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• Considerations On the Causes of the Grandeur and Declension of the Roman Empire.
• Chap. I.: The Infancy of Rome. the Wars It Sustained.
• Chap. II.: Of the Science of War, As Practised By the Romans.
• Chap. III.: The Methods By Which the Romans Raised Themselves to Empire.
• Chap. IV.: Of the Gauls. of Pyrrhus. Parallel Between Carthage and Rome. the War of Hannibal.
• Chap. V.: The State of Greece, of Macedonia, of Syria, and of Egypt, After the Depression of Carthage.
• Chap. VI.: The Conduct Which the Romans Observed, In Order to Subdue All Nations.
• Chap. VII.: How It Was Possible For Mithridates to Resist the Romans.
• Chap. VIII.: Of the Divisions Which Always Subsisted In the City.
• Chap. IX.: Two Causes Which Destroyed Rome.
• Chap. X.: Of the Corruption of the Romans.
• Chap. XI.: Of Sylla, Pompey, and Cæsar.
• Chap. XII.: Observations On the State of Rome After the Death of Cæsar.
• Chap. XIII.: Augustus.
• Chap. XIV.: Tiberius.
• Chap. XV.: Remarks On the Emperors, From Caius Calicula to Antoninus.
• Chap. XVI.: Considerations On the State of the Empire From Antoninus to Probus.
• Chap. XVII.: Changes In the State.
• Chap. XVIII.: An Account of Some New Maxims Received By the Romans.
• Chap. XIX.: Some Particulars of the Grandeur of Attila. the Establishment of the Barbarians Accounted For. Reasons Why the Western Empire Was Overturned Before That In the East.
• Chap. XX.: The Conquests of Justinian. Some Account of His Government.
• Chap. XXI.: Disorders In the Eastern Empire.
• Chap. XXII.: The Weakness of the Eastern Empire.
• Chap. XXIII.: The Duration of the Eastern Empire Accounted For. Its Destruction.
• A Dialogue Between Sylla and Eucrates.
• Persian Letters. By M. De Montesquieu.
• Preliminary Reflections On the Persian Letters, By M. De Montesquieu. Prefixed to the Quarto Edition.
• Introduction to the First French Edition.
• Letter I.: Usbëk to His Friend Rustan At Ispahan.
• Letter II.: Usbek to the First Black Eunuch, At His Seraglio In Ispahan.
• Letter III.: Zachi to Usbek, At Tauris.
• Letter IV.: Zephis to Usbek At Erzeron.
• Letter V.: Rustan to Usbek, At Erzeron.
• Letter VI.: Usbek to His Friend Nessir, At Ispahan.
• Letter VII.: Fatme to Usbek, At Erzeron.
• Letter VIII.: Usbek to His Friend Rustan, At Ispahan.
• Letter IX.: The Chief Eunuch to Ibbi, At Erzeron.
• Letter X.: Mirza to His Friend Usbek, At Erzeron.
• Letter XI.: Usbek to Mirza, At Ispahan.
• Letter XII.: Ushek to the Same, At Ispahan.
• Letter XIII.: Usbek to the Same.
• Letter. XIV.: Usbek to the Same.
• Letter XV.: The First Eunuch, to Jaron, the Black Eunuch, At Erzeron.
• Letter XVI.: Usbek to Mollak Mehemet Ali, Guardian of the Three Tombs, At Com.
• Letter XVII.: Usbek to the Same.
• Letter XVIII.: Mollak Mehemet Ali to Usbek, At Erzeron.
• Letter XIX.: Usbek to His Friend Rustan, At Ispahan.
• Letter XX.: Usbek to Zachi, His Wife, At the Seraglio At Ispahan.
• Letter XXI.: Usbek, to the Chief White Eunuch.
• Letter XXII.: Jaron to the First Eunuch.
• Letter XXIII.: Usbek to His Friend Ibben, At Smyrna.
• Letter XXIV.: Rica to Ibben, At Smyrna.
• Letter XXV.: Usbek to Ibben, At Smyrna.
• Letter XXVI.: Usbek to Roxana, At the Seraglio At Ispahan.
• Letter XXVII.: Usbek to Nessir, At Ispahan.
• Letter XXVIII.: Rica to * * *.
• Letter XXIX.: Rica to Ibben At Smyrna.
• Letter XXX.: Rica to the Same, At Smyrna.
• Letter XXXI.: Rhedi to Usbek, At Paris.
• Letter XXXII.: Rica to * * *.
• Letter XXXIII.: Usbek to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter XXXIV.: Usbek to Ibben, At Smyrna.
• Letter XXXV.: Usbek to Gimchid, His Cousin, Dervise of the Shining Monastery of Tauris.
• Letter XXXVI.: Usbek to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter XXXVII.: Usbek to Ibben, At Smyrna.
• Letter XXXVIII.: Rica to Ibben, At Smyrna.
• Letter XXXIX.: Hagi * Ibbi to the Jew Ben-joshua, a Mahometan Proselyte, At Smyrna.
• Letter Xl.: Usbek to Ibben, At Smyrna.
• Letter Xli.: the Chief Black Eunuch to Usbek.
• Letter Xlii.: Pharan to Usbek, His Sovereign Lord.
• Letter Xliii.: Usbek to Pharan, At the Gardens of Fatme.
• Letter Xliv.: Usbek to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter Xlv.: Rica to Usbek, At * * *.
• Letter Xlvi.: Usbek to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter Xlvii.: Zachi to Usbek, At Paris.
• Letter Xlviii.: Usbek * to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter Xlix.: Rica to Usbek, At * * *.
• Letter L.: Rica to * * *.
• Letter Li.: Nargum the Persian Envoy Residing At Muscovy, to Usbek At Paris.
• Letter Lii.: Rica to Usbek, At * * *.
• Letter Liii.: Zelis to Usbek, At Paris.
• Letter Liv.: Rica, Usbek At * * *.
• Letter Lv.: Rica to Ibben At Smyrna.
• Letter Lvi.: Usbek to Ibbin, At Smyrna.
• Letter Lvii.: Usbek, to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter Lviii.: Rica to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter Lix.: Rica to Usbek, At a * * *.
• Letter Lx.: Usbek to Ibben, At Smyrna.
• Letter Lxi.: Usbek to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter Lxii.: Zelis to Usbek, At Paris.
• Letter Lxiii.: Rica to Usbek, At * * *.
• Letter Lxiv.: the Chief of the Black Eunuchs to Usbek At Paris.
• Letter Lxv.: Usbek to His Wives, At the Seraglio At Ispahan.
• Letter Lxvi.: Rica to * * *.
• Letter Lxvii.: Ibben to Usbek, At Paris.
• Letter Lxviii.: Rica to Usbek, At * * *.
• Letter Lxix.: Usbek to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter Lxx.: Zelis to Usbek, At Paris.
• Letter Lxxi.: Usbek to Zelis.
• Letter Lxxii.: Rica to Ibben, At * * *.
• Letter Lxxiii.: Rica to * * *.
• Letter Lxxiv.: Usbek to Rica, At * * *.
• Letter Lxxv.: Uskek to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter Lxxvi.: Usbek to His Friend Ibben, At Smyrna.
• Letter Lxxvii. *: Ibben to Usbek, At Paris.
• Letter Lxxviii.: Rica to Usbek, At ***.
• Letter Lxxix.: the Chief Black Eunuch to Usbek, At Paris.
• Letter Lxxx.: Usbek to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter Lxxxi.: Nargum, Envoy From Persia In Muscovy, to Usbek At Paris.
• Letter Lxxxii.: Rica to Ibben, At Smyrna.
• Letter Lxxxiii.: Usbek to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter Lxxxiv.: Rica to * * *.
• Letter Lxxxv.: Usbek to Mirza, At Ispahan.
• Letter Lxxxvi.: Rica to * * *.
• Letter Lxxxvii.: Rica to * * *.
• Letter Lxxxviii.: Usbek to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter Lxxxix.: Usbek to Ibben, At Smyrna.
• Letter XC.: Usbek to the Same, At Smyrna.
• Letter XCI.: Usbek to Rustan, At Ispahan.
• Letter XCII.: Usbek to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter XCIII.: Usbek to His Brother, Santon * In the Monastery of Casbin.
• Letter XCIV.: Usbek to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter XCV.: Usbek to the Same.
• Letter XCVI.: The Chief Eunuch to Usbek At Paris.
• Letter XCVII.: Usbek to Hassein, Dervise of the Mountain of Jaron.
• Letter XCVIII.: Usbek to Ibben, At Smyrna.
• Letter XCIX.: Rica to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter C.: Rica to the Same.
• Letter CI.: Usbek to * * *.
• Letter CII.: Usbek to Ibben, At Smyrna.
• Letter CIII.: Usbek to the Same.
• Letter CIV.: Usbek to the Same.
• Letter CV.: Redi to Usbek, At Paris.
• Letter CVI.: Usbek to Redi, At Venice.
• Letter CVII.: Rica to Ibben At Smyrna.
• Letter CVIII.: Usbek to * * *.
• Letter CIX.: Rica to * * *.
• Letter CX.: Rica to * * *.
• Letter CXI.: Usbek to * * *.
• Letter CXII.: Rhedi to Esbek, At Paris.
• Letter CXIII.: Usbek to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter CXIV.: Usbek to the Same.
• Letter CXV.: Usbek to the Same.
• Letter CXVI.: Usbek to the Same.
• Letter CXVII.: Usbek to the Same.
• Letter CXVIII.: Usbek to the Same.
• Letter CXIX.: Usbek to the Same.
• Letter CXX.: Usbek to the Same.
• Letter CXXI.: Usbek to the Same.
• Letter CXXII.: Usbek to the Same.
• Letter CXXIII.: Usbek to Mollak Mahomet Ali, Keeper of the Three Sepulchres, At Com.
• Letter CXXIV.: Usbek to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter CXXV.: Rica to * * *.
• Letter CXXVI.: Rica to Usbek, At * * *.
• Letter CXXVII.: Rica to Ibben, At Smyrna.
• Letter CXXVIII.: Rica to Usbek, At * * *.
• Letter CXXIX.: Usbek to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter CXXX.: Rica to * * *.
• Letter CXXXI.: Rhedi to Rica, At Paris.
• Letter CXXXII.: Rica to * * *.
• Letter CXXXIII.: Rica to * * *.
• Letter CXXXIV.: Rica to the Same.
• Letter CXXXV.: Rica to the Same.
• Letter CXXXVI.: Rica to the Same.
• Letter CXXXVII.: Rica to the Same.
• Letter CXXXVIII.: Rica to Ibben At Smyrna.
• Letter CXXXIX.: Rica to the Same.
• Letter Cxl.: Rica to Usbek, At * * *.
• Letter Cxli.: Rica to the Same.
• Letter Cxlii.: Rica to Usbek, At * * *.
• Letter Cxliii.: Rica to Nathaniel Levi, a Jewish Physician At Leghorn.
• Letter Cxliv.: Usbek to Rica.
• Letter Cxlv.: Usbek to * * *.
• Letter Cxlvi.: Usbek to Rhedi, At Venice.
• Letter Cxlvii.: the Chief Eunuch to Usbek At Paris.
• Letter Cxlix.: Narsit to Usbek, At Paris.
• Letter Cl.: Usbek to Narsit, At the Seraglio of Ispahan.
• Letter Cli.: Solin to Usbek, At Paris.
• Letter Clii.: Narsit to Usbek, At Paris:
• Letter Cliii.: Usbek to Solin, At the Seraglio of Ispahan.
• Letter Cliv.: Usbek to His Wives, At the Seraglio of Ispahan.
• Letter Clv.: Usbek to Nessir, At Ispahan.
• Letter Clvi.: Roxana to Usbek, At Paris.
• Letter Clvii.: Zachi to Usbek, At Paris.
• Letter Clviii.: Zelis to Usbek, At Paris.
• Letter Clix.: Solin to Usbek, At Paris.
• Letter Clx.: Solin to Usbek, At Paris.
• Letter Clxi.: Roxana to Usbek, At Paris.
• Three Letters of M. De Montesquieu to M. Le Chevalier De Bruant.
• Letter I.
• Letter II.
• Letter III.

