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Upon their arrival at Venice Candide went in search of Cacambo at every inn and coffee-house, and among all the ladies of pleasure, but could hear nothing of him. He sent every day to inquire what ships were in, still no news of Cacambo.
"It is strange," said he to Martin, "very strange that I
should have time to sail from Surinam to Bordeaux; to travel thence to Paris,
to Dieppe, to Portsmouth; to sail along the coast of Portugal and Spain, and
up the Mediterranean to spend some months at Venice; and that my lovely
Cunegund should not have arrived. Instead of her, I only met with a Parisian
impostor, and a rascally abbe of Perigord. Cunegund is actually dead, and I have nothing
to do but follow her. Alas! how much better would it
have been for me to have remained in the paradise of El Dorado than to have
returned to this cursed Europe! You are in the right, my dear Martin; you are
certainly in the right; all is misery and deceit."
He fell into a deep melancholy, and neither went to the opera then in vogue,
nor partook of any of the diversions of the Carnival; nay, he even slighted
the fair sex.
Martin said to him, "Upon my word, I think you are very simple to
imagine that a rascally valet, with five or six millions in his pocket, would
go in search of your mistress to the further of the world, and bring her to
Venice to meet you. If he finds her he will take her for himself; if he does
not, he will take another. Let me advise you to forget your valet Cacambo,
and your mistress Cunegund."
Martin's speech was not the most consolatory to the dejected Candide. His
melancholy increased, and Martin never ceased trying to prove to him that there
is very little virtue or happiness in this world; except, perhaps, in El
Dorado, where hardly anybody can gain admittance.
While they were disputing on this important subject, and still expecting Miss
Cunegund, Candide perceived a young Theatin friar
in the Piazza San Marco, with a girl under his arm. The Theatin
looked fresh-colored, plump, and vigorous; his eyes sparkled; his air and
gait were bold and lofty. The girl was pretty, and was singing a song; and
every now and then gave her Theatin an amorous ogle
and wantonly pinched his ruddy cheeks.
"You will at least allow," said Candide to Martin, "that these
two are happy. Hitherto I have met with none but unfortunate people in the
whole habitable globe, except in El Dorado; but as to this couple, I would
venture to lay a wager they are happy."
"Done!" said Martin, "they are not what you imagine."
"Well, we have only to ask them to dine with us," said Candide,
"and you will see whether I am mistaken or not."
Thereupon he accosted them, and with great politeness invited them to his inn
to eat some macaroni, with Lombard partridges and caviar, and to drink a
bottle of Montepulciano, Lacryma
Christi, Cyprus, and Samos wine. The girl blushed; the Theatin
accepted the invitation and she followed him, eyeing Candide every now and
then with a mixture of surprise and confusion, while the tears stole down her
cheeks. No sooner did she enter his apartment than she cried out, "How,
Monsieur Candide, have you quite forgot your Pacquette?
do you not know her again?"
Candide had not regarded her with any degree of attention before, being
wholly occupied with the thoughts of his dear Cunegund.
"Ah! is it you, child? was
it you that reduced Dr. Pangloss to that fine condition I saw him in?"
"Alas! sir," answered Pacquette,
"it was I, indeed. I find you are acquainted with everything; and I have
been informed of all the misfortunes that happened to the whole family of My
Lady Baroness and the fair Cunegund. But I can safely swear to you that my
lot was no less deplorable; I was innocence itself when you saw me last. A
Franciscan, who was my confessor, easily seduced me; the consequences proved
terrible. I was obliged to leave the castle some time after the Baron kicked
you out by the backside from there; and if a famous surgeon had not taken
compassion on me, I had been a dead woman. Gratitude obliged me to live with
him some time as his mistress; his wife, who was a very devil for jealousy,
beat me unmercifully every day. Oh! she was a
perfect fury. The doctor himself was the most ugly of all mortals, and I the
most wretched creature existing, to be continually beaten for a man whom I
did not love. You are sensible, sir, how dangerous it was for an ill-natured
woman to be married to a physician. Incensed at the behavior of his wife, he
one day gave her so affectionate a remedy for a slight cold she had caught
that she died in less than two hours in most dreadful convulsions. Her
relations prosecuted the husband, who was obliged to fly, and I was sent to
prison. My innocence would not have saved me, if I had not been tolerably
handsome. The judge gave me my liberty on condition he should succeed the
doctor. However, I was soon supplanted by a rival, turned off without a
farthing, and obliged to continue the abominable trade which you men think so
pleasing, but which to us unhappy creatures is the most dreadful of all
sufferings. At length I came to follow the business at Venice. Ah! sir, did
you but know what it is to be obliged to receive every visitor; old
tradesmen, counselors, monks, watermen, and abbes; to be exposed to all their
insolence and abuse; to be often necessitated to borrow a petticoat, only
that it may be taken up by some disagreeable wretch; to be robbed by one
gallant of what we get from another; to be subject to the extortions of civil
magistrates; and to have forever before one's eyes the prospect of old age, a
hospital, or a dunghill, you would conclude that I am one of the most unhappy
wretches breathing."
Thus did Pacquette unbosom
herself to honest Candide in his closet, in the presence of Martin, who took
occasion to say to him, "You see I have half won the wager already."
Friar Giroflee was all this time in the parlor
refreshing himself with a glass or two of wine till
dinner was ready.
"But," said Candide to Pacquette,
"you looked so gay and contented, when I met you, you sang and caressed
the Theatin with so much fondness, that I
absolutely thought you as happy as you say you are now miserable."
"Ah! dear sir," said Pacquette,
"this is one of the miseries of the trade; yesterday I was stripped and
beaten by an officer; yet today I must appear good humored and gay to please
a friar."
