2 ON THE METHOD OF ZADIG I 



brought to light by the patience and the industry 

 of the decipherers of cuneiform inscriptions in 

 these later years ; nor indeed am I aware that 

 there is any other authority for his existence than 

 that of the biographer of Zadig, one Arouet de 

 Voltaire, among whose more conspicuous merits 

 strict historical accuracy is perhaps hardly to be 

 reckoned. 



Happily Zadig is in the position of a great many 

 other philosophers. What he was like when he 

 was in the flesh, indeed whether he existed at all, 

 are matters of no great consequence. What we 

 care about in a light is that it shows the way, not 

 whether it is lamp or candle, tallow or wax. Our 

 only real interest in Zadig lies in the conceptions 

 of which he is the putative father; and his 

 biographer has stated these with so much clearness 

 and vivacious illustration, that we need hardly feel 

 a pang, even if critical research should prove King 

 Moabdar and all the rest of the story to be 

 unhistorical, and reduce Zadig himself to the 

 shadowy condition of a solar myth. 



Voltaire tells us that, disenchanted with life by 

 sundry domestic misadventures, Zadig withdrew 

 from the turmoil of Babylon to a secluded retreat 

 on the banks of the Euphrates, where he beguiled 

 his solitude by the study of nature. The manifold 

 wonders of the world of life had a particular at- 

 traction for the lonely student; incessant and 

 patient observation of the plants and animals 



