of fine silver.'

"All the judges admired Zadig's profound and subtle discernment;
and the fame of it reached even the King and the Queen. From the
ante-rooms to the presence-chamber, Zadig's name was in
everybody's mouth; and, although many of the magi were of
opinion that he ought to be burnt as a sorcerer, the King
commanded that the four hundred ounces of gold which he had been
fined should be restored to him. So the officers of the court
went in state with the four hundred ounces; only they retained
three hundred and ninety-eight for legal expenses, and their
servants expected fees."

Those who are interested in learning more of the fateful history
of Zadig must turn to the original; we are dealing with him only
as a philosopher, and this brief excerpt suffices for the
exemplification of the nature of his conclusions and of the
methods by which he arrived at them.


These conclusions may be said to be of the nature of
retrospective prophecies; though it is perhaps a little
hazardous to employ phraseology which perilously suggests a
contradiction in terms--the word "prophecy" being so constantly,
in ordinary use, restricted to "foretelling." Strictly, however,
the term prophecy applies as much to outspeaking as to
foretelling; and, even in the restricted sense of "divination,"
it is obvious that the essence of the prophetic operation does
not lie in its backward or forward relation to the course of
time, but in the fact that it is the apprehension of that which