Candide was convinced and acknowledged that Martin was in the right. They sat
down to table with Pacquette and the Theatin; the entertainment was agreeable, and towards the
end they began to converse together with some freedom.
"Father," said Candide to the friar, "you seem to me to enjoy
a state of happiness that even kings might envy; joy and health are painted
in your countenance. You have a pretty wench to divert you; and you seem to
be perfectly well contented with your condition as a Theatin."
"Faith, sir," said Friar Giroflee,
"I wish with all my soul the Theatins were
every one of them at the bottom of the sea. I have been tempted a thousand
times to set fire to the monastery and go and turn Turk. My parents obliged
me, at the age of fifteen, to put on this detestable habit only to increase
the fortune of an elder brother of mine, whom God confound! jealousy, discord, and fury, reside in our monastery. It
is true I have preached often paltry sermons, by which I have got a little
money, part of which the prior robs me of, and the remainder helps to pay my
girls; but, not withstanding, at night, when I go hence to my monastery, I am
ready to dash my brains against the walls of the dormitory; and this is the
case with all the rest of our fraternity."
Martin, turning towards Candide, with his usual indifference, said,
"Well, what think you now? have I won the wager
entirely?"
Candide gave two thousand piastres to Pacquette, and a thousand to Friar Giroflee,
saying, "I will answer that this will make them happy."
"I am not of your opinion," said Martin, "perhaps this money
will only make them wretched."
"Be that as it may," said Candide, "one thing comforts me; I
see that one often meets with those whom one never expected to see again; so
that, perhaps, as I have found my red sheep and Pacquette,
I may be lucky enough to find Miss Cunegund also."
"I wish," said Martin, "she one day may make you happy; but I
doubt it much."
"You lack faith," said Candide.
"It is because," said Martin, "I have seen the world."
"Observe those gondoliers," said Candide, "are they not
perpetually singing?"
"You do not see them," answered Martin, "at home with their
wives and brats. The doge has his chagrin, gondoliers theirs. Nevertheless,
in the main, I look upon the gondolier's life as preferable to that of the
doge; but the difference is so trifling that it is not worth the trouble of
examining into."
"I have heard great talk," said Candide, "of the Senator Pococurante,
who lives in that fine house at the Brenta, where,
they say, he entertains foreigners in the most polite manner."
"They pretend this man is a perfect stranger to uneasiness. I should be
glad to see so extraordinary a being," said Martin. Candide thereupon sent a messenger to Seignor Pococurante, desiring permission to wait on him the next day. Chapter XXV: to Seignor Pococurante, a Noble Venetian
Candide and his friend Martin went in a gondola on the Brenta, and arrived at the palace of the noble Pococurante. The gardens were laid out in elegant taste, and adorned with fine marble statues; his palace was built after the most approved rules of architecture. The master of the house, who was a man of affairs, and very rich, received our two travelers with great politeness, but without much ceremony, which somewhat disconcerted Candide, but was not at all displeasing to Martin.
As soon as they were seated, two very pretty girls, neatly dressed, brought
in chocolate, which was extremely well prepared. Candide could not help
praising their beauty and graceful carriage.
"The creatures are all right," said the senator; "I amuse
myself with them sometimes, for I am heartily tired of the women of the town,
their coquetry, their jealousy, their quarrels, their humors, their meannesses, their pride, and their folly; I am weary of
making sonnets, or of paying for sonnets to be made on them; but after all,
these two girls begin to grow very indifferent to me."
After having refreshed himself, Candide walked into a large gallery, where he
was struck with the sight of a fine collection of paintings.
"Pray," said Candide, "by what master are the two first of
these?"
"They are by Raphael," answered the senator. "I gave a great
deal of money for them seven years ago, purely out of curiosity, as they were
said to be the finest pieces in Italy; but I cannot say they please me: the
coloring is dark and heavy; the figures do not swell nor come out enough; and
the drapery is bad. In short, notwithstanding the encomiums lavished upon
them, they are not, in my opinion, a true representation of nature. I approve
of no paintings save those wherein I think I behold nature itself; and there
are few, if any, of that kind to be met with. I have what is called a fine
collection, but I take no manner of delight in it."
While dinner was being prepared Pococurante ordered a concert. Candide praised
the music to the skies.
"This noise," said the noble Venetian, "may amuse one for a
little time, but if it were to last above half an hour, it would grow
tiresome to everybody, though perhaps no one would care to own it. Music has
become the art of executing what is difficult; now, whatever is difficult
cannot be long pleasing.
"I believe I might take more pleasure in an opera, if they had not made
such a monster of that species of dramatic entertainment as perfectly shocks
me; and I am amazed how people can bear to see wretched tragedies set to
music; where the scenes are contrived for no other purpose than to lug in, as
it were by the ears, three or four ridiculous songs, to give a favorite
actress an opportunity of exhibiting her pipe. Let who will die away in
raptures at the trills of a eunuch quavering the majestic part of Caesar or
Cato, and strutting in a foolish manner upon the stage, but for my part I
have long ago renounced these paltry entertainments, which constitute the glory
of modern Italy, and are so dearly purchased by crowned heads."
Candide opposed these sentiments; but he did it in a discreet manner; as for
Martin, he was entirely of the old senator's opinion.
Dinner being served they sat down to table, and, after a hearty repast,
returned to the library. Candide, observing Homer richly bound, commended the
noble Venetian's taste.
"This," said he, "is a book that was
once the delight of the great Pangloss, the best philosopher in
Germany."
