Frederick the Great to Voltaire - 1742 January 8
![In Berlin[1] this 8 January 1742](http://scalar.usc.edu/works/voltaire/media/vol-coll874-02-01-01~1.jpg){kind=link}
To Monsieur de Voltaire
E/
1. My dear Voltaire; I owe you, to my great regret,
2. two letters; I am so busy with
3. important affairs that philosophers would call
4. nonsense, that I cannot yet think of my pleasure,
5. the only tangible good in this life. I imagine that God
6. created donkeys, doric columns, and me to
7. bear the burdens of this world where so many others are
8. created to embellish it and to enjoy the goods that it
9. produces. Right now I am here arguing with about
10. twenty more or less dangerous Machiavellis,
11. and charming poetry waits at the door
12. without obtaining an audience. One individual talks to me of boundaries,
13. another of rights, another of compensations, a
14. third of auxiliaries, of marriage contracts, of debts
15. to pay, of intrigues to carry out, of recommendations,
16. of plans. People say that one has done a thing
17. about which I have never thought; someone presumes
18. that I shall be annoyed by an event that delights me,
19. someone writes from Mexico that one is about to attack
20. a person whom it is in my interest to handle with kid gloves; here one is
21. ridiculed, there one is criticized, a journalist
22. satirizes you, neighbors tear you to pieces, one and all
23. wish you gone to hell while overwhelming you with protestations
24. of friendship; this is the world, and these are the matters
25. that preoccupy me more or less. Would anyone wish to swap poetry for
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26. politics? The only similarity that can be found
27. between the two is that politicians and poets are
28. the playthings of the public and the object of satire not just by their colleagues
29. but very often by incompetent judges
30. incapable to decide on much less important subjects.
31. The day after tomorrow I shall depart for Remusberg[2], to take up once more
32. the crook and the lyre, and please Heaven may I never leave it again.
33. I shall write to you from that pleasant solitude with more
34. peace of mind and perhaps Calliope
35. will inspire me again. I'm all yours.
36. Signed fédéric
[Shelfmark: Rare fF840 V935 d]
[1] Berlin became the capital city of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1417–1701) with the establishment there of the royal court. The start of the eighteenth century witnessed the elevation of Prussia to monarchic status. During the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918) the Kings made Berlin the centerpiece of culture and the arts, as well as of the Army. For more information see: Berlin.
[2] “Remusberg” refers to Rheinsberg Palace which is located on the eastern shore of Lake Grienericksee, in the municipality of Rheinsberg, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) northwest of Berlin in the German district of Ostprignitz-Ruppin. For more information see Frederick’s Rheinsberg Palace.
