Fritz had written, in May: "You wanted to know to know the adventures of the Abbbé de Prades; these would make a big volume. To satisfy your curiosity, it will suffice to know that the Abbé let himself be seduced, during my stay in Dresden, by a secretary whom Brühl had left there when he departed. (...) He played this beautiful trick on me at the same time I had secured him a big profit in the Cathedral of Breslau."
Voltaire replies in June 1759. The remark in context. Good old Voltaire starts out his letter with poetry:
"I know you, you seem difficult, But you like a bit of impurity, When you add the purity of style, for Maupertuis, coated pitch-resin.(...) Ah! It was he who deprived me of the day, Since it was he who took your sight away from me.
That is all I can answer, me slender and decked out in a sweating to the eyes, to the cleverest of kings, and to the loveliest of men, who constantly scares me, and who cries that he is scratched. Slash MM Daun - the Austrian Field Marshal - and Fermor, but spare your old, skinny victim. (...) You are a legislator, a warrior, a historian, a poet; but you are also a philosopher. After having dabbled all your life in heroism and in the arts, what do you take to the tomb? An empty name that no longer belongs to us. Everything is vanity, as the other Solomon said, the one not from the North. To Sans-Souci, to Sans-Souci, as soon as you can.
So De Prades is a dog, an Achitophel? What? He betrayed you, when you overwhelmed him with goods. Oh best of all possible worlds, where are you? I am a Manichaean like Martin. Your Majesty reproaches me with his very pretty lines for sometimes caressing the infamous. Eh! My God, no; I only work to root infamy out, and I succeed a lot among honest people. I will have the honor of sending you, shortly, a little piece that won't leave you indifferent. Ah! Believe me, Sire, I was all made for you; I am ashamed to be happier than you, for I live with philosophers, and you are only surrounding yourself with murderers in shortened clothing. To Sans-Souci, Sire, to Sans-Souci! But what will your devil of an imagination do with it? Can it live with retirement? Yes, you are made for everything."
(That is the end of the letter as given in Trier.
Achitophel: Ahitophel or Ahithophel was a counselor of King David and a man greatly renowned for his sagacity. During Absalom's revolt he deserted David (Psalm 41:9; 55:12–14) and supported Absalom.
Manichaean: I'm assuming he's refering to Manichaeism, but the context here beats me. No idea who Martin is supposed to be. St Martin the former Roman soldier who parted his cloak to help a beggar? That makes no sense.
Re: The case of the indiscreet reader (the other one)
Fritz had written, in May: "You wanted to know to know the adventures of the Abbbé de Prades; these would make a big volume. To satisfy your curiosity, it will suffice to know that the Abbé let himself be seduced, during my stay in Dresden, by a secretary whom Brühl had left there when he departed. (...) He played this beautiful trick on me at the same time I had secured him a big profit in the Cathedral of Breslau."
Voltaire replies in June 1759. The remark in context. Good old Voltaire starts out his letter with poetry:
"I know you, you seem difficult,
But you like a bit of impurity,
When you add the purity of style,
for Maupertuis, coated pitch-resin.(...)
Ah! It was he who deprived me of the day,
Since it was he who took your sight away from me.
That is all I can answer, me slender and decked out in a sweating to the eyes, to the cleverest of kings, and to the loveliest of men, who constantly scares me, and who cries that he is scratched. Slash MM Daun - the Austrian Field Marshal - and Fermor, but spare your old, skinny victim. (...)
You are a legislator, a warrior, a historian, a poet; but you are also a philosopher. After having dabbled all your life in heroism and in the arts, what do you take to the tomb? An empty name that no longer belongs to us. Everything is vanity, as the other Solomon said, the one not from the North. To Sans-Souci, to Sans-Souci, as soon as you can.
So De Prades is a dog, an Achitophel? What? He betrayed you, when you overwhelmed him with goods. Oh best of all possible worlds, where are you? I am a Manichaean like Martin.
Your Majesty reproaches me with his very pretty lines for sometimes caressing the infamous. Eh! My God, no; I only work to root infamy out, and I succeed a lot among honest people. I will have the honor of sending you, shortly, a little piece that won't leave you indifferent.
Ah! Believe me, Sire, I was all made for you; I am ashamed to be happier than you, for I live with philosophers, and you are only surrounding yourself with murderers in shortened clothing. To Sans-Souci, Sire, to Sans-Souci! But what will your devil of an imagination do with it? Can it live with retirement? Yes, you are made for everything."
(That is the end of the letter as given in Trier.
Achitophel: Ahitophel or Ahithophel was a counselor of King David and a man greatly renowned for his sagacity. During Absalom's revolt he deserted David (Psalm 41:9; 55:12–14) and supported Absalom.
Manichaean: I'm assuming he's refering to Manichaeism, but the context here beats me. No idea who Martin is supposed to be. St Martin the former Roman soldier who parted his cloak to help a beggar? That makes no sense.