"Homer is no favorite of mine," answered Pococurante, coolly,
"I was made to believe once that I took a pleasure in reading him; but
his continual repetitions of battles have all such a resemblance with each
other; his gods that are forever in haste and bustle, without ever doing
anything; his Helen, who is the cause of the war, and yet hardly acts in the
whole performance; his Troy, that holds out so long, without being taken: in
short, all these things together make the poem very insipid to me. I have asked
some learned men, whether they are not in reality as much tired as myself
with reading this poet: those who spoke ingenuously, assured me that he had
made them fall asleep, and yet that they could not well avoid giving him a
place in their libraries; but that it was merely as they would do an antique,
or those rusty medals which are kept only for curiosity, and are of no manner
of use in commerce."
"But your excellency does not surely form the
same opinion of Virgil?" said Candide.
"Why, I grant," replied Pococurante, "that the second, third,
fourth, and sixth books of his Aeneid, are
excellent; but as for his pious Aeneas, his strong Cloanthus,
his friendly Achates, his boy Ascanius,
his silly king Latinus, his ill-bred Amata, his insipid Lavinia, and
some other characters much in the same strain, I think there cannot in nature
be anything more flat and disagreeable. I must confess I prefer Tasso far
beyond him; nay, even that sleepy taleteller Ariosto."
"May I take the liberty to ask if you do not experience great pleasure
from reading Horace?" said Candide.
"There are maxims in this writer," replied Pococurante,
"whence a man of the world may reap some benefit; and the short measure
of the verse makes them more easily to be retained in the memory. But I see
nothing extraordinary in his journey to Brundusium,
and his account of his had dinner; nor in his dirty, low quarrel between one Rupillius, whose words, as he expresses it, were full of
poisonous filth; and another, whose language was dipped in vinegar. His
indelicate verses against old women and witches have frequently given me
great offense: nor can I discover the great merit of his telling his friend
Maecenas, that if he will but rank him in the class of lyric poets, his lofty
head shall touch the stars. Ignorant readers are apt to judge a writer by his
reputation. For my part, I read only to please myself. I like nothing but
what makes for my purpose."
Candide, who had been brought up with a notion of never making use of his own
judgment, was astonished at what he heard; but Martin found there was a good
deal of reason in the senator's remarks.
"Oh! here is a Tully," said Candide;
"this great man I fancy you are never tired of reading?"
"Indeed I never read him at all," replied Pococurante. "What
is it to me whether he pleads for Rabirius or Cluentius? I try causes enough myself. I had once some
liking for his philosophical works; but when I found he doubted everything, I
thought I knew as much as himself, and had no need of a guide to learn
ignorance."
"Ha!" cried Martin, "here are fourscore volumes of the memoirs
of the Academy of Sciences; perhaps there may be something curious and
valuable in this collection."
"Yes," answered Pococurante, "so there might if any one of
these compilers of this rubbish had only invented the art of pin-making; but
all these volumes are filled with mere chimerical systems, without one single
article conductive to real utility."
"I see a prodigious number of plays," said Candide, "in
Italian, Spanish, and French."
"Yes," replied the Venetian, "there are I think three thousand, and not three dozen of them good for anything.
As to those huge volumes of divinity, and those enormous collections of
sermons, they are not all together worth one single page in Seneca; and I
fancy you will readily believe that neither myself, nor anyone else, ever
looks into them."
Martin, perceiving some shelves filled with English books, said to the senator,
"I fancy that a republican must be highly delighted with those books,
which are most of them written with a noble spirit of freedom."
"It is noble to write as we think," said Pococurante; "it is
the privilege of humanity. Throughout Italy we write only what we do not
think; and the present inhabitants of the country of the Caesars and Antonines dare not acquire a single idea without the
permission of a Dominican father. I should be enamored of the spirit of the
English nation, did it not utterly frustrate the good effects it would
produce by passion and the spirit of party."
Candide, seeing a Milton, asked the senator if he did not think that author a
great man.
"Who?" said Pococurante sharply; "that barbarian who writes a
tedious commentary in ten books of rumbling verse, on the first chapter of
Genesis? that slovenly imitator of the Greeks, who disfigures the creation,
by making the Messiah take a pair of compasses from Heaven's armory to plan
the world; whereas Moses represented the Deity as producing the whole
universe by his fiat? Can I think you have any esteem for a writer who has
spoiled Tasso's Hell and the Devil; who transforms Lucifer sometimes into a
toad, and at others into a pygmy; who makes him say the same thing over again
a hundred times; who metamorphoses him into a school-divine; and who, by an
absurdly serious imitation of Ariosto's comic invention of firearms,
represents the devils and angels cannonading each other in Heaven? Neither I
nor any other Italian can possibly take pleasure in such melancholy reveries;
but the marriage of Sin and Death, and snakes issuing from the womb of the
former, are enough to make any person sick that is not lost to all sense of
delicacy. This obscene, whimsical, and disagreeable poem met with the neglect
it deserved at its first publication; and I only treat the author now as he
was treated in his own country by his contemporaries."
Candide was sensibly grieved at this speech, as he had a great respect for
Homer, and was fond of Milton.
"Alas!" said he softly to Martin, "I am afraid this man holds
our German poets in great contempt."
"There would be no such great harm in that," said Martin.
"O what a surprising man!" said Candide, still to himself; "what
a prodigious genius is this Pococurante! nothing can
please him."
After finishing their survey of the library, they went down into the garden,
when Candide commended the several beauties that offered themselves to his
view.
"I know nothing upon earth laid out in such had
taste," said Pococurante; "everything about it is childish and
trifling; but I shall have another laid out tomorrow upon a nobler
plan."
As soon as our two travelers had taken leave of His Excellency, Candide said
to Martin, "Well, I hope you will own that this man is the happiest of
all mortals, for he is above everything he possesses."
