crown he owes,
To peaceful times.
The worst of foes.

The envious man was now happy for the first time of his life. He had it
in his power to ruin a person of virtue and merit. Filled with this
fiendlike joy, he found means to convey to the king the satire written
by the hand of Zadig, who, together with the lady and his two friends,
was thrown into prison.

His trial was soon finished, without his being permitted to speak for
himself. As he was going to receive his sentence, the envious man threw
himself in his way and told him with a loud voice that his verses were
good for nothing. Zadig did not value himself on being a good poet; but
it filled him with inexpressible concern to find that he was condemned
for high treason; and that the fair lady and his two friends were
confined in prison for a crime of which they were not guilty. He was
not allowed to speak because his writing spoke for him. Such was the
law of Babylon. Accordingly he was conducted to the place of execution,
through an immense crowd of spectators, who durst not venture to
express their pity for him, but who carefully examined his countenance
to see if he died with a good grace. His relations alone were
inconsolable, for they could not succeed to his estate. Three fourths
of his wealth were confiscated into the king's treasury, and the other
fourth was given to the envious man.

Just as he was preparing for death the king's parrot flew from its cage
and alighted on a rosebush in Zadig's garden. A peach had been driven
thither by the wind from a neighboring tree, and had fallen on a piece
of the written leaf of the pocketbook to which it stuck. The bird
carried off the peach and the paper and laid them on the king's knee.
The king took up the paper with great eagerness and read the words,
which formed no sense, and seemed to be the endings of verses. He loved
poetry; and there is always some mercy to be expected from a prince of
that disposition. The adventure of the parrot set him a-thinking.

The queen, who remembered what had been written on the piece of Zadig's
pocketbook, caused it to be brought. They compared the two pieces
together and found them to tally exactly; they then read the verses as
Zadig had wrote them.

TYRANTS ARE PRONE TO FLAGRANT CRIMES.
TO CLEMENCY HIS CROWN HE OWES.
TO CONCORD AND TO PEACEFUL TIMES.
LOVE ONLY IS THE WORST OF FOES.

The king gave immediate orders that Zadig should be