Letter from Voltaire to Cardinal Domenico Passionei, written from Fontainebleau and dated 12 October 1745.

In 1745, Voltaire attempted to attract the good graces of Pope Benedict XIV through the people close to him, such as Cardinal Passionei. In this letter, Voltaire writes that he received a letter in French from Rome dated 15 September [D3211] that was so elegantly written that he believed it be from one of the best writers in France but from the sentiments he recognised the author as Cardinal Passionei. He adds that a mind such as Passionei’s comes from all countries and must be eloquent in all languages. Voltaire writes that Passionei’s letter redoubles the grief he has had for a long time at not having seen Rome because it seems to him that all French people who cultivate letters should make this trip just as the Greeks went to visit the Egyptians. He adds that he is consoled by the book by the Marquis Orsi that Passionei sent him as it will strengthn his extreme taste for, and little knowledge of, the Italian language. He then turns to literary criticism, noting that he has known for a long time of Father Bouhour’s mistakes and of Despreaux’s unjust severity towards Aristotle and Tasso, claiming that both men only superficially knew what they were criticising and concluding that Despreaux felt Tasso’s small faults too much and did not pay enough attention to his great feats. He then turns to the writings of Passionei, remarking that he sees with extreme pleasure that Passionei is in the midst of cultivating beautiful letters.

Voltaire writes that not only is he a defector, but he is also a lazy man. He apologises for this laziness by saying that he has been working on an Italian opera of the tragedy of Semiramis (Rome sauvée) and on correcting almost all of his works. He also notes that he has wasted time learning what little German it takes to avoid missing out on a trip, which he adds is quite difficult at his age. He writes that the recipient will find it ridiculous that at the age of 56 the author of La Henriade would decided to want to speak German to servants in cabaret, but adds that the think in that manner would be to reproach him more harshly than he deserves. Voltaire writes that his ‘transmigration’ has cost his heart a great deal but that she has such reasonable, legitimate, and respectable motives that noone can blame him for complaining about no longer being in France. He adds that he hopes to have the happiness of embracing the recipient at the end of November and writes the the recipient and himself were made to run fields together, like old troubadours, with Voltaire building a theater and putting on plays wherever he finds himself. He notes that is is a pleasant thing to have found a prince and a princess of Prussia of Mademoiselle Gausin’s stature, but concludes that Mademoiselle Gausin is superior to the princess. Voltaire then returns to his attempts to learn German, remarking that ‘German is for soldiers and for horses; it is only necessary for the road, before noting that he is flattered by the number of people brought to him in Koenigsberg who know his verses by heart and who do not try to poke fun at him because they aren’t jealous of him. In the concluding section of the letter, Voltaire says that he will not give any details about the life he leads with the King, but reveals that it is a ‘philosopher’s paradise’. He writes: ‘It is Ceasar, it’s Marc Aurèle, it’s Julien, it’s sometimes the Abbé de Chaulieu, with whom we sup; it’s the charm of retirement, it’s the freedome of the countryside with all the little comforts of life that a lord of a castle who is a king can procure for his humble guests.’