"But do not you see," answered Martin, "that he likewise
dislikes everything he possesses? It was an observation of Plato,
long since, that those are not the best stomachs that reject, without
distinction, all sorts of aliments."
"True," said Candide, "but still there must certainly be a
pleasure in criticising everything, and in
perceiving faults where others think they see beauties."
"That is," replied Martin, "there is a pleasure in having no
pleasure."
"Well, well," said Candide, "I find that I shall be the only
happy man at last, when I am blessed with the sight of my dear
Cunegund."
"It is good to hope," said Martin.
In the meanwhile, days and weeks passed away, and no news of Cacambo. Candide
was so overwhelmed with grief, that he did not reflect on the behavior of Pacquette and Friar Giroflee,
who never stayed to return him thanks for the presents he had so generously
made them. Candide
and Martin Sup with Six Sharpers- Who They Were One evening as Candide, with his attendant Martin, was going to sit down to supper with some foreigners who lodged in the same inn where they had taken up their quarters, a man with a face the color of soot came behind him, and taking him by the arm, said, "Hold yourself in readiness to go along with us; be sure you do not fail."
Upon this, turning about to see from whom these words came, he beheld
Cacambo. Nothing but the sight of Miss Cunegund could have given him greater
joy and surprise. He was almost beside himself, and embraced this dear
friend.
"Cunegund!" said he, "Cunegund is come with you doubtless!
Where, where is she? Carry me to her this instant, that I may die with joy in
her presence."
"Cunegund is not here," answered Cacambo; "she is in
Constantinople."
"Good heavens! in Constantinople! but no matter if she were in China, I would fly thither.
Quick, quick, dear Cacambo, let us be gone."
"Soft and fair," said Cacambo, "stay till you have supped. I
cannot at present stay to say anything more to you; I am a slave, and my
master waits for me; I must go and attend him at table: but mum! say not a word, only get your supper, and hold yourself in
readiness."
Candide, divided between joy and grief, charmed to have thus met with his
faithful agent again, and surprised to hear he was a slave, his heart
palpitating, his senses confused, but full of the hopes of recovering his
dear Cunegund, sat down to table with Martin, who beheld all these scenes
with great unconcern, and with six strangers, who had come to spend the
Carnival at Venice.
Cacambo waited at table upon one of those strangers. When supper was nearly
over, he drew near to his master, and whispered in his ear:
"Sire, Your Majesty may go when you please; the ship is ready"; and
so saying he left the room.
The guests, surprised at what they had heard, looked at each other without
speaking a word; when another servant drawing near to his master, in like
manner said, "Sire, Your Majesty's post-chaise is at Padua, and the bark
is ready." The master made him a sign, and he instantly withdrew.
The company all stared at each other again, and the general astonishment was
increased. A third servant then approached another of the strangers, and
said, "Sire, if Your Majesty will be advised by me, you will not make
any longer stay in this place; I will go and get everything ready"; and
instantly disappeared.
Candide and Martin then took it for granted that this was some of the
diversions of the Carnival, and that these were characters in masquerade.
Then a fourth domestic said to the fourth stranger, "Your Majesty may
set off when you please"; saying which, he went away like the rest. A
fifth valet said the same to a fifth master. But the sixth domestic spoke in
a different style to the person on whom he waited, and who sat near to Candide.
"Troth, sir," said he, "they will trust Your Majesty no
longer, nor myself neither; and we may both of us
chance to be sent to jail this very night; and therefore I shall take care of
myself, and so adieu."
The servants being all gone, the six strangers, with Candide and Martin,
remained in a profound silence. At length Candide broke it by saying:
"Gentlemen, this is a very singular joke upon my word; how came you all
to be kings? For my part I own frankly, that neither my friend Martin here, nor
myself, have any claim to royalty." Cacambo's master then began, with great gravity, to
deliver himself thus in Italian:
"I am not joking in the least, my name is Achmet
III. I was Grand Sultan for many years; I dethroned my brother, my nephew
dethroned me, my viziers lost their heads, and I am condemned to end my days
in the old seraglio. My nephew, the Grand Sultan Mahomet, gives me permission
to travel sometimes for my health, and I am come to spend the Carnival at
Venice."
A young man who sat by Achmet, spoke next, and
said:
"My name is Ivan. I was once Emperor of all the Russians, but was
dethroned in my cradle. My parents were confined, and I was brought up in a prison,
yet I am sometimes allowed to travel, though always with persons to keep a
guard over me, and I come to spend the Carnival at Venice."
The third said:
"I am Charles Edward, King of England; my father has renounced his right
to the throne in my favor. I have fought in defense of my rights, and near a
thousand of my friends have had their hearts taken out of their bodies alive
and thrown in their faces. I have myself been confined in a prison. I am
going to Rome to visit the King, my father, who was dethroned as well as myself; and my grandfather and I have come to spend the
Carnival at Venice."
The fourth spoke thus:
"I am the King of Poland; the fortune of war has stripped me of my
hereditary dominions. My father experienced the same vicissitudes of fate. I
resign myself to the will of Providence, in the same manner as Sultan Achmet, the Emperor Ivan, and King Charles Edward, whom
God long preserve; and I have come to spend the Carnival at Venice."
The fifth said:
"I am King of Poland also. I have twice lost my kingdom; but Providence
has given me other dominions, where I have done more good than all the Sarmatian kings put together were ever able to do on the
banks of the Vistula; I resign myself likewise to Providence; and have come
to spend the Carnival at Venice."
It now came to the sixth monarch's turn to speak. "Gentlemen," said
he, "I am not so great a prince as the rest of you, it is true, but I
am, however, a crowned head. I am Theodore, elected King of Corsica. I have
had the title of Majesty, and am now hardly treated with common civility. I
have coined money, and am not now worth a single ducat. I have had two
secretaries, and am now without a valet. I was once seated on a throne, and
since that have lain upon a truss of straw, in a common jail in London, and I
very much fear I shall meet with the same fate here in Venice, where I came,
like Your Majesties, to divert myself at the Carnival."