PERSIAN LETTERS.
by M. DE MONTESQUIEU.

PRELIMINARY REFLECTIONS ON THE PERSIAN LETTERS, By M. DE MONTESQUIEU.
Prefixed to the Quarto Edition.

THERE is nothing in the Persian Letters that has given readers so general a satisfaction, as to find in them a sort of romance, without having expected it. It is easy to discern in them the beginning, the progress, and the conclusion of it: the several different persons introduced, are connected together by a sort of a chain. The longer they reside in Europe, the less marvellous and extraordinary the manners of that part of the world begin to appear to them; and they are more or less struck with the marvellous and extraordinary, according to their different characters. Add to this, that the Asiatic seraglio grows disorderly in proportion to the time of Usbek’s absence; that is to say, according as phrenzy increases in it, and love abates. There is another reason why these romances, generally speaking, succeed, and that is, because the persons introduced give themselves an account of what happens to them, which causes the passions to be felt more sensibly than any narrative made by another could do. This is likewise one of the causes of the success of some admirable works which have appeared since the Persian Letters. To conclude, in common romances digressions can never be admitted, except when they themselves constitute another romance. Reasoning cannot be intermixed with the story, because the personages not being brought together to reason, that would be repugnant to the design and nature of the work. But in the form of letters, wherein personages are introduced at random, and the subjects treated of do not depend upon any design, or plan, already formed, the author has the advantage of being able to blend philosophy, politics and morality with romance, and to connect the whole by a secret, and, as it were, undiscoverable chain. So great a call was there for the Persian Letters, upon their first publication, that the booksellers exerted their utmost efforts to procure continuations of them. They pulled every author they met by the sleeve, and said, ‘Sir, I must beg the favour of you to write me a collection of Persian Letters.’ But what has been said, is sufficient to convince the reader, that they do not admit of a continuation, and still less of a mixture with letters wrote by another hand, how ingenious soever. There are in them some strokes, which many have looked upon as too bold. But these are requested to take the nature of the work into consideration. The Persians, who were to play so considerable a part in it, were all on a sudden transplanted to Europe, that is, removed to another world, as it were. At a certain time, therefore, it was necessary to represent them as full of ignorance and prejudices. The author’s chief design was to display the formation and progress of their ideas. Their first thoughts could not but have a dash of singularity in them: it was apprehended that there is nothing to be done but to give them that sort of singularity which is not incompatible with understanding. It was only to represent their situation of mind at seeing any thing that appeared extraordinary to them. The author, far from having a design to strike at any principle of our religion, thought himself even free from the imputation of indiscretion. These strokes appear always connected with a manifestation of surprize, or astonishment, and not with the idea of inquiry, much less with that of criticism. In speaking of our religion, these Persians should not appear better informed than when they talk of our manners and customs. And if they sometimes seem to look upon the tenets of our religion as singular, the singularity they discover in them fully shews their ignorance of their connection with the other truths thereof. The author justifies himself in this manner, as well on account of his attachment to these important truths, as through respect for the human species, which he certainly could not have had an intention to wound in the tenderest part. The reader is therefore requested not to cease one moment to consider these strokes as the effects of surprize in persons who ought to be surprized, or as the paradoxes of men who spoke of what they did not understand. He is likewise requested to consider that the whole beauty of the invention consisted in the constant contrast between the real state of things and the singular, or whimsical manner in which they were contemplated. Certain it is, that the nature and design of the Persian Letters are so apparent and obvious, that none can mistake them, but such as have a mind to impose upon themselves.

INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST FRENCH EDITION.

I SHALL neither write a dedicatory epistle, nor solicit protection for this work; if it is good, it will be read, if bad, I am not anxious that it should be read by any. I have adventured the first of these letters to try the public taste; I have a great number more, which I may hereafter give. But this depends upon my not being known, for from the moment that happens, I am silent. I know a lady who walks very well, but limps if observed. There are faults enough in the work for the critics, without subjecting myself to them. If I was known, it would be said, his book is his true character; he might have engaged himself to a better purpose; it is unworthy of a grave man. The critics are never deficient in these kinds of reflections, because little wit is necessary to make them.

