The Persian Letters

by Montesquieu (Author); Betts, C. J. (Translator); Betts, C. J. (Introduction by)

• ISBN13: 9780140442816
• ISBN10: 0140442812
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1977-06-01
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

This richly evocative novel - in - letters tells the story of two Persian noblemen who have left their country - the modern Iran - to journey to Europe in search of wisdom. As they travel, they write home to wives and eunuchs in the harem and to friends in France and elsewhere. Their colourful observations on the culture differences between West and East culture conjure up Eastern sensuality, repression and cruelty in contrast to the freer, more civilized West - but here also unworthy nobles and bishops, frivolous women of fashion and conceited people of all kinds are satirized. Storytellers as well as letter - writers, Montesquieu's Usbek and Rica are disrespectful and witty, but also serious moralists. Persian Letters was a succhs de scandale in Paris society, and encapsulates the libertarian, critical spirit of the early eighteenth century.

Table of Contents

Introduction	17	(17)
Further reading	34	(3)
PERSIAN LETTERS	37	(248)
Montesquieu's Preface	39	(2)
Letter 1 Usbek to Rustan. The virgin of Kum; Usbek's and Rica's quest for knowledge	41	(1)
2 Usbek to the First Black Eunuch. The eunuch's office-service and command; orders concerning the wives	41	(1)
3 Zashi to Usbek. Memories of winning a contest of beauty against the other wives; reproaches for Usbek's departure	42	(2)
4 Zephis to Usbek. Protests against being deprived of the slave-girl Zelid	44	(1)
5 Rustan to Usbek. Disapproval in Ispahan of Usbek's departure	45	(1)
6 Usbek to Nessir. Regrets at leaving his country and his wives; jealous fears for the future	45	(1)
7 Fatme to Usbek. Dreams about Usbek; women's desires and the advantage men take of them	46	(2)
8 Usbek to Rustan. Reasons for his departure: dangers at court for a man of virtue	48	(1)
9 The first Eunuch to Ibbi. His castration; tactics of both sides in the conflict between eunuchs and wives	49	(3)
Letter 10 Mirza to Usbek. Does virtue lead to happiness?	52	(1)
11 Usbek to Mirza. His answer: the parable of the Troglodytes, whose complete selfishness led to disaster	53	(3)
12 Usbek to the same. The Troglodytes: a second more virtuous generation prospers	56	(2)
13 Usbek to the same. The Troglodytes: examples of unselfish behaviour; defeat of the invaders	58	(2)
14 Usbek to the same. The Troglodytes: election of a king; his regrets	60	(1)
15 The First Eunuch to Jahrum. His affection for Jahrum; how he looked after him in boyhood	61	(1)
16 Usbek to Mohammed Ali. Admiration of the mullah's wisdom and request for his protection	62	(1)
17 Usbek to the same. Why is pork impure?	63	(1)
18 Mohammed Ali to Usbek. His answer: a legend about the animals in the Ark	64	(2)
19 Usbek to Rustan. Turkey: economic and military backwardness	66	(1)
20 Usbek to Zashi. Reproaches for being found alone with a eunuch	67	(2)
21 Usbek to the First White Eunuch. Threats of punishment if he is not more careful	69	(1)
22 Jahrum to the First Eunuch. Usbek's decision to send Jahrum back to Ispahan	70	(1)
23 Usbek to Ibben. First reactions to a European town	71	(1)
24 Rica to Ibben. Surprising aspects of French life; the King's power over his subjects, and the Pope's over him; his invisible enemies	72	(2)
Letter 25 Usbek to Ibben. Rhedi, Rica, and Usbek's feelings for Ibben	74	(1)
26 Usbek to Roxana. Her chastity and her love for Usbek compared to the immodesty of French women	75	(3)
