entitle their authors to this inestimable reward: but never mentioned the greatness of soul with which Zadig had restored to the envious man the possession of his fortune; this was not an action that deserved to dispute the prize. He first presented a judge, who having made a citizen lose a considerable cause, by a mistake for which he was no way responsible, had made restitution out of his own private fortune. He next produced a young man, who being desperately in love with a damsel he was going to marry, yielded her up to his friend; whose passion for her had almost brought him to his grave; and, on parting with the damsel, gave also a portion with her. He afterwards produced a soldier, who in the wars of Hircania had furnished a stil? greater example of generosity. The enemy had taken from him his mistress; but while he was fighting in his defence, he was informed that other Hircanians, at some paces distant, were carrying away his mother; he then quitted his mistress with tears, and ran to deliver his parent. At length he returned to her he loved, and found her just expiring: upon which he resolved to die with her, and was about to plunge a dagger in his own breast; but his mother remonstrating, that she nad no other support nor protection but him, he had the courage to resolve to live. The judges seemed disposed to declare in favour of the soldier, when the king spoke thus-This action, and those of the others, are truly great; but they do not fill me with surprize. Zadig yesterday performed one that has raised my astonishment. nad for some days disgraced Coreb, my prime mini I ster and favourite. I complained of his conduct in violent and bitter terms; when all my courtiers assured me that I was too mild, and loaded him with the most reproachful invectives. I asked Zadig his opinion of Coreb, and he dared to give him the noblest of characters. I must own, that I have seen in our histories, examples of persons who have paid their own fortunes to atone for an error; of those who resigned a mistress; and who have preferred a mother to a woman tenderly beloved; but never had I read of a courtier who has spoken favourably of a fallen minister, the object of his sovereign's anger. I give to each of those, whose generous actions have been just recited, twenty thousand pieces of gold, but the cup I give to Zadig.' "O king!' said Zadig, it is your majesty alone who deserves the cup; you alone have acted in the most noble and uncommon manner; since you, who are so great a king, was not offended at your slave, when he opposed your passion.' The whole assembly gazed with admiration both on the king and Zadig. The judge who had generously atoned his error, the lover who had resigned his mistress to his friend, the soldier who had preferred the safety of his mother to that of his mistress, received the monarch's presents, and saw their names written in the book of generous actions: Zadig had the cup; and the king acquired the reputation of a good prince, which he did not long enjoy. This day was celebrated by feasts which continued longer than the law prescribed; tragedies were represented that made the audience burst into tears, and comedies that excited laughter, both of which were very unusual in Babylon; and the memory thereof is still preserved in Asia. Now,' said Za dig, I am at length completely happy.' however, most egregiously mistaken He was, CHAPTER VI. THE JUST JUDGE. NOTWITHSTANDING Zadig's youth, he was established supreme judge of all the tribunals throughout the empire. He discharged this office, as a man whom God had endued with the strictest justice, and the most solid wisdom. It was from him the surrounding nations received this grand principle, that it is much better to run the hazard of sparing the guilty, than be liable to condemn the innocent: and it was his firm opinion, that the laws were intended to honour those who did well, as much as to be a terror to the wicked. His principal talent consisted in discovering truth, which most men seek to obscure. On the first day of his administration he exerted this peculiar talent. A rich merchant of Babylon died in the Indies, who had made his two sons joint heirs, as soon as they should dispose of their sister in marriage; and moreover, left a legacy of thirty thousand pieces of gold to that son who should be proved to have loved him best.' The eldest erected a superb monument to his memory; the second increased his sister's portion, by giving her part of his inheritance. Upon which every body said, that the eldest best loved his father, and the youngest his sister; and that, therefore, the thirty thousand pieces ought to be given the eldest. The cause came before Zadig, who examined them apart. To the eldest he said- Your father is not yet dead; he is cured of his illness, and is on his return to Babylon.'-' God be praised!' replied the young man; but his tomb cost me a considerable sum!' Zadig afterwards said the same to the youngest; who immediately replied-'God be praised! I will go and restore to my father all I have; but I hope he will not insist upon what I have given my sister.'' You shall restore nothing,' said Zadig, ' and shall have the thirty thousand pieces? you are the man who best loves his father.' A young lady, who was very rich, had promised herself in marriage to two magi; and, after having for some months received instructions from both, discovered herself to be with child. Each of them was desirous of marrying her. 'I will take him for my ,husband,' said she, who has put me in a condition to give a citizen to my country.'-' It is I, Madam, who have answered that valuable end,' said the one : 'It is I who have had this advantage,' said the other. 'Well,' replied she, ' I will acknowledge for the infant's father him who can give it the best education.' In a short time after, she was delivered of a son. Each of them insisted on being it's tutor; and the cause was brought before Zadig. When the magi came before him, he said to the first- What will you teach your pupil ?'-' I will teach him,' replied the doctor, the eight parts of speech, logic, astrology, and magic; what is meant by substance and accident, the abstract and the concrete, &c. &c.' When the second was asked the same question-' I will do my utmost,' said he, 'to make him an honest man, and to render him worthy of having many friends.' Upon this, Zadig cried-'Whether you are the father or not, you shall marry the mother.' Complaints every day reached court against the itimadoulet of Media, whose name was Irax. He was a person of great rank and fortune, and naturally possessed a good disposition; but had corrupted his mind, and squandered away great part of his estate, in the constant pursuit of vain and expensive pleasures. He seldom permitted an inferior to speak to him; and no person whatever dared to oppose his will. He was as vain as the peacock, as voluptuous as the pigeon, and as sluggish and inactive as the tortoise. In short, he made false glory, and false pleasures, his own pursuits. Zadig undertook his cure: he accordingly sent him, in the king's name, a master of music, with twelve singers, and twenty-four musicians; and a steward of the house, with six cooks and four chamberlains, who were never to quit his presence. The king's order was, that the following particulars should be inviolably observed; and thus the business proceeded The first morning, as soon as the voluptuous Irax awaked, the music-master entered, followed by the vocal and instrumental musicians, who performed a cantata that lasted two hours and three minutes; ir which the following lines were every three minutes repeated In vain our feeble powers we raise, Thy virtues soar, most blest on earth. |