The other five Kings listened to this speech with great attention; it excited
their compassion; each of them made the unhappy Theodore a present of twenty
sequins, and Candide gave him a diamond, worth just a hundred times that sum.
"Who can this private person be," said the five Kings to one another,
"who is able to give, and has actually given, a hundred times as much as
any of us?"
Just as they rose from table, in came four Serene Highnesses, who had also
been stripped of their territories by the fortune of war, and had come to
spend the remainder of the Carnival at Venice. Candide took no manner of
notice of them; for his thoughts were wholly employed on his voyage to
Constantinople, where he intended to go in search of his lovely Miss
Cunegund. Chapter XXVII:
The trusty Cacambo had already engaged the captain of the Turkish ship that was to carry Sultan Achmet back to Constantinople to take Candide and Martin on board. Accordingly they both embarked, after paying their obeisance to his miserable Highness. As they were going on board, Candide said to Martin:
"You see we supped in company with six dethroned Kings, and to one of
them I gave charity. Perhaps there may be a great many other princes still
more unfortunate. For my part I have lost only a hundred sheep, and am now
going to fly to the arms of my charming Miss Cunegund. My dear Martin, I must
insist on it, that Pangloss was in the right. All is for the best."
"I wish it may be," said Martin.
"But this was an odd adventure we met with at Venice. I do not think
there ever was an instance before of six dethroned monarchs supping together
at a public inn."
"This is not more extraordinary," said Martin, "than most of
what has happened to us. It is a very common thing for kings to be dethroned;
and as for our having the honor to sup with six of them, it is a mere
accident, not deserving our attention."
As soon as Candide set his foot on board the vessel, he flew to his old
friend and valet Cacambo and, throwing his arms
about his neck, embraced him with transports of joy. "Well," said he, "what news of Miss Cunegund? Does
she still continue the paragon of beauty? Does she love me still? How does
she do? You have, doubtless, purchased a superb palace for her at
Constantinople."
"My dear master," replied Cacambo, "Miss Cunegund washes
dishes on the banks of the Propontis, in the house
of a prince who has very few to wash. She is at present a slave in the family
of an ancient sovereign named Ragotsky, whom the
Grand Turk allows three crowns a day to maintain him in his exile; but the
most melancholy circumstance of all is, that she is
turned horribly ugly."
"Ugly or handsome," said Candide, "I am a man of honor and, as
such, am obliged to love her still. But how could she possibly have been
reduced to so abject a condition, when I sent five or six millions to her by
you?"
"Lord bless me," said Cacambo, "was
not I obliged to give two millions to Seignor Don
Fernando d'Ibaraa y Figueora
y Mascarenes y Lampourdos
y Souza, the Governor of Buenos Ayres, for liberty to take Miss Cunegund away
with me? And then did not a brave fellow of a pirate gallantly strip us of
all the rest? And then did not this same pirate carry us with him to Cape Matapan, to Milo, to Nicaria,
to Samos, to Petra, to the Dardanelles, to Marmora, to Scutari? Miss Cunegund
and the old woman are now servants to the prince I have told you of; and I
myself am slave to the dethroned Sultan."
"What a chain of shocking accidents!" exclaimed Candide. "But
after all, I have still some diamonds left, with which I can easily procure
Miss Cunegund's liberty. It is a pity though she is grown so ugly."
Then turning to Martin, "What think you, friend," said he,
"whose condition is most to be pitied, the Emperor Achmet's,
the Emperor Ivan's, King Charles Edward's, or mine?"
"Faith, I cannot resolve your question," said Martin, "unless
I had been in the breasts of you all."
"Ah!" cried Candide, "was Pangloss here now, he would have
known, and satisfied me at once."
"I know not," said Martin, "in what balance your Pangloss
could have weighed the misfortunes of mankind, and have set a just estimation
on their sufferings. All that I pretend to know of the matter is that there
are millions of men on the earth, whose conditions are a hundred times more
pitiable than those of King Charles Edward, the Emperor Ivan, or Sultan Achmet."
"Why, that may be," answered Candide.
In a few days they reached the Bosphorus; and the
first thing Candide did was to pay a high ransom for Cacambo; then, without
losing time, he and his companions went on board a galley, in order to search
for his Cunegund on the banks of the Propontis,
notwithstanding she was grown so ugly.
There were two slaves among the crew of the galley, who rowed very ill, and
to whose bare backs the master of the vessel frequently applied a lash.
Candide, from natural sympathy, looked at these two slaves more attentively
than at any of the rest, and drew near them with an eye of pity. Their
features, though greatly disfigured, appeared to him to bear a strong
resemblance with those of Pangloss and the unhappy Baron Jesuit, Miss
Cunegund's brother. This idea affected him with grief and compassion: he
examined them more attentively than before.
"In troth," said he, turning to Martin,
"if I had not seen my master Pangloss fairly hanged, and had not myself
been unlucky enough to run the Baron through the body, I should absolutely
think those two rowers were the men."
No sooner had Candide uttered the names of the Baron and Pangloss, than the
two slaves gave a great cry, ceased rowing, and let fall their oars out of
their hands. The master of the vessel, seeing this, ran up to them, and
redoubled the discipline of the lash.
"Hold, hold," cried Candide, "I will give you what money you
shall ask for these two persons."
"Good heavens! it is Candide," said one of
the men.
"Candide!" cried the other.
"Do I dream," said Candide, "or am I awake? Am I actually on
board this galley? Is this My Lord the Baron, whom I killed? and that my master Pangloss, whom I saw hanged before my
face?"