The Persians, who wrote these letters, lodged with me, and we passed our time together; as they regarded me as one of another world, they hid nothing from me. In fact, persons removed to such a considerable distance, could have no secrets. They communicated to me the most of their letters, which I copied; others I took which they were desirous not to entrust me with, as they exposed the jealousy and vanity of the Persian. I am no more than a translator: my whole care has been to suit this work to our manners. I have relieved the reader, as much as I could, from the Asiatic stile, and have exonerated him from the trouble of an infinite number of sublime and elevated expressions. But this is not all the service I have rendered him; I have retrenched those long compliments, of which the orientals are not less profuse than ourselves, and have passed over a great many particulars too trifling to be made public, and which ought only to live from friend to friend. If this had been observed by most of those who have published epistolary collections, many of their works would have disappeared. There is one circumstance which has often excited my admiration; that these Persians were frequently as well instructed as myself in the manners and customs of our nation, even to a knowledge of the most minute particulars, taking notice of some things which I am sure have escaped many of the Germans who have visited France. This I attribute to the long stay they made here, without considering that it is less difficult to an Asiatic to inform himself of the manners of the French in one year, than it would be to a Frenchman to acquire a knowledge of those of Asia in four years; because the one are as open as the other are reserved. Translators have been indulged by custom, even the most barbarous commentators, to decorate the head of their version, or glossary, with a panegyric on the original, and to expatiate on the usefulness, merit, and excellency of it; but this I have not done. The reasons are obvious; one of the best is, that it would be tedious, in a part of a work already too much so; I would say in a preface.

LETTER I.

Usbëk to his Friend Rustan at Ispahan.

AT Com we remained only one day, when, having paid our devotions at the tomb of the virgin who brought forth twelve prophets, we renewed our journey, and yesterday, the twenty-fifth since we left Ispahan, came to Tauris. Probably Rica and I are the first among the Persians, whose thirst after knowledge made them leave their own country, and renounce the pleasures of a life of ease, for the laborious search of wisdom. Though born in a flourishing kingdom, we did not think that its boundaries were those of knowledge, and that the oriental light could only enlighten us. Inform me what is said of our journey, without flattery; I do not expect that it will be generally approved. Address your letter to me at Erzeron, where I shall rest some time. Farewel, my dear Rustan; be assured that in whatever part of the world I may be, thou hast there a faithful friend.

Tauris, the 15th of the moon Saphar, 1711.

LETTER II.

Usbek to the First Black Eunuch, at his Seraglio in Ispahan.

THOU art the trusty keeper of the finest women in Persia: I have consided in thee what I have in the world most dear: thou holdest in thy hands the keys of the fatal doors, which are never unlocked but for me. Whilst thou watchest over this precious deposit of my heart, it reposes itself, and enjoys a perfect security. Thou keepest watch in the silence of the night as well as in the hurry of the day. Thy unwearied cares sustain thy virtue when it wavers. If the women whom thou guardest, would swerve from their duty, thou destroyest the very hope of it. Thou art the scourge of vice and the pillar of faithfulness. Thou commandest them, and thou obeyest them; thou implicitly fulfillest all their desires, and thou makest them conform to the laws of the seraglio with the same obedience: thou takest a pride in rendering them the meanest services; thou submittest to their just commands with an awful respect; thou servest them as if thou wert the slave of their slaves. But again thou resumest thy power, commandest like a master as myself, when thou fearest the relaxation of the laws of chastity and modesty. Ever remember the obscurity from which I took thee when thou wast the meanest of my slaves, to put thee in that place, and intrusted to thee the delights of my heart; observe then the deepest humility towards those who share my love; yet, at the same time, make them sensible of their very dependant state. Procure them every innocent pleasure; beguile their uneasiness, entertain them with music, dancing, and the most delicious liquors; induce them to meet together frequently. If they have a mind to go into the country, you may carry them thither; but destroy any man who attempts to come into their sight. Exhort them to observe that cleanliness, which is an emblem of the soul’s purity; talk to them sometimes of me. I wish to see them again in that charming place which they adorn. Farewel.

Tauris, the 18th of the moon Saphar, 1711.

LETTER III.

Zachi to Usbek, at Tauris.

WE commanded the chief of the Eunuchs to remove us into the country; he will inform you that no accident happened. When we were to leave our litters to pass the river, two slaves, as usual, bore us on their shoulders, and we were so hidden as not to be at all observed. How can I be able to live in thy seraglio at Ispahan? which incessantly reminds me of my past happiness; which every day renews my desires with fresh violence? I range from apartment to apartment, ever in search of thee, and never find thee, but through the whole, meet with an afflictive remembrance of my past happiness. I sometimes behold myself in the place where I the first time received thee to my arms; again I view thee on the spot where thou dist decide that famous quarrel amongst thy wives; each of us pretending to the superiority of beauty; we presented ourselves before thee, after having exerted our imaginations to the utmost, to provide ourselves with every advantageous ornament; thou contemplatedst with pleasure, the prodigies of our art; you admired to what a height we had carried our desires to please thee. But thou soon madest those borrowed charms give place to whose of nature; thou destroyedst all our labours, we were obliged to despoil ourselves of all those ornaments, which were become incommodious to thee; we were obliged to appear to thy view in the simplicity of nature. I thought nothing of modesty, glory was my only thought. Happy Usbek! What charms were then exposed to thy eyes! We beheld thee a long time, roving from enchantment to enchantment; long thy wavering soul remained unfixed; each new grace demanded a tribute from thee; we were in a manner covered all over with thy kisses; thou carriedst thy curious looks to the most secret places; thou madest us change, in a moment, to a thousand various attitudes; thy commands were always new, and so was our obedience. I confess to thee, Usbek, a more lively passion than ambition made me hope to please thee. I saw myself insensibly become the mistress of thy heart; thou tookest me; thou quittedst me, thou tookedst me again; and I knew how to retain thee; the triumph was all my own, and despair my rivals; it seemed, to us, as if we only were in the world, and all around us unworthy of our attention. Would to heaven that my rivals had had the courage to have remained to have been witnesses of all those proofs of love that I received from thee! Had they well observed my transports, they would have been sensible of the desparity between their love and mine: they would have found that though they might dispute with me for charms, they could not in sensibility. But where am I? Where does this vain recital lead me? Not to have been beloved is a misfortune; but to be so no more, an affront. Thou abandonest us, Usbek, to wander through barbarous climes But why dost thou esteem the advantage of being beloved as nothing? Alas! thou dost not know thyself what thou losest. I utter sighs which are never heard; my tears flow and thou dost not enjoy them; it seems that love breathes in this seraglio, and thy insensibility hath removed thee from it. Ah! my dear Usbek, if thou knewest how to be happy!

From the seraglio at Fatme, the 21st of the moon Maharram, 1711.

LETTER IV.

Zephis to Usbek at Erzeron.

AT length the black monster has determined to make me despair. He would, forcibly, deprive me of Zelida, my slave, who served me with so much affection, and who is so handy at every graceful ornament. He was not satisfied that this separation should be grievous, he would have it also dishonourable. The traitor would treat as criminal the motives of my confidence; and because he was weary of waiting behind the door, where I always placed him, he dared to imagine that he heard or saw things which I cannot even conceive. I am very unhappy! Neither my retreat nor my virtue can secure me from unreasonable suspicions: a vile slave assaults me even in thy heart, and it is there I must justify myself. No; I have too much regard to myself to descend to a justification: I will have no other guardian of my conduct but thyself; thy love and mine, and if I must tell thee so, dear Usbek, my tears.

From the seraglio at Fatme, the 29th of the moon Maharram, 1711.

LETTER V.

Rustan to Usbek, at Erzeron.

THE whole conversation of Ispahan turns upon thee, thy departure is the only thing about which people talk. Some ascribe it to levity of mind, others to some disgust; thy friends only justify thee, but they persuade no one. They cannot conceive that thou canst forsake thy wives, thy relations, thy friends, and thy country, to explore climes unknown to the Persians. The mother of Rica is not to be comforted; she demands her son of thee, whom she saith thou hast carried away. As to me, dear Usbek, I am naturally led to approve of all thy proceedings, yet I know not how to pardon thy absence, and whatever reasons thou mayest offer to me, my heart will never relish them. Farewel, Love me always.

Ispahan, the 28th of the moon Rebiab, 1711.

LETTER VI.

Usbek to his Friend Nessir, at Ispahan.

