Online Library of Liberty: the Works of Voltaire, Vol. VI (Philosophical Dictionary Part 4)
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The Online Library of Liberty A Project Of Liberty Fund, Inc. Voltaire, The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VI (Philosophical Dictionary Part 4) [1764] The Online Library Of Liberty This E-Book (PDF format) is published by Liberty Fund, Inc., a private, non-profit, educational foundation established in 1960 to encourage study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. 2010 was the 50th anniversary year of the founding of Liberty Fund. It is part of the Online Library of Liberty web site http://oll.libertyfund.org, which was established in 2004 in order to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. To find out more about the author or title, to use the site's powerful search engine, to see other titles in other formats (HTML, facsimile PDF), or to make use of the hundreds of essays, educational aids, and study guides, please visit the OLL web site. This title is also part of the Portable Library of Liberty DVD which contains over 1,000 books and quotes about liberty and power, and is available free of charge upon request. The cuneiform inscription that appears in the logo and serves as a design element in all Liberty Fund books and web sites is the earliest-known written appearance of the word “freedom” (amagi), or “liberty.” It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash, in present day Iraq. To find out more about Liberty Fund, Inc., or the Online Library of Liberty Project, please contact the Director at [email protected]. LIBERTY FUND, INC. 8335 Allison Pointe Trail, Suite 300 Indianapolis, Indiana 46250-1684 Online Library of Liberty: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VI (Philosophical Dictionary Part 4) Edition Used: The Works of Voltaire. A Contemporary Version. A Critique and Biography by John Morley, notes by Tobias Smollett, trans. William F. Fleming (New York: E.R. DuMont, 1901). In 21 vols. Vol. VI. Author: Voltaire Translator: William F. Fleming About This Title: Volume 4 of the Philosophical Dictionary with entries from “Joseph” to the “Privileges.” The Philosophical Dictionary first appeared in 1764 in a “pocket edition” designed to be carried about one’s person. It consists of a series of short essays on a variety of topics all of which are tied together as examples of Voltaire’s withering criticism of “the infamous thing” - examples of tyranny and persecution by a privileged orthodoxy in Church and State of those individuals who disagree. PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 2 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/355 Online Library of Liberty: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VI (Philosophical Dictionary Part 4) About Liberty Fund: Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. Copyright Information: The text is in the public domain. Fair Use Statement: This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit. PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 3 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/355 Online Library of Liberty: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VI (Philosophical Dictionary Part 4) Table Of Contents Voltaire a Philosophical Dictionary Vol. Vi—part I Joseph. JudÆa. Julian. Just and Unjust. Justice. King. Kiss. Laughter. Law (salic). Law (civil and Ecclesiastical). Laws. Laws (spirit Of). Lent. Leprosy, Etc. Letters (men Of). Libel. Liberty. Liberty of Opinion. Liberty of the Press. Life. Love. Love of God. Love (socratic Love). Luxury. Madness. Magic. Malady—medicine. Man. Marriage. Mary Magdalen. Martyrs. Mass. Massacres. Master. Matter. Meetings (public). Messiah. Advertisement. Metamorphosis. Metaphysics. Mind (limits of the Human). Miracles. Mission. Voltaire a Philosophical Dictionary Vol. Vi — Part Ii PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 4 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/355 Online Library of Liberty: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VI (Philosophical Dictionary Part 4) Money. Monsters. Morality. Moses. Motion. Mountain. Nail. New—novelties. Nudity. Number. Numbering. Occult Qualities. Offences (local). Onan. Opinion. Optimism. Oracles. Ordeal. Ordination. Original Sin. Ovid. Paradise. Passions. Their Influence Upon the Body, and That of the Body Upon Them. Paul. Persecution. Peter (saint). Peter the Great and J. J. Rousseau. Philosopher. Philosophy. Physicians. Pirates Or Buccaneers. Plagiarism. Plato. Poets. Poisonings. Policy. Polypus. Polytheism. Population. Possessed. Post. Power—omnipotence. Power. the Two Powers. Prayer (public), Thanksgiving, Etc. Prejudice. Presbyterian. Pretensions. Pride. PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 5 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/355 Online Library of Liberty: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VI (Philosophical