"It is I! it is I!" cried they both
together.
"What! is this your great philosopher?"
said Martin.
"My dear sir," said Candide to the master of the galley, "how
much do you ask for the ransom of the Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh, who is one of the first barons of the empire,
and of Monsieur Pangloss, the most profound metaphysician in Germany?"
"Why, then, Christian cur," replied the Turkish captain,
"since these two dogs of Christian slaves are barons and metaphysicians,
who no doubt are of high rank in their own country, thou shalt
give me fifty thousand sequins."
"You shall have them, sir; carry me back as quick as thought to
Constantinople, and you shall receive the money immediately-No! carry me first to Miss Cunegund."
The captain, upon Candide's first proposal, had already
tacked about, and he made the crew ply their oars
so effectually, that the vessel flew through the water, quicker than a bird
cleaves the air.
Candide bestowed a thousand embraces on the Baron and Pangloss. "And so
then, my dear Baron, I did not kill you? and you, my
dear Pangloss, are come to life again after your hanging? But how came you
slaves on board a Turkish galley?"
"And is it true that my dear sister is in this country?" said the
Baron.
"Yes," said Cacambo.
"And do I once again behold my dear Candide?" said Pangloss.
Candide presented Martin and Cacambo to them; they embraced each other, and
all spoke together. The galley flew like lightning, and soon they were got
back to port. Candide instantly sent for a Jew, to whom he sold for fifty
thousand sequins a diamond richly worth one hundred thousand, though the
fellow swore to him all the time by Father Abraham that he gave him the most
he could possibly afford. He no sooner got the money into his hands, than he
paid it down for the ransom of the Baron and Pangloss. The latter flung
himself at the feet of his deliverer, and bathed him with his tears; the
former thanked him with a gracious nod, and promised to return him the money
the first opportunity.
"But is it possible," said he, "that my sister should be in
Turkey?"
"Nothing is more possible," answered Cacambo, "for she scours
the dishes in the house of a Transylvanian prince." Candide sent directly for two Jews,
and sold more diamonds to them; and then he set out with his companions in
another galley, to deliver Miss Cunegund from slavery. Pardon," said Candide to the Baron; "once more let me entreat your pardon, Reverend Father, for running you through the body."
"Say no more about it," replied the Baron. "I was a little too
hasty I must own; but as you seem to be desirous to know by what accident I
came to be a slave on board the galley where you saw me, I will inform you.
After I had been cured of the wound you gave me, by the College apothecary, I
was attacked and carried off by a party of Spanish troops, who clapped me in
prison in Buenos Ayres, at the very time my sister was setting out from
there. I asked leave to return to Rome, to the general of my Order, who appointed
me chaplain to the French Ambassador at Constantinople. I had not been a week
in my new office, when I happened to meet one evening a young Icoglan, extremely handsome and well-made. The weather
was very hot; the young man had an inclination to bathe. I took the
opportunity to bathe likewise. I did not know it was a crime for a Christian
to be found naked in company with a young Turk. A cadi ordered me
to receive a hundred blows on the soles of my feet, and sent me to the
galleys. I do not believe that there was ever an act of more flagrant
injustice. But I would fain know how my sister came to be a scullion to a
Transylvanian prince, who has taken refuge among the Turks?"
"But how happens it that I behold you again, my dear Pangloss?" said
Candide.
"It is true," answered Pangloss, "you saw me hanged, though I
ought properly to have been burned; but you may remember, that it rained
extremely hard when they were going to roast me. The storm was so violent
that they found it impossible to light the fire; so they hanged me because
they could do no better . A surgeon purchased my
body, carried it home, and prepared to dissect me. He began by making a
crucial incision from my navel to the clavicle. It is impossible for anyone
to have been more lamely hanged than I had been. The executioner was a
sub-deacon, and knew how to burn people very well, but as for hanging, he was
a novice at it, being quite out of practice; the cord being wet, and not
slipping properly, the noose did not join. In short, I still continued to
breathe; the crucial incision made me scream to such a degree, that my
surgeon fell flat upon his back; and imagining it was the Devil he was
dissecting, ran away, and in his fright tumbled down stairs. His wife hearing
the noise, flew from the next room, and seeing me
stretched upon the table with my crucial incision, was still more terrified
than her husband, and fell upon him. When they had a little recovered
themselves, I heard her say to her husband, 'My dear, how could you think of
dissecting a heretic? Don't you know that the Devil is always in them? I'll
run directly to a priest to come and drive the evil spirit out.' I trembled
from head to foot at hearing her talk in this manner, and exerted what little
strength I had left to cry out, 'Have mercy on me!' At length the Portuguese
barber took courage, sewed up my wound, and his wife nursed me; and I was
upon my legs in a fortnight's time. The barber got me a place to be lackey to
a Knight of Malta, who was going to Venice; but finding my master had no
money to pay me my wages, I entered into the service of a Venetian merchant
and went with him to Constantinople.