AT the distance of one day’s journey from Erivan we quitted Persia, and entered those territories subject to the Turks. Twelve days after we reached Erzeron, where we continued three or four months. I must confess to thee, Nessir, I suffered a secret concern when I lost sight of Persia, and found myself surrounded by faithless Osmanlins; and, as I advance into the country of the profane, I think I become such myself: my country, my family, my friends, present themselves to my mind, my tenderness is revived; a certain uneasiness hath completed my sorrow, and makes me sensible that I have ventured too much for my quiet. But my wives are my chief affliction; I cannot think of them but I am swallowed up in grief. It is not, Nessir, that I love them; with respect to that, I am in a state of insensibility, which leaves me no desires. The number of women I saw in the seraglio hath prevented love, and I have defeated him by himself, but this coldness itself is a kind of secret jealousy that devours me. I behold a number of women trusted almost to themselves; for I have none but some base spirited wretches to answer for their conduct. I should scarcely think myself secure though my slaves were faithful; how would it be then if they should not be so? What distressing accounts may I receive in the distant countries through which I am to pass! It is a malady for which my friends can afford no remedy; the causes of my disorder arise from a place, the melancholy secrets of which they ought to be ignorant of; and, if they could discern them, what could they do? Had not I a thousand times better let them die with silence and impunity, than make them public by correction? In thy heart, my dear Nessir, I confide all my griefs, which is the only consolation that remains to me in my present state.

Erzeron, the 10th of the moon of the second Rebiab, 1711.

LETTER VII.

Fatme to Usbek, at Erzeron.

THOU hast been gone two months, my dear Usbek, and, in the trouble that I am in, I cannot yet persuade myself that it is so. I run all over the seraglio, as if thou wert there, nor is my fancy disabused. What wouldest thou have become of a woman who loves thee; who hath been accustomed to hold thee in these arms; whose only concern was to give thee fresh proofs of her affection; free by the advantage of her birth, but by the violence of her love a slave? When I married thee, my eyes had never seen the face of man, thou yet art the only one they have ever been permitted to see * ; for I do not place in the order of men these hideous eunuchs, whose least imperfection is to have nothing of man. When I compare the beauty of thy countenance with their deformity, I cannot forbear esteeming myself happy. My imagination cannot supply me with a more ravishing idea than the inchanting charms of thy person. I swear to thee, Usbek, that if I should be permitted to quit this place, where I am shut up from the necessity of my condition; could I escape from the guard that surrounds me; if I were allowed to chuse from among all men who live in this capital of nations, Usbek, I swear to thee, I should chuse none but thee. Think not that thy absence has made me neglect a beauty dear to thee. Though I must not be seen by any person, and though the ornaments with which I deck myself do not contribute to thy happiness, yet I endeavour to amuse myself by a habit of pleasing; I never go to rest till I am perfumed with the most agreeable essences. I recal to my mind the happy time when you came to my arms: a flattering dream deceives me, shews me the dear object of my love; my imagination loses itself in its desires, as it flatters itself in its hopes. I sometimes think that, disgusted at a toilsome journey, thou wilt return to us; the night wears away in these kind of dreams, which are not verified either waking or asleep; I seek for thee at my side, and it seems to me that thou fliest from me; at length the fire itself which burns me, disperses these delusions, and recals my spirits; I then find myself reanimated—Thou wilt not believe it, Usbek, it is impossible to live in this condition; the fire burns in my veins. Why cannot I express to thee what I so sensibly feel? and how can I so sensibly feel what I cannot express? In these moments, Usbek, I would give the empire of the world for one of thy kisses. How unhappy is the woman who has such strong desires, when she is deprived of him who only can satisfy them, who, left to herself, has nothing that can divert her; she must live in a course of sighs, and in the fury of an irritated passion; who, far from being happy, has not the privilege of promoting the felicity of another, an useless ornament of a seraglio, kept for the honour, and not the happiness of her husband. You men are very cruel! you are delighted that we have passions which we cannot gratify, yet you treat us as if we were insensible and would be sorry if we were so; you think, that our desires, though a long time mortified, will be quickened at the sight of you. It is very difficult to make one’s self be beloved; it is the best way to obtain by doubting of our understanding, what you dare not expect from your own merit. Farewel, my dear Usbek, farewel: be assured that I live only to adore thee; my soul is full of thee, and thy absence, far from making me forget thee, would quicken my love, if it were capable of becoming more vehement.

From the seraglio at Ispahan, the 12th of the moon of the 1st Rebiab, 1711.

LETTER VIII.

Usbek to his Friend Rustan, at Ispahan.

THY letter was delivered to me at Erzeron, where I now am: I thought indeed my departure would make a noise, but it gives me no trouble. What wouldest thou have me follow? what my enemies think prudent, or what I myself think to be so? I appeared at court when I was very young. I may say, my heart was not at all corrupted there; I formed to myself a vast design; I dared to be virtuous there. When I knew vice, I kept at a distance from it; but I afterwards approached it to pluck off its mask. I carried truth to the foot of the throne, I spoke a language till then unknown; I disconcerted flattery, and astonished at the same time the worshippers and the idol. But when I saw my sincerity had created me enemies; that I had attracted the jealousy of the ministers, without obtaining the favour of the prince; I resolved to retire, since my feeble virtue could no longer support me in a corrupt court. I feigned to be strongly attached to the sciences, and, in consequence of that pretence, became really so. I no longer engaged myself in any affairs, but retired to a house in the country; but even this retreat had its inconveniences; I was continually exposed to the malice of my enemies, and was almost deprived of the means of safety. Some secret advice disposed me to think more seriously of myself; I resolved to banish myself from my country, and my retreat from court provided me with a plausible pretence. I waited on the king, and acquainted him with my desire to inform myself of the sciences in the west; I insinuated to him that he might be benefited by my travels; I found favour with him; I departed, and stole a victim from my enemies: see, Rustan, the true motive of my travelling. Let Ispahan talk, defend me only to those who love me; leave with my enemies their malicious interpretations; I should be happy if that were the only hurt that they could do to me; they talk of me at present, probably I shall be too much forgotten hereafter, and my friends—No, Rustan, I will not resign myself to these melancholy suspicions, I shall always be dear to them, I reckon upon their fidelity, as on thine.

Erzeron, the 20th of the moon of the 2d Gemmadi, 1711.

LETTER IX.

The Chief Eunuch to Ibbi, at Erzeron.