Dictionary Part 4) Priests. Priests of the Pagans. Prior, Butler, and Swift. Privilege—privileged Cases. The WORKS Of VOLTAIRE “Between two servants of Humanity, who appeared eighteen hundred years apart, there is a mysterious relation. * * * * Let us say it with a sentiment of profound respect: JESUS WEPT: VOLTAIRE SMILED. Of that divine tear and of that human smile is composed the sweetness of the present civilization.” VICTOR HUGO. Old Rouen. PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 6 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/355 Online Library of Liberty: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VI (Philosophical Dictionary Part 4) [Back to Table of Contents] VOLTAIRE A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY Vol. VI—Part I A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY. JOSEPH. The history of Joseph, considering it merely as an object of curiosity and literature, is one of the most precious monuments of antiquity which has reached us. It appears to be the model of all the Oriental writers; it is more affecting than the “Odyssey”; for a hero who pardons is more touching than one who avenges. We regard the Arabs as the first authors of these ingenious fictions, which have passed into all languages; but I see among them no adventures comparable to those of Joseph. Almost all in it is wonderful, and the termination exacts tears of tenderness. He was a young man of sixteen years of age, of whom his brothers were jealous; he is sold by them to a caravan of Ishmaelite merchants, conducted into Egypt, and bought by a eunuch of the king. This eunuch had a wife, which is not at all extraordinary; the kislar aga, a perfect eunuch, has a seraglio at this day at Constantinople; they left him some of his senses, and nature in consequence is not altogether extinguished. No matter; the wife of Potiphar falls in love with the young Joseph, who, faithful to his master and benefactor, rejects the advances of this woman. She is irritated at it, and accuses Joseph of attempting to seduce her. Such is the history of Hippolytus and Phædra, of Bellerophon and Zenobia, of Hebrus and Damasippa, of Myrtilus and Hippodamia, etc. It is difficult to know which is the original of all these histories; but among the ancient Arabian authors there is a tract relating to the adventure of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, which is very ingenious. The author supposes that Potiphar, uncertain between the assertions of his wife and Joseph, regarded not Joseph’s tunic, which his wife had torn as a proof of the young man’s outrage. There was a child in a cradle in his wife’s chamber; and Joseph said that she seized and tore his tunic in the presence of this infant. Potiphar consulted the child, whose mind was very advanced for its age. The child said to Potiphar: “See if the tunic is torn behind or before; if before, it is a proof that Joseph would embrace your wife by force, and that she defended herself; if behind, it is a proof that your wife detained Joseph.” Potiphar, thanks to the genius of the child, recognized the innocence of his slave. It is thus that this adventure is related in the Koran, after the Arabian author. It informs us not to whom the infant belonged, who judged with so much wit. If it was not a son of Potiphar, Joseph was not the first whom this woman had seduced. However that may be, according to Genesis, Joseph is put in prison, where he finds himself in company with the butler and baker of the king of Egypt. These two prisoners of state both dreamed one night. Joseph explains their dreams; he predicted PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 7 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/355 Online Library of Liberty: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VI (Philosophical Dictionary Part 4) that in three days the butler would be received again into favor, and that the baker would be hanged; which failed not to happen. Two years afterwards the king of Egypt also dreams, and his butler tells him that there is a young Jew in prison who is the first man in the world for the interpretation of dreams. The king causes the young man to be brought to him, who foretells seven years of abundance and seven of sterility. Let us here interrupt the thread of the history to remark, of what prodigious antiquity is the interpretation of dreams. Jacob saw in a dream the mysterious ladder at the top of which was God Himself. In a dream he learned a method of multiplying his flocks, a method which never succeeded with any but himself. Joseph himself had learned by a dream that he should one day govern his brethren. Abimelech, a long time before, had been warned in a dream, that Sarah was the wife of Abraham. To return to Joseph: after explaining the dream of Pharaoh, he was made first minister on the spot. We doubt if at present a king could be found, even in Asia, who would bestow such an office in return for an interpreted dream.