"They are in the winds," replied the hermit, "that swell the sails of the
ship; it is true, they sometimes sink her, but without them she could not
sail at all. The bile makes us sick and choleric; but without bile we
could not live. Everything in this world is dangerous, and yet everything
is necessary."
The conversation turned on pleasure; and the hermit proved that it was a
present bestowed by the Deity. "For," said he, "man cannot give himself
either sensations or ideas; he receives all; and pain and pleasure proceed
from a foreign cause as well as his being."
Zadig was surprised to see a man, who had been guilty of such extravagant
actions, capable of reasoning with so much judgment and propriety. At
last, after a conversation equally entertaining and instructive, the host
led back his two guests to their apartment, blessing Heaven for having
sent him two men possessed of so much wisdom and virtue. He offered them
money with such an easy and noble air as could not possibly give any
offense. The hermit refused it, and said that he must now take his leave
of him, as he set out for Babylon before it was light. Their parting Was
tender; Zadig especially felt himself filled with esteem and affection for
a man of such an amiable character.
When he and the hermit were alone in their apartment, they spent a long
time praising their host. At break of day the old man awakened his
companion. "We must now depart," said he, "but while all the family are
still asleep, I will leave this man a mark of my esteem and affection." So
saying, he took a candle and set fire to the house.
Zadig, struck with horror, cried aloud, and endeavored to hinder him from
committing such a barbarous action; but the hermit drew him away by a
superior force, and the house was soon in flames. The hermit, who, with
his companion, was already at a considerable distance, looked back to the
conflagration with great tranquillity.
"Thanks be to God," said he, "the house of my dear host is entirely
destroyed! Happy man!"
At these words Zadig was at once tempted to burst out a-laughing, to
reproach the reverend father, to beat him, and to run away. But he did
none of all of these, for still subdued by the powerful ascendancy of the
hermit, he followed him, in spite of himself, to the next stage.
This was at the house of a charitable and virtuous widow, who had a nephew
fourteen years of age, a handsome and promising youth, and her only hope.
She performed the honors of her house as well as she could. Next day, she
ordered her nephew to accompany the strangers to a bridge, which being
lately broken down, was become extremely dangerous in passing. The young
man walked before them with great alacrity. As they were crossing the
bridge, "Come" said the hermit to the youth, "I must show my gratitude to
thy aunt." He then took him by the hair and plunged him into the river.
The boy sunk, appeared again on the surface of the water, and was
swallowed up by the current.
"O monster! O thou most wicked of mankind!" cried Zadig.
"Thou promisedst to behave with greater patience," said the hermit,
interrupting him. "Know that under the ruins of that house which
Providence hath set on fire the master hath found an immense treasure.
Know that this young, man, whose life Providence hath shortened, would
have assassinated his aunt in the space of a year, and thee in that of
two."
"Who told thee so, barbarian?" cried Zadig; "and though thou hadst read
this event in thy Book of Destinies, art thou permitted to drown a youth
who never did thee any harm?"
While the Babylonian was thus exclaiming, he observed that the old man had
no longer a beard, and that his countenance assumed the features and
complexion of youth. The hermit's habit disappeared, and four beautiful
wings covered a majestic body resplendent with light.
"O sent of heaven! O divine angel!" cried Zadig, humbly prostrating
himself on the ground, "hast thou then descended from the Empyrean to
teach a weak mortal to submit to the eternal decrees of Providence?"
"Men," said the angel Jesrad, "judge of all without knowing anything; and,
of all men, thou best deservest to be enlightened."
Zadig begged to be permitted to speak. "I distrust myself," said he, "but
may I presume to ask the favor of thee to clear up one doubt that still
remains in my mind? Would it not have been better to have corrected this
youth, and made him virtuous, than to have drowned him?"
"Had he been virtuous," replied Jesrad, "and enjoyed a longer life, it
would have been his fate to be assassinated himself, together with the
wife he would have married, and the child he would have had by her."
"But why," said Zadig, "is it necessary that there should be crimes and
misfortunes, and that these misfortunes should fall on the good?"
"The wicked," replied Jesrad, "are always unhappy; they serve to prove and
try the small number of the just that are scattered through the earth; and
there is no evil that is not productive of some good."
"But," said Zadig, "suppose there were nothing but good and no evil at
all."
"Then," replied Jesrad, "this earth would be another earth. The chain of
events would be ranged in another order and directed by wisdom; but this
other order, which would be perfect, can exist only in the eternal abode
of the Supreme Being, to which no evil can approach. The Deity hath
created millions of worlds among which there is not one that resembles
another. This immense variety is the effect of His immense power. There
are not two leaves among the trees of the earth, nor two globes in the
unlimited expanse of heaven that are exactly similar; and all that thou
seest on the little atom in which thou art born, ought to be in its proper
time and place, according to the immutable decree of Him who comprehends
all. Men think that this child who hath just perished is fallen into the
water by chance; and that it is by the same chance that this house is
burned; but there is no such thing as chance; all is either a trial, or a
punishment, or a reward, or a foresight. Remember the fisherman who
thought himself the most wretched of mankind. Oromazes sent thee to change
his fate. Cease, then, frail mortal, to dispute against what thou oughtest
to adore."
"But," said Zadig--as he pronounced the word "But," the angel took his
flight toward the tenth sphere. Zadig on his knees adored Providence, and
submitted. The angel cried to him from on high, "Direct thy course toward
Babylon."