THOU attendest thy ancient master in his travels; thou passest through provinces and kingdoms, no chagrin affects thee, each moment presents thee with fresh objects, every thing thou seest amuses thee, and makes thee pass away thy time imperceptibly. It is otherwise with me, who am shut up in a horrible confinement, surrounded continually by the same objects, and perplexed with the same cares. I groan beneath the burden of fifty years of cares and pains; and through the period of a long life, I cannot say I have seen a day’s case or a moment’s quiet. When my first master formed the cruel design of confining me to the care of his wives, and induced me by promises, inforced by a thousand threats, to part with myself for ever, tired of being employed in a most toilsome service, I reckoned upon sacrificing my passions to ease and plenty. Unhappy that I was! my mind was prepossessed with the evils I should escape, but not with the loss I should sustain: I expected that an incapacity to gratify the attacks of love would secure me from it. Alas! the gratification of the passions is extinguished, but the foundation of them remained, and far from being freed from them, I found myself encompassed by objects which continually excited them. I entered the seraglio, where every thing filled me with regret for what I had lost; I felt myself provoked to love each instant, a thousand natural beauties seemed to shew themselves to my view only to torment me; and to complete my misfortune, I had always before me the happy master of these beauties. During this unhappy time, I never led a woman to my master’s bed, I never undress’d one but I returned back enraged in my heart at myself, and my soul filled with a horrible despair. See how miserably I passed my youth, I had no confident but myself, loaded with grief and care I must needs be destroyed; and those women, whom I was tempted to regard with the most tender looks, I could only behold with the most stern attention. I was ruined had they penetrated my thoughts; what advantages would they not have taken? I remember once as I put a lady into a bath, I felt myself so ravished that I entirely lost my reason, and ventured to clap my hand upon a most formidable part. On the first reflection I thought that day would be my last, I was so happy however, to escape the thousand deaths I feared; but the beauty whom I had made witness of my weakness, made me buy her silence very dear. I lost entirely my power over her, and she forced me, from that time, to compliances which, a thousand times exposed me to hazard the loss of my life. At length the fire of youth is extinguished; I am old, and I find myself, with respect to these things, in an easy condition; I regard women with indifference, and I reward them well for their contempt and all the torments which they made me feel. I always remember that I was born to govern them; and it seems to me as if I recovered my manhood, on every occasion that I have yet to command them. Since I can behold them with coldness, and my reason permits me to see all their foibles, I hate them: though it is for another I watch them, the pleasure of being obeyed affords me a secret joy, and it is as if I did it for myself, and it always gives me an indirect happiness, when I can deprive them of their pleasures. I am in the seraglio as in a little empire; and my ambition, my only remaining passion, receives some satisfaction; I see with pleasure that all depends upon me, and that I am necessary on every occasion; I charge myself willingly with the hatred of all these women, which establishes me the more firmly in my post. So they do not find me in any affair an ungrateful man, I always prevent them in their most innocent pleasures; I ever present myself to them as a fixed barrier, they form schemes, and I suddenly frustrate them. I am armed with refusals, full of scruples, I never open my mouth but with lectures of duty, virtue, chastity, and modesty. By continually talking to them of the weakness of their sex, and of the authority of my master, I drive them to despair; afterwards I complain of the necessity I am under to be thus severe, and seem as if I would have them suppose their proper interest, and a strong attachment to them, to be my only motives. Not but that, in my turn, I suffer a number of disagreeable things from these vindictive women, who daily endeavour to repay me the evils I heap on them; there is between us a kind of interchange of empire and obedience; they are always imposing upon me the most humiliating offices; they affect an exemplary contempt, and regardless of my age, make me rise ten times in a night, on the most trifling occasion. I am continually tired with orders, commands, employments and caprices; it looks as if they alternately relieved each other to weary me with a succession of whimsies. They take a pleasure, sometimes, in making me redouble my attention, they pretend to make me their consident; at one time they run to tell me, that a young man is seen about the walls; another time that a noise is heard, or a letter delivered, and delight themselves with laughing at the trouble and torment these things give me. Sometimes they fix me behind a door, and make me continue there night and day; they well know how to feign sickness, swoonings, or frights, and never want a pretence to gain their will of me. On these occasions I am forced to yield an implicit obedience, and boundless complaisance, for a refusal from such a man as I, would be an unheard of thing, and if I were to hesitate about obeying them, they would take a right to correct me. I would much rather, my dear Ibbi, lose life than to submit to such a mortifying state: but this is not the whole, my master’s favour is not sure to me for a moment; I have too many enemies in his heart, who are all watching to ruin me, they enjoy certain seasons when I cannot be heard, seasons in which he can refuse them nothing, times in which I am ever in the wrong. I conduct women enraged to my master’s bed, can you imagine they will serve me? or that my interest will be the strongest? From their tears, their sighs, their embraces, and from their very pleasures, I have every thing to fear. It is then they triumph, and that their charms become terrible to me; their present services, in an instant efface all my past ones, and to a master no longer himself, by me nothing can be answered. How frequently has it happened to me to sleep in favour, and a wake to disgrace! The day I was so disgracefully whipt round the seraglio, what had I done? I had left in my master’s arms a woman, who, when she saw he was inflamed, burst into a flood of tears; she lamented, and so successfully managed her complaints, that they arose with the love she excited in him; in so critical a moment, how was I able to support myself? I was ruined when I least expected, I was the victim of an amorous intrigue, and a treaty made by fighs. See, dear Ibbi, the wretched state in which I have ever lived; how happy art thou! thy cares are confined to the person of Usbek only. It is easy to please him, and to support thyself in his favour to thy latest day.

From the seraglio at Ispahan, the last of the moon Saphar, 1711.

LETTER X.

Mirza to his Friend Usbek, at Erzeron.

IT is thou only who couldest recompense to me the absence of Rica, and there is no person but Rica who could console me for thine. We want thee, Usbek, thou wast the soul of our society; how difficult is it to dissolve the engagements which friendship and reason have formed! We have here many disputations; which turn commonly on morality. The question yesterday was, Whether the happiness of mankind consists in pleasure and sensual gratifications, or in the exercise of virtue? I have frequently heard you maintain, that virtue is the end for which we were born, and that justice is a quality as necessary to us as existence; explain to me, pray, what you mean by this. I have conversed with the Moilocks, who distract me with their quotations from the Koran; for I speak no otherwise to them than as a man, a citizen, and a father of a family, and not as a believer. Farewel.

Ispahan, the last day of the moon Saphar, 1711.

LETTER XI.

Usbek to Mirza, at Ispahan.

THOU renouncest thy own reason to try mine: thou condescendest even to consult me; thou think est me capable of instructing thee. My dear Mirza, there is one thing which flatters me more than the good opinion thou hast conceived of me; it is what has procured it me, thy friendship. I do not think that there is need to use very abstracted reasons, to sulfil the task which thou hast prescribed to me. There are some certain truths, of which it is not sufficient to be persuaded, but men must be made even to feel them; moral truths are of this kind. Probably this historical piece may affect thee more than a philosophical subtlety. In Arabia there were a few people, named Troglodites, descendants of the ancient Troglodites, who, if we can believe our historians, resembled beasts rather than men. They were not so deformed; they were not hairy like bears; they did not hiss; they had two eyes: yet they were so wicked and brutish, that they were strangers to the principles of justice and equity. A foreign king, who reigned over them, willing to correct their natural wickedness, treated them with severity; but they conspired against him, murdered him, and exterminated all the royal family. Having struck this blow, they met to chuse a government, and after much dissention, appointed magistrates, but they were scarcely elected when they became intolerable, and were massacred. The people, freed from this new yoke, consulted only their own savageness. Every one agreed to submit to no person: that each should follow his own interest, without any attention to that of others. This general resolution was extremely pleasing to all.—They reasoned thus: “Why should I destroy myself in labouring for those who do not concern me; I will take care for myself only; I shall live happily; what is it to me how others live? I shall provide for my own wants; and if they are satisfied, what care I if all the rest of the Troglodites are miserable?”—This was seed-time: each man said, “I will only manure as much land as will supply corn sufficient for myself; a greater quantity would be useless to me; I shall not take the trouble to work in vain.” The lands of this little kingdom were not all alike; some parts were dry and mountainous; others, in the low grounds, were well watered by rivulets. This year there was a great drought, insomuch that the upper grounds failed greatly, whist those which were watered proved very fertile; the consequence was, that almost all the people who lived in the mountains perished by famine, through the hard-heartedness of those who refused to share their harvest with them. The following year was very rainy; the higher grounds proved extraordinary fruitful, whilst the lower grounds were drowned. Now the other half of the people complained of famine; but these miserable people found the mountaineers as hard-hearted as they themselves had been. One of the chief inhabitants had a very handsome wise, of whom his neighbour became in love, and forced her from him; this occasioned a strong contest, and, after many blows and outrages, they consented to submit the decision to a Troglodite, who, whilst the republic subsisted, had been in some esteem. They came to him, and were going to plead their cause before him.—“What does it concern me, said the umpire, whose wife she is, yours, or yours; I have my land to till; I cannot spend my time in determining your quarrels, not busy myself in your affairs to the neglect of my own; pray let me be quiet, and do not trouble me with your disputes.”—Having so said, he left them, and went to work on his land. The ravisher, who was the stronger man, swore he would sooner die than restore the woman; whilst the husband, penetrated with the injustice of his neighbour, and the hardness of his judge, returned home in despair; when meeting in his way a handsome young woman, returning from a fountain, and having now no wife of his own; being pleased with her, and much more so, when he learned she was the wife of him whom he had chosen for his judge, and who had been so little sensible of his affliction; he seized on her, and forced her to go to his house. There was another man who possessed a fruitful field, which he had cultivated wich great labour; two of his neighbours united together, forced him out of his house, and took possession of his field; they formed a compact to defend themselves against all those who should endeavour to take it from them, and did really support themselves several months. But one of them, tired of sharing what he might possess alone, murdered the other, and became sole master of the field; his reign was not long; two other Troglodites attacked him; and he was massacred, being too weak to defend himself. Another Troglodite, who was almost naked, asked the price of some cloth, which he saw, and wanted to buy; the draper reasoned thus with himself: “I indeed ought not to expect more money for my cloth than will buy two measures of wheat; but I will sell it for four times that advantage, that I may purchase eight measures.”—The man must needs have the cloth, and pay the price demanded; “I am very well contented, said the draper, I now shall have some wheat.” “What is it you say, replied the buyer, do you want wheat? I have some to sell, however the price perhaps may surprise you; for you know wheat is extremely dear, and that the famine is extended almost every where; but return me my money and you shall have a measure of wheat, and though you should perish by the famine, you should not have it otherwise.” In the mean time the country was ravaged by a mortal distemper; a skilful physician arrived from a neighbouring country, who administered his medicines so properly, that he cured all who put themselves under his care. When the distemper ceased, he went to those whom he had cured, to demand his pay, but refusals were all he received. He returned to his own country, tired with the fatigue of so long a journey. But a short time after, he heard that the same distemper had returned again, and more grievously afflicted those ungrateful people. They did not now wait for his coming, but went to him themselves. “Unjust men, said he, go; you have in your souls a more deadly poison than that of which you desire to be cured; you are unworthy to enjoy a place upon earth, for you are void of humanity, and the laws of equity are unknown to you. I should think it an offence against the gods, who punish you, should I oppose their just anger.”

