he innocent. He imagined
that laws were made as well to secure the people from the suffering of
injuries as to restrain them from the commission of crimes. His chief
talent consisted in discovering the truth, which all men seek to
obscure.

This great talent he put in practice from the very beginning of his
administration. A famous merchant of Babylon, who died in the Indies,
divided his estate equally between his two sons, after having disposed
of their sister in marriage, and left a present of thirty thousand
pieces of gold to that son who should be found to have loved him best.
The eldest raised a tomb to his memory; the youngest increased his
sister's portion, by giving her part of his inheritance. Everyone said
that the eldest son loved his father best, and the youngest his sister;
and that the thirty thousand pieces belonged to the eldest.

Zadig sent for both of them, the one after the other. To the eldest he
said: "Thy father is not dead; he is recovered of his last illness, and
is returning to Babylon." "God be praised," replied the young man; "but
his tomb cost me a considerable sum." Zadig afterwards said the same to
the youngest. "God be praised," said he, "I will go and restore to my
father all that I have; but I could wish that he would leave my sister
what I have given her." "Thou shalt restore nothing," replied Zadig,
"and thou shalt have the thirty thousand pieces, for thou art the son
who loves his father best."

THE DISPUTES AND THE AUDIENCES

In this manner he daily discovered the subtilty of his genius and the
goodness of his heart. The people at once admired and loved him. He
passed for the happiest man in the world. The whole empire resounded
with his name. All the ladies ogled him. All the men praised him for
his justice. The learned regarded him as an oracle; and even the
priests confessed that he knew more than the old arch-magi Yebor. They
were now so far from prosecuting him on account of the griffin, that
they believed nothing but what he thought credible.

There had reigned in Babylon, for the space of fifteen hundred years, a
violent contest that had divided the empire into two sects. The one
pretended that they ought to enter the temple of Mitra with the left
foot foremost; the other held this custom in detestation and always
entered with the right foot first. The people waited with great
impatience for the day on which the solemn feast of the sacred fire was
to be celebrated,