• • I don’t the harmonious art of verse profane,
  • I do not dip my pen in satire’s gall;
  • Apollo disapproves the audacious strain,
  • I must not one reproachful word let fall.
  • I must not by one single line
  • Offend a king; the royal power’s divine.
• • But sacred truth, impartial goddess fame,
  • Thou to whose orders mortals still attend;
  • Love of mankind, which does my breast inflame,
  • Your needful succor to my genius lend.
  • Do you my lays inspire,
  • Mortals I’ll teach to aspire.
• • Monarch, death cites you to that court august,
  • Wherein posterity, a judge most sage,
  • Shall pass on you a sentence wise and just,
  • Trusting the depositions of your age.
  • ’Tis to posterity alone,
  • The real worth of kings is known.