Erzeron, the 3d of the moon of the 2d Gemmadi, 1711.

LETTER XII.

Ushek to the Same, at Ispahan.

THOU hast seen, my dear Mirza, how the Troglodites were destroyed by their own wickedness, and fell the victims of their own injustice. Of so many families, two only remained, who escaped the miseries of this people. There were in this country two very extraordinary men; they possessed humanity, were acquainted with justice, and loved virtue. They were as much united by the uprightness of their hearts, as by the corruption of those of others they saw the general desolation, and only shewed their sense of it by their pity; this was a new motive to union. A common solicitude, and a common interest, engaged their labours; there was no difference between them but what owed its birth to a sweet and tender friendship. In a retired part of the country, separate from their unworthy countrymen, they led a life of peace and happiness; cultivated by their virtuous hands, the earth seemed to yield its fruits spontaneously. They loved their wives, and were affectionately beloved by them. The training up their children to virtue engaged their utmost care. They continually represented to them the miseries of their countrymen, and placed their melancholy example before their eyes. They especially inculcated upon their minds, that the interest of individuals was always to be found in that of the community, and that to attempt to seek it separately, was to destroy it; that virtue is by no means a thing that ought to be burdensome to us, nor the practice of it considered as painful; that doing justice to others is acting charitably to ourselves. They soon enjoyed the consolation of virtuous parents, which consists in having children like themselves. These young people, who grew up under their care, were increased by happy marriages, and their number augmented; the same union continued, and virtue, far from being weakened by the multitude, was, on the contrary, strengthened by a greater number of examples. Who is able to represent the happiness of the Troglodites at this period! A people so just could not but be dear to the gods. They learned to reverence them as soon as they had a knowledge of them, and religion improved their morals, and softened their natural roughness. In honour of the gods they instituted feasts. The young women dressed with flowers, and the youths danced to the sound of rural music; then followed banquets, which were not less joyful than frugal. In these assemblies pure Nature spoke; it was here they learned to give and receive hearts; it was here that virgin modesty, blushing, consessed its alarms; but its wishes were soon established by the consent of fathers; and here affectionate mothers delighted themselves with the foresight of a loving and faithful union. They went to the temple to ask the favour of the gods; it was not for riches, or a burdensome superfluity; such kind of wishes were unworthy to be desired by the happy Troglodites, except only for their fellow-countrymen. They only bowed before the altars to pray for the health of their parents, the unity of their brethren, the affection of their wives, and the love and obedience of their children. Maidens came thither to offer up the tender sacrifice of their hearts, and that they might make a Troglodite happy was the only favour they asked. When the flocks at evening left the fields, and the weary oxen returned home with the plough, then these happy people met together, and, during a frugal repast, sang the crimes of the first Troglodites, and their punishment; and the revival of virtue with a new race. They also sang the power of the gods, their favour, ever present to those who worship them, and their inevitable displeasure at those who fear them not: they afterwards described the pleasures of a rural life, and the happiness with which innocence is always adorned. They soon after resigned themselves to a repose never interrupted by any cares or uneasiness. Nature equally provided for their cares and their pleasures. In this happy country, covetousness was unknown: they made presents to each other, and the donor always supposed he had the advantage. The Troglodites ever considered themselves as one family; their flocks were mingled together, and the only trouble they excused themselves was that of separating them.

Erzeron, the 16th of the moon of the second Gemmadi, 1711.

LETTER XIII.

Usbek to the Same.

THE virtue of the Troglodites is what I cannot speak to thee enough of. One of them once said: “My father to-morrow should labour in the field, I will rise two hours before him, and when he comes into the field he shall find all his work done.”—Another said to himself: “My sister seems to like a young Troglodite, a relation of ours, I must speak to my father, that he may terminate it by a marriage.”—Another being told, that some robbers had carried off his herd, “I am very sorry, said he, for there was a white heiffer, which I intended to have offered up to the gods.”—Another was once heard saying; “I must go to the temple to return the gods thanks, that my brother, who is so greatly beloved by my father, and who is so dear to me, has recovered his health.”—Or else: “Adjoining to a field of my father’s there is another, and those who work in it are continually exposed to the heat of the sun; I must plant some trees there, that those poor men may sometimes rest themselves under the shadow of them.”—One time, several Troglodites being together, an elderly man reproached a younger, whom he suspected of having committed a base action: “We do not think he has done such an action, said the others, but if he has, may his death happen the last of his family!—A Troglodite being informed, that some stranger had pillaged and carried every thing off, replied, “I could wish the gods would give them a longer use of them than I have had, were they not unjust men.”—Such great prosperity was not regarded without envy. The neighbouring people gathered together, and, under a frivolous pretence, determined to take away their flocks. As soon as this resolution was known, the Troglodites sent ambassadors to them, who addressed them to this purpose: “What have the Troglodites done to you? Have they taken away your wives, stolen your cattle, or ravaged your country? No; we are just, and fear the gods. What then do you demand of us? Would you have wool to make you clothes? Would you have the milk of our flocks, or the fruits of our lands? Lay down your arms, come among us, and we will give you all these; but we swear by that which is most sacred, that if you enter our lands as enemies, we will treat you as wild beasts.”—This address was treated with contempt, and the savage people entered armed into the country of the Troglodites, who, they supposed had no other defence besides their innocence. But they were well prepared for a defence; they had placed their wives and children in the midst of them, and were surprised at the injustice, but not dismayed at the numbers of their enemies. Their hearts were seized with a fresh ardour; one would lose his life for his father, another for his wife and children; this for his brethren, and that for his friends, and all of them for their country. The place of him who was killed was instantly taken by another, who besides the common cause had also a private death to revenge. Such was the combat between injustice and virtue. These base people, who sought nothing but the spoil, were not ashamed to fly, and submit to the virtue of the Troglodites, and even without being touched with a sense of it.

Erzeron the 9th of the moon of the 2d Gemmadi, 1711.

LETTER. XIV.

Usbek to the Same.

AS these people, the Troglodites, every day grew more numerous, they thought it necessary to elect a king; they determined to offer the crown to him who was the most just; and cast their eyes on one venerable for his age, and a long course of virtue; but he would not attend the assembly, and retired to his own house with a heart oppressed with grief. They then sent deputies to him, to acquaint him of the choice they had made of him. “The gods forbid, said he, that I should so wrong the Troglodites, as that they should believe that there is not a more just person among them than myself. You offer me the crown, and if you will absolutely have it to be so, I must accept it; but be assured I shall die of grief, at having seen the Troglodites born free, now to see them become subject.”—At these words he lamented with a torrent of tears. “Miserable day! said he, why have I lived so long?” Then cried he, in a severer accent, “I very well perceive what is the cause, O ye Troglodites; your virtue begins to be too heavy for you. In the state you are, without a head, you are constrained to be virtuous in spite of yourselves, or you cannot subsist, but must sink into the miseries of your ancestors. But this seems too hard a yoke for you; you like better to be subject to a king, and to obey his laws, less rigid than your morals. You know that then you may gratify your ambition, gain riches, and languish in slothful luxury, and, provided you avoid falling into great crimes, you will have no want of virtue.” He ceased a little, and his tears flowed more than ever.—“And what do you expect me to do? How can it be that I should command a Troglodite any thing? Would you have him act virtuously because I command him, which he would do wholly of himself without me, and purely from a natural inclination? Oh Troglodites, I am at the end of my days, my blood is frozen in my veins, I shall soon go to revisit your holy ancestors; why would you have me afflict them, and why must I be obliged to inform them that I left you under any other yoke than that of virtue?”

