The Online Library of Liberty A Project Of Liberty Fund, Inc. Voltaire, The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VII (Philosophical Dictionary Part 5) [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. 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Fleming. Vol. VII. Author: Voltaire Translator: William F. Fleming About This Title: Volume 5 of the Philosophical Dictionary with entries from “Property” to the “Zoroaster.” 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/1660 Online Library of Liberty: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VII (Philosophical Dictionary Part 5) 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/1660 Online Library of Liberty: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VII (Philosophical Dictionary Part 5) Table Of Contents Voltaire a Philosophical Dictionary Vol. Vii — Part I Property. Prophecies. Prophets. Providence. Purgatory. Quack (or Charlatan). Ravaillac. Reasonable, Or Right. Relics. Religion. Rhyme. Resurrection. Rights. Rivers. Roads. Rod. Rome (court Of). Samothrace. Samson. Saturn’s Ring. Scandal. Schism. Scrofula. Sect. Self-love. Sensation. Sentences (remarkable). On Natural Liberty. Sentences of Death. Serpents. Shekel. Sibyl. Singing. Questions On Singing, Music, Modulation, Gesticulation, Etc. Slaves. Sleepers (the Seven). Slow Bellies (ventres Paresseux). Society (royal) of London, and Academies. Socrates. Solomon. Somnambulists and Dreamers. Sophist. Soul. Space. Stage (police of The). PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 4 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1660 Online Library of Liberty: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VII (Philosophical Dictionary Part 5) States—governments. States-general. Voltaire a Philosophical Dictionary Vol. Vii—part Ii Style. Superstition. Symbol, Or Credo. System. Tabor, Or Thabor. Talisman. Tartuffe—tartuferie. Taste. Taurobolium. Tax—fee. Tears. Terelas. Testes. Theism. Theist. Theocracy. Government of God Or Gods. Theodosius. Theologian. Thunder. Toleration. Tophet. Torture. Transubstantiation. Trinity. Truth. Tyranny. Tyrant. University. Usages. Contemptible Customs Do Not Always Imply a Contemptible Nation. Vampires. Veletri, a Small Town of Umbria, Nine Leagues From Rome; And, Incidentally, of the Divinity of Augustus. Venality. Venice; And, Incidentally, of Liberty. Verse. Viands. Forbidden Viands, Dangerous Viands.—a Short Examination of Jewish and Christian Precepts, and of Those of the Ancient Philosophers. Virtue. Vision. Vision of Constantine. Vows. Voyage of St. Peter to Rome. Waller. War. Weakness On Both Sides. PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 5 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1660 Online Library of Liberty: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VII (Philosophical Dictionary Part 5) Whys (the). Wicked. Will. Wit, Spirit, Intellect. Women. Xenophanes. Xenophon, and the Retreat of the Ten Thousand. Yvetot. Zeal. Zoroaster. Declaration of the Amateurs, Inquirers, and Doubters, Who Have Amused Themselves With Proposing to the Learned the Preceding Questions In These Volumes. 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. Voltaire. PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 6 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1660 Online Library of Liberty: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VII (Philosophical Dictionary Part 5) [Back to Table of Contents] VOLTAIRE A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY Vol. VII — Part I A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY. PROPERTY. “Liberty and property” is the great national cry of the English. It is certainly better than “St. George and my right,” or “St. Denis and Montjoie”; it is the cry of nature. From Switzerland to China the peasants are the real occupiers of the land. The right of conquest alone has, in some countries, deprived men of a right so natural. The general advantage or good of a nation is that of the sovereign, of the magistrate, and of the people, both in peace and war. Is this possession of lands by the peasantry equally conducive to the prosperity of the throne and the people in all periods and circumstances? In order to its being the most beneficial system for the throne, it must be that which produces the most considerable revenue, and the most numerous and powerful army. We must inquire, therefore, whether this principle or plan tends clearly to increase commerce and population. It is certain that the possessor of an estate will cultivate his own inheritance better than that of another. The spirit of property doubles a man’s strength. He labors for himself and his family both with more vigor and pleasure than he would for a master. The slave, who is in the power of another, has but little inclination for marriage; he often shudders even at the thought of producing slaves like himself. His industry is damped; his soul is brutalized; and his strength is never exercised in its full energy and elasticity. The possessor of property, on the contrary, desires a wife to share his happiness, and children to assist in his labors. His wife and children constitute his wealth. The estate of such a cultivator, under the hands of an active and willing family, may become ten times more productive than it was before. The general commerce will be increased. The treasure of the prince will accumulate. The country will supply more soldiers. It is clear, therefore, that the system is beneficial to the prince. Poland would be thrice as populous and wealthy as it is at present if the peasants were not slaves. Nor is the system less beneficial to the great landlords. If we suppose one of these to possess ten thousand acres of land cultivated by serfs, these ten thousand acres will produce him but a very scanty revenue, which will be frequently absorbed in repairs, and reduced to nothing by the irregularity and severity of the seasons. What will he in fact be, although his estates may be vastly more extensive than we have mentioned, if at the same time they are unproductive? He will be merely the possessor of an immense solitude. He will never be really rich but in proportion as his vassals are so; his prosperity depends on theirs. If this prosperity advances so far as to render the land too populous; if land is wanting to employ the labor of so many industrious PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 7 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1660 Online Library of Liberty: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VII (Philosophical Dictionary Part 5) hands—as hands in the first instance were wanting to cultivate the land—then the superfluity of necessary laborers will flow off into cities and seaports, into manufactories and armies. Population will have produced this decided benefit, and the possession of the lands by the real cultivators, under payment of a rent which enriches the landlords, will have been the cause of this increase of population. There is another species of property not less beneficial; it is that which is freed from payment of rent altogether, and which is liable only to those general imposts which are levied by the sovereign for the support and benefit of the state. It is this property which has contributed in a particular manner to the wealth of England, of France, and the free cities of Germany.