"One day I happened to enter a mosque, where I saw no one but an old man
and a very pretty young female devotee, who was telling her beads; her neck
was quite bare, and in her bosom she had a beautiful nosegay of tulips,
roses, anemones, ranunculuses, hyacinths, and auriculas; she let fall her nosegay. I ran immediately to
take it up, and presented it to her with a most respectful bow. I was so long
in delivering it that the man began to be angry; and, perceiving I was a
Christian, he cried out for help; they carried me before the cadi, who ordered me to receive one hundred bastinadoes,
and sent me to the galleys. I was chained in the very galley and to the very
same bench with the Baron. On board this galley there were four young men
belonging to Marseilles, five Neapolitan priests, and two monks of Corfu, who
told us that the like adventures happened every day. The Baron pretended that
he had been worse used than myself; and I insisted that there was far less
harm in taking up a nosegay, and putting it into a woman's bosom, than to be
found stark naked with a young Icoglan. We were
continually whipped, and received twenty lashes a day with a heavy thong,
when the concatenation of sublunary events brought you on board our galley to
ransom us from slavery." "Well, my dear Pangloss," said Candide to him,
"when you were hanged, dissected, whipped, and tugging at the oar, did
you continue to think that everything in this world happens for the
best?" "I have always abided by my first opinion," answered Pangloss; "for, after all, I am a philosopher, and it would not become me to retract my sentiments; especially as Leibnitz could not be in the wrong: and that pre-established harmony is the finest thing in the world, as well as a plenum and the materia subtilis." Chapter XXIX: and the Old Woman Again While Candide, the Baron, Pangloss, Martin, and Cacambo, were relating their several adventures, and reasoning on the contingent or non-contingent events of this world; on causes and effects; on moral and physical evil; on free will and necessity; and on the consolation that may be felt by a person when a slave and chained to an oar in a Turkish galley, they arrived at the house of the Transylvanian prince on the shores of the Propontis. The first objects they beheld there, were Miss Cunegund and the old woman, who were hanging some tablecloths on a line to dry.
The Baron turned pale at the sight. Even the tender Candide, that
affectionate lover, upon seeing his fair Cunegund all sunburned, with bleary
eyes, a withered neck, wrinkled face and arms, all covered with a red scurf,
started back with horror; but, not withstanding, recovering himself, he
advanced towards her out of good manners. She embraced Candide and her
brother; they embraced the old woman, and Candide ransomed them both.
There was a small farm in the neighborhood which the old woman proposed to
Candide to make shift with till the company should meet with a more favorable
destiny. Cunegund, not knowing that she was grown ugly, as no one had
informed her of it, reminded Candide of his promise in so peremptory a
manner, that the simple lad did not dare to refuse her; he then acquainted
the Baron that he was going to marry his sister.
"I will never suffer," said the Baron,
"my sister to be guilty of an action so derogatory to her birth and
family; nor will I bear this insolence on your part. No, I never will be
reproached that my nephews are not qualified for the first ecclesiastical
dignities in Germany; nor shall a sister of mine ever be the wife of any
person below the rank of Baron of the Empire."
Cunegund flung herself at her brother's feet, and bedewed them with her
tears; but he still continued inflexible.
"Thou foolish fellow, said Candide, "have I not delivered thee from
the galleys, paid thy ransom, and thy sister's, too, who was a scullion, and
is very ugly, and yet condescend to marry her? and shalt thou pretend to oppose the match! If I were to
listen only to the dictates of my anger, I should kill thee again."
"Thou mayest kill me again," said the
Baron; "but thou shalt not marry my sister
while I am living." Candide had, in truth, no great inclination to marry Miss Cunegund; but the extreme impertinence of the Baron determined him to conclude the match; and Cunegund pressed him so warmly, that he could not recant. He consulted Pangloss, Martin, and the faithful Cacambo. Pangloss composed a fine memorial, by which he proved that the Baron had no right over his sister; and that she might, according to all the laws of the Empire, marry Candide with the left hand. Martin concluded to throw the Baron into the sea; Cacambo decided that he must be delivered to the Turkish captain and sent to the galleys; after which he should be conveyed by the first ship to the Father General at Rome. This advice was found to be good; the old woman approved of it, and not a syllable was said to his sister; the business was executed for a little money; and they had the pleasure of tricking a Jesuit, and punishing the pride of a German baron. It was altogether natural to imagine, that after undergoing so
many disasters, Candide, married to his mistress and living with the
philosopher Pangloss, the philosopher Martin, the prudent Cacambo, and the
old woman, having besides brought home so many diamonds from the country of
the ancient Incas, would lead the most agreeable life in the world. But he
had been so robbed by the Jews, that he had nothing left but his little farm;
his wife, every day growing more and more ugly, became headstrong and
insupportable; the old woman was infirm, and more
ill-natured yet than Cunegund. Cacambo, who worked in the garden, and carried
the produce of it to sell in Constantinople, was above his labor, and cursed
his fate. Pangloss despaired of making a figure in any of the German
universities. And as to Martin, he was firmly persuaded that a person is
equally ill-situated everywhere. He took things with patience.
Candide, Martin, and Pangloss disputed sometimes about metaphysics and
morality. Boats were often seen passing under the windows of the farm laden
with effendis, bashaws, and cadis,
that were going into banishment to Lemnos, Mytilene and Erzerum. And other
cadis, bashaws, and effendis were seen coming back
to succeed the place of the exiles, and were driven out in their turns. They
saw several heads curiously stuck upon poles, and carried as presents to the
Sublime Porte. Such sights gave occasion to frequent dissertations; and when
no disputes were in progress, the irksomeness was so excessive that the old
woman ventured one day to tell them:
"I would be glad to know which is worst, to be ravished a hundred times
by Negro pirates, to have one buttock cut off, to run the gauntlet among the
Bulgarians, to be whipped and hanged at an auto-da-fe, to be
dissected, to be chained to an oar in a galley; and, in short, to experience
all the miseries through which every one of us hath passed, or to remain here
doing nothing?"
"This," said Candide, "is a grand
question."
This discourse gave birth to new reflections, and Martin especially concluded
that man was born to live in the convulsions of disquiet, or in the lethargy
of idleness. Though Candide did not absolutely agree to this, yet he did not
determine anything on that head. Pangloss avowed that he had undergone
dreadful sufferings; but having once maintained that everything went on as
well as possible, he still maintained it, and at the same time believed
nothing of it.