Erzeron, the 10th of the moon of the 2d Gammadi, 1711.

LETTER XV.

The first Eunuch, to Jaron, the Black Eunuch, at Erzeron.

I PRAY heaven that it may bring thee back to these parts, and defend thee from all danger. Though I have scarcely ever been sensible of that engagement which is called friendship, and am entirely swallowed up in myself, yet thou hast however made me feel that I have a heart, and at the same time that I was as brass to the rest of the slaves who lived under my command, I saw with pleasure thy infancy grow up. The time when my master cast his eyes on thee approached. Nature had not then inspired thee with its dictates, when the iron separated thee from what is natural. I will not confess whether I bewailed thee, or whether I was sensible of the pleasure of seeing thee brought into the same condition with myself. I appeased thy tears and thy cries. I imagined I saw thee undergo a second birth, and passing from a state of servitude, in which thou must always have obeyed, to engage in one in which thou oughtest always to command. I took upon myself the care of thy education. That severity, which is ever inseparable from instruction, kept thee long ignorant that thou wast dear to me. However, thou wast so to me; and I assure thee that I loved thee as a father loves his son, if the words, father and son, are compatible with our condition. Thou art to pass through countries inhabited by Christians, who have never believed: it is impossible but that thou must there contract some impurities. How can the prophet behold thee in the midst of so many millions of his enemies? I wish my master, on his return, would undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca; you would be purified in that land of angels.

From the seraglio, the 10th of the moon Gemmadi, 1711.

LETTER XVI.

Usbek to Mollak Mehemet Ali, Guardian of the Three Tombs, at Com.

WHY dost thou live, divine Mollak, in the tombs? Thou art better made for the abode of the stars. Thou doubtless hidest thyself through fear of obscuring the sun; thou hast no spots like that star, yet like him thou art covered with clouds. Thy knowledge is an abyss deeper than the ocean; thy wit more piercing than Zufagar, the sword of Hali, which had two points; thou art acquainted with what passes in the nine choirs of the celestial powers. Thou readest the Koran on the breast of our holy prophet, and when thou findest any obscure passage, an angel, at his command, spreads his rapid wings, to descend from the throne, to reveal to thee the secret. I may, by thy means, have an intimate correspondence with the seraphim, for, in short, thou thirteenth Iman, art thou not the centre where heaven and earth meet, the point of communication between the abyss and the empyreal heaven? I am in the middle of a profane people; permit that I may purify myself with thee; suffer me to turn my face towards thy holy place where thou dwellest. Distinguish me from the wicked, as the white thread is distinguished from the black; at the rising of Aurora, aid me with thy councils; take care of my soul; make it to drink of the spirit of the prophets; feed it with the science of Paradise, and permit that I display its wounds at thy feet. Address thy holy letters to me at Erzeron; where I shall continue some months.

Erzeron, the 11th of the moon of the 2d Gemmadi, 1711.

LETTER XVII.

Usbek to the Same.

I CANNOT, divine Mollak, quiet my impatience; I know not how to wait for thy sublime answer: I have doubts which must be satisfied; I perceive that my reason wanders; restore it to the right path; enlighten me, thou source of light; drive away, with thy divine pen, the difficulties I am now going to propose to thee; make me commiserate myself, and even blush at the questions I am about to ask. Why does our legislator restrain us from swine’s flesh, and from all those meats which he calls unclean? Why are we forbidden to touch a corpse? And why, for the purification of our souls, are we commanded continually to wash our bodies? these things appear to me to be, in themselves, neither pure nor impure; for that they should be rendered such by any inherent quality in them, I cannot conceive. Dirt appears filthy to us, only because it is offensive to our sight, or to some other of our senses, yet in itself it is no more so than gold or diamonds. The idea of filthiness contracted by touching a dead body, arises only from a certain repugnance which we have to it. If the bodies of those who do not wash themselves neither offended our smell nor sight, how could we imagine them to be impure? Therefore the senses, divine Mollak, ought to be the only judges of the purity or impurity of things; yet, as the same objects do not affect all men in the same manner, as that which yields an agreeable sensation to some, affords an unpleasant one to others, it follows that the evidence of our senses cannot in this case serve as a rule, unless we allow that each person may, according to his own fancy, determine the point, and distinguish, for what relates to himself, what things are pure or impure. But would not this, divine Mollak, overturn all the distinctions established by our holy prophet, and the fundamental points of that law which was written by the fingers of angels?

Erzeron, the 20th of the moon of the 2d Gemmadi, 1711.

LETTER XVIII.

Mollak Mehemet Ali to Usbek, at Erzeron.

THOU art always offering questions which have a thousand times been proposed to our holy prophet. Why dost thou not read the traditions of the doctors? Why dost thou not go to that pure fountain of all intelligence? Thou wouldest there find all thy doubts resolved. Unhappy man! who art continually embarrassed with worldly things; having never fixed thy attention on the things of heaven; and who reverencest the order of the Mollaks, without daring to embrace or follow it! profane beings! who never enter into the secrets of the Eternal; your lights resemble the darkness of the abyss, and the reasonings of your mind are as the dust, which your feet throw up when the sun reaches the meridian in the scorching month of Chahban. Nor does the zenith of your understanding reach to the nadir of the meanest Imaum. Your vain philosophy is that lightning which foretels tempests and darkness; thou art in the midst of the storm, and carried to and fro with every gust of wind. The solution of your difficulty is very easy; nothing more is necessary but to relate to you what one day happened to our holy prophet, when being tempted by the Christians, and tried by the Jews, he equally confounded each of them. Abdias Ibesalon * , the Jew, asked the prophet, why God had prohibited the eating of swine’s flesh? “Not without reason, replied Mahomet, it is an unclean animal, and that it is so I will instantly convince you.” He moulded some dirt in his hand into the figure of a man, threw it upon the ground, and cried, “Arise thou!” Immediately a man arose, and said, “I am Japhet, the son of Noah.” To whom the holy prophet said, “Was thy hair as white at the time of thy death?” “No, replied he; but when thou didst awake me, I thought the day of judgment was come, and I felt so great a terror, that my hair was changed to white in a moment.”—“Now relate to me, said the Sent of God, the entire history of what happened in Noah’s ark.” Japhet obeyed, and gave an exact account of the events of the first months, and then continued as follows: * “All the dung of the beasts we cast to one side of the ark, which made it lean so much, that we were all terribly frightened, especially our wives, who made an horrible lamentation. Our father Noah, having taken counsel of God, he ordered him to remove the elephant to that part, and to turn his head toward the side which leaned. This huge animal made such plentiful evacuations that a hog was produced from them.” Dost thou not believe, Usbek, that from this time we have abstained from this animal, and regarded it as unclean? But as this hog wallowed daily in the dung, he raised such a stench in the ark, that he himself could not help sneezing, and a rat fell from his nose, which immediately ghawed every thing he met with, and thereby he became so intolerable to Noah, that he once more thought it necessary to consult God. He ordered him to strike the lion a great blow on his forehead, who also sneezed, and from his nose leaped a cat. Dost thou not believe these animals also to be unclean? How does it appear to thee? Therefore when thou dost not comprehend the reason why certain things art unclean, it is because thou art ignorant of many other things, and hast not a knowledge of what has passed between God, the angels, and men. Thou knowest not the history of eternity; thou hast not read the books which were written in heaven; that which hath been revealed to thee is only a small portion of the divine library; even those who, like us, have approached much nearer, so as to be in this kind of life, are nevertheless in obscurity and darkness. Farewel. May Mahomet be in thy heart.

Com, the last day of the moon Chahban, 1711.

LETTER XIX.

Usbek to his Friend Rustan, at Ispahan.

