The writer addresses his protector, complaining that the protector’s policies have left the household at Ferney and local peasants starving, while neighbouring towns continue to thrive. Using ironic Persian–Scythian imagery, he contrasts favoured recipients—who freely receive food and passports—with his own people, who are unable to obtain provisions, letters, or medicine. He pleads that the protector, who rests on “justice and compassion,” alleviate their hardship and grant them a passport to travel to Geneva or elsewhere in Switzerland. He closes with a humorous prayer that the patron be forgiven for any bodily sins, in light of the potential benefits he may bestow.