There was one thing which more than ever confirmed Martin in his detestable
principles, made Candide hesitate, and embarrassed Pangloss, which was the
arrival of Pacquette and Brother Giroflee one day at their farm. This couple had been in
the utmost distress; they had very speedily made away with their three
thousand piastres; they had parted, been
reconciled; quarreled again, been thrown into prison; had made their escape,
and at last Brother Giroflee had turned Turk. Pacquette still continued to follow her trade; but she
got little or nothing by it.
"I foresaw very well," said Martin to Candide "that your
presents would soon be squandered, and only make them more miserable. You and
Cacambo have spent millions of piastres, and yet
you are not more happy than Brother Giroflee and Pacquette."
"Ah!" said Pangloss to Pacquette,
"it is Heaven that has brought you here among us, my poor child! Do you
know that you have cost me the tip of my nose, one eye, and one ear? What a
handsome shape is here! and what is this
world!"
This new adventure engaged them more deeply than ever in philosophical
disputations. In the neighborhood lived a famous dervish who passed for
the best philosopher in Turkey; they went to consult him: Pangloss, who was
their spokesman, addressed him thus:
"Master, we come to entreat you to tell us why so strange an animal as
man has been formed?"
"Why do you trouble your head about it?" said the dervish; "is it any business of
yours?"
"But, Reverend Father," said Candide, "there is a horrible
deal of evil on the earth."
"What signifies it," said the dervish, "whether there is evil
or good? When His Highness sends a ship to Egypt does he trouble his head
whether the rats in the vessel are at their ease or not?"
"What must then be done?" said Pangloss.
"Be silent," answered the dervish.
"I flattered myself," replied Pangloss, "to have reasoned a
little with you on the causes and effects, on the best of possible worlds,
the origin of evil, the nature of the soul, and a pre-established
harmony."
At these words the dervish shut the door in their faces.
During this conversation, news was spread abroad that two viziers of the
bench and the mufti had just been strangled at Constantinople, and several of
their friends impaled. This catastrophe made a great noise for some hours.
Pangloss, Candide, and Martin, as they were returning to the little farm, met
with a good-looking old man, who was taking the air at his door, under an
alcove formed of the boughs of orange trees. Pangloss, who was as inquisitive
as he was disputative, asked him what was the name of the
mufti who was lately strangled. "I cannot tell," answered the good old man;
"I never knew the name of any mufti, or vizier breathing. I am entirely
ignorant of the event you speak of; I presume that in general such as are
concerned in public affairs sometimes come to a miserable end; and that they
deserve it: but I never inquire what is doing at Constantinople; I am
contented with sending thither the produce of my garden, which I cultivate
with my own hands."
After saying these words, he invited the strangers to come into his house.
His two daughters and two sons presented them with divers sorts of sherbert of their own
making; besides caymac, heightened with the
peels of candied citrons, oranges, lemons, pineapples, pistachio nuts, and
Mocha coffee unadulterated with the bad coffee of Batavia or the American
islands. After which the two daughters of this good Mussulman
perfumed the beards of Candide, Pangloss, and Martin.
"You must certainly have a vast estate," said Candide to the Turk.
"I have no more than twenty acres of ground," he replied, "the
whole of which I cultivate myself with the help of my children; and our labor
keeps off from us three great evils: idleness, vice,
and want."
Candide, as he was returning home, made profound reflections on the Turk's
discourse.
"This good old man," said he to Pangloss and Martin,
"appears to me to have chosen for himself a lot much preferable to that
of the six Kings with whom we had the honor to sup."
"Human grandeur," said Pangloss, "is very dangerous, if we
believe the testimonies of almost all philosophers; for we find Eglon, King of Moab, was assassinated by Aod; Absalom was hanged by the hair of his head, and run
through with three darts; King Nadab, son of
Jeroboam, was slain by Baaza; King Ela by Zimri; Okosias by Jehu; Athaliah by Jehoiada; the Kings Jehooiakim,
Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, were led into captivity: I
need not tell you what was the fate of Croesus, Astyages,
Darius, Dionysius of Syracuse, Pyrrhus, Perseus,
Hannibal, Jugurtha, Ariovistus,
Caesar, Pompey, Nero, Otho, Vitellius,
Domitian, Richard II of England, Edward II, Henry VI, Richard Ill, Mary
Stuart, Charles I, the three Henrys of France, and the Emperor Henry
IV."
"Neither need you tell me," said Candide, "that we must take care of our garden."
"You are in the right," said Pangloss; "for when man was put
into the garden of Eden, it was with an intent to
dress it; and this proves that man was not born to be idle."
"Work then without disputing," said Martin; "it is the only way
to render life supportable."
The little society, one and all, entered into this laudable design and set themselves to exert their different talents. The little
piece of ground yielded them a plentiful crop. Cunegund indeed was very ugly,
but she became an excellent hand at pastry work: Pacquette embroidered; the
old woman had the care of the linen. There was none, down to Brother
Giroflee, but did some service; he was a very good carpenter, and became an
honest man. Pangloss used now and then to say to Candide: "There is a concatenation of all events in the best of possible worlds; for, in short, had you not been kicked out of a fine castle for the love of Miss Cunegund; had you not been put into the Inquisition; had you not traveled over America on foot; had you not run the Baron through the body; and had you not lost all your sheep, which you brought from the good country of El Dorado, you would not have been here to eat preserved citrons and pistachio nuts." "Excellently observed," answered Candide;
"but let us cultivate our garden."
(The ‘materia subtilis’ to which Pangloss refers was a DISCREDITED belief that there was a “subtle material” out of which all biological matter was composed. By Voltiare’s time, different cell types had been established.) |