AT Tocat we continued but eight days; after a journey of five and thirty days, we reached Smyrna. Between Tocat and Smyrna we saw only one city, which merited that name. I was surprised to see the weak state of the Osmalin empire. This distempered body does not support itself by a mild and temperate government, but by such violent remedies as incessantly exhaust and destroy it. The bashaws, who procure their employments only by the power of money, enter those provinces in a ruined condition, and ravage them as conquered countries. An insolent militia, subject only to its own caprice; the towns dismantled, the cities deserted, the country desolated, the culture of the land and commerce entirely neglected. Under this severe government impunity reigns; the Christians, who cultivate the lands, and the Jews, who collect the tribute, are exposed to a thousand outrages. The property of the lands is uncertain, and consequently the desire of increasing their value diminished; as neither title nor possession are a sufficient security against the caprice of those who have the government. These barbarians have so far abandoned the arts, that they have even neglected the military art. Whilst all Europe grows daily more refined, they remain in their ancient ignorance, and rarely think of improving by their new inventions, till they have been a thousand times employed against them. They have gained no experience at sea; no skill in naval affairs; a mere handful of Christians, the possessors of a barren rock * , are a terror to the Ottoman race, and distress their whole empire. It is with anxiety they suffer the Christians, always laborious and enterprising, to carry on for them that commerce for which themselves are unfit; they imagine they are granting a favour, when they permit these foreigners to enrich themselves. Through this vast extent of country that I have passed, Smyrna is the only rich and powerful city that I have observed; it is the Europeans that have rendered it such, and it is no fault of the Turks that it is not in the same miserable condition with the others. See, dear Rustan, a just representation of this empire, which in less than two centuries will be the theatre of triumph to some new conqueror.

Smyrna, the 2d of the moon of Rahmazan, 1711.

LETTER XX.

Usbek to Zachi, his Wife, at the Seraglio at Ispahan.

THOU hast offended me, Zachi, I feel emotions in my heart at which you ought to tremble, if the distance I am at did not afford thee time to alter thy conduct, and allay the excessive jealousy with which I am tormented. I am informed, that you were catched alone with Nadir, the white eunuch, whose head shall pay for his infidelity and treachery. How could you forget yourself so far as not to be sensible that it is not allowed you to receive a white eunuch into your chamber, whilst you have black ones appointed to serve you? You may say what you will to me; that these eunuchs are not men; and that your virtue raises you above all thoughts that an imperfect likeness might give birth to. This is not sufficient either for you, or for me; not for you, because you have done what the laws of the seraglio forbid; nor for me, in that you rob me of my honour, in exposing yourself to the looks; to the looks, did I say? it may be, to the attempts of a traitor, who may have defiled you by his crimes, and yet more by the repinings of his despair, and of his impotence. Perhaps you will say, that you have always continued faithful. How had you a power to be otherwise? How could you deceive the vigilance of those black eunuchs, who are astonished at the life you lead? How could you break through those bolts and doors with which you are locked up? You glory in a virtue which is not free, and perhaps your impure desires have robbed you a thousand times of the merit and value of that fidelity of which you so much boast. I will admit that you have not done all that I might reasonably suspect; that this traitor has not laid his sacrilegious hands upon you; that you have refused to indulge him with a sight of the delights of his master; that, covered with your habit, you let that weak barrier between you and him remain; that, struck with a reverential awe, he cast his eyes to the ground; that, failing in his courage, he trembled at the chastisement he was preparing for himself. Though all this should be true, it is nevertheless so, that you have acted contrary to your duty. And if you have broken through your duty for nothing, without fulfilling your irregular desires, what would you have done to gratify them? What would you do, if you could leave that sacred place, which seems to you a melancholy prison, though it is an happy asylum to your companions against the attacks of vice; an holy temple, where your sex loses its weakness, and finds itself invincible, in opposition to all the disadvantages of nature? What would you do, if, abandoned to yourself you had no other defence but your love to me, which is so grievously injured, and your own duty, which you have so basely acted against? How sacred are the manners of the country in which you live, which secure you from the attempts of the meanest slaves! You ought to thank me for the restraint I make you live under, since it is by that only that you even merit to live. The chief of the eunuchs is intolerable to you, because he is always attentive to your conduct, and affords you his sage advice. You cannot look at him, you say, without uneasiness, because he is so extremely ugly, as if the handsomest objects should be appointed to such kind of posts as his. The not having in his place the white eunuch, who dishonours you, is what afflicts you. But what has your chief slave done to you? She has told you, that the familiarities you take with young Zelida are not decent; this is the cause of your aversion. I ought, Zachi, to be a severe judge, but I am a kind husband, who desire to find you innocent. The love I bear to Roxana, my new spouse, has not deprived me of that tenderness which I ought to entertain for you, who are not less beautiful. I divide my love between you two, and Roxana hath no other advantage but what beauty receives from the addition of virtue.

Smyrna, the 12th of the moon Zilcade, 1711.

LETTER XXI.

Usbek, to the chief White Eunuch.

WHEN you open this letter you ought to tremble; or rather you ought to have done so when you permitted the treachery of Nadir. You who, in a cold languishing old age, may not guiltless raise your eyes to the dreadful objects of my love; you, to whom it is never allowed to put your sacrilegious foot over the threshold of the tremendous place which conceals them from the view of every human eye; you suffer those whose conduct is intrusted to your care to do what you have not boldness enough to do yourself; and are you not sensible of the thunder just ready to break on you and them? And what are you but vile instruments which I can destroy according to my humour, who exist only as long as you obey; who were born only to live under my laws, or to die at my pleasure; who do not breathe longer than my happiness, my love, and even my jealousy, have need of your servility; in short, who have no other portion but submission, no other will but my pleasure, and no hope but my happiness. Some of my wives, I know, bear with impatience the strict laws of duty; the continual presence of a black Eunuch disgusts them; they are tired with those frightful objects which are appointed to confine their affections to their husband; all this I know. But you, who have taken part in this irregularity, you shall be punished in such a manner as to make all those who have abused my confidence tremble. By all the prophets in heaven, and by Hali, the greatest of them all, I swear, that if you swerve from your duty, I will regard your life but as the life of those infects which I crush under my feet.

Smyrna, the 2d of the moon Zilcade, 1711.

LETTER XXII.

Jaron to the first Eunuch.

USBEK, in proportion as he removes further from his seraglio, turns his mind towards those women who are devoted to him: he sighs; he sheds tears; his grief augments; his suspicions gain strength. He wants to encrease the number of their guardians. He is going to send me back again, with all the blacks who attend him. His fears are not for himself, but for what is dearer to him a thousand times than himself. I return then to live under thy laws, and to divide thy cares. Alas! how many things are necessary to the happiness of one man! At the same instant that nature placed women in a dependent state, it seemed to deliver them from it; disorder arose between the two sexes, because their rights were mutual. The plan of harmony we have engaged in is new: we have put hatred between the women and us, love between the men and women. My brow is becoming stern, I shall contract a gloomy air, joy shall fly from my lips. I shall outwardly appear calm, and my mind disturbed. I shall not wait for the wrinkles of old age to shew its peevishness. I should have taken pleasure in attending my master to the west, but my will is his property. He will have me guard his women; I will watch them faithfully. I know how I ought to carry myself with the sex, which, when not allowed to be vain, becomes proud; and which it is more easy to destroy than to humble. I prostrate myself in thy presence.

Smyrna, the 12th of the moon Zilcade, 1711.

LETTER XXIII.

Usbek to his Friend Ibben, at Smyrna.

AFTER a sail of forty days, we have reached Leghorn. It is a new city, a proof of the great genius of the dukes of Tuscany, who have raised the most flourishing city in Italy from a marshy village. Here the women are greatly indulged: they may look at men through certain windows, called jealousies; they may go out every day, accompanied only by some old women; they wear only a single veil * . Their brothers-in-law, uncles, and nephews may visit them; at which the husband is scarcely ever offended. The first view of a Christian city is a great sight to a Mahometan. I do not mean such things as at first view strike every spectator, as the difference of buildings, dress, and principal customs; there is, even to the minutest thing, a singularity which I know not how to describe, though I can feel it. We set out for Marseilles tomorrow; our continuance there will be short; for Rica and I design to go immediately to Paris, which is the seat of the European empire. Great cit