27 Usbek to Nessir. Letters for Ispahan; his feelings of depression	78	(1)
28 Rica to ***. Curious sights at the theatre; a letter from an actress at the Opera	79	(2)
29 Rica to Ibben. The Pope, bishops, heresy, and the Inquisition	81	(2)
30 Rica to the same. The interest taken in him by the Parisians until he changes his costume	83	(1)
31 Rhedi to Usbek. Advantages and disadvantages of Venice for a Muslim	84	(1)
32 Rica to ***. The Fifteen-Score	84	(1)
33 Usbek to Rhedi. Physical and rational remedies for despondency	85	(1)
34 Usbek to Ibben. The gaiety of the French in comparison with Persians; the influence of eunuchs in this respect	86	(2)
35 Usbek to Jemshid. Request for his views on the Christians; similarities between Christianity and Islam	88	(1)
36 Usbek to Rhedi. Coffee-houses and the disputes which go on in them; other habitual controversialists	89	(2)
37 Usbek to Ibben. Louis XIV: inconsistencies in his behaviour	91	(1)
38 Rica to Ibben. Eastern and Western attitudes to women; a philosopher's feminist arguments	92	(2)
Letter 39 Hadji Ibbi to ben Joshua. Legends of the birth of Mohammed	94	(1)
40 Usbek to Ibben. Funerals, and the Grand, Mogul's weight	95	(1)
41 The First Black Eunuch to Usbek. Suggestion that a slave should be castrated	96	(1)
42 Pharan to Usbek. Plea to be spared castration	97	(1)
43 Usbek to Pharan. Pharan's plea granted	98	(1)
44 Usbek to Rhedi. Examples of social conceit, in France and elsewhere	98	(1)
45 Rica to Usbek. An alchemist and his fortune	99	(2)
46 Usbek to Rhedi. How to please God independently of sectarian disputes	101	(1)
47 Zashi to Usbek. An adventurous expedition	102	(2)
48 Usbek to Rhedi. In a country house: a tax-farmer, a society confessor, a poet, an old soldier and a womanizer	104	(5)
49 Rica to Usbek. A monk's plans for a mission to Persia	109	(1)
50 Rica to ***. Praise of modesty; a conceited talker	110	(1)
51 Nargum to Usbek. Russia, its king, and some strange customs concerning women; letter from a Russian wife	111	(2)
52 Rica to Usbek. The vanity of four women, from twenty to eighty	113	(2)
53 Zelis to Usbek. Plans for a marriage between a eunuch and a slave-girl	115	(1)
54 Rica to Usbek. Two would-be wits discuss their tactics	116	(2)
55 Rica to Ibben. European customs concerning sex and marriage	118	(1)
56 Usbek to Ibben. Gambling and its popularity with French women	119	(1)
57 Usbek to Rhedi. Monks and their vows; conversation with a casuist	120	(2)
58 Rica to Rhedi. Ingenious ways of making a living in Paris	122	(1)
59 Rica to Usbek. Self-interested nostalgia; the relativity of human judgements	123	(2)
60 Usbek to Ibben. Judaism and other religions; the decline of intolerance in Europe	125	(1)
61 Usbek to Rhedi. A clergyman on the difficulties of relationships with the laity	126	(2)
62 Zelis to Usbek. The upbringing of her daughter; factors involved in women's subordination to men; her private pleasures	128	(1)
63 Rica to Usbek. National character and the influence of women in France and Persia	129	(1)
64 The Chief Black Eunuch to Usbek. Indiscipline in the seraglio; recommendations to follow the methods of the eunuch's first teacher	130	(3)
65 Usbek to his wives. Reproaches for their bad behaviour	133	(1)
66 Rica to ***. Intellectual pretensions in France; foolish writers; attack on anthologists	134	(1)
67 Ibben to Usbek. Friendship; the story of Apheridon and Astarte, the Gabar brother and sister	135	(8)
68 Rica to Usbek. The judge who sold his books	143	(1)
69 Usbek to Rhedi. The perfections of God; how can men have free will if God foresees their actions?	144	(3)
Letter 70 Zelis to Usbek A young man repudiates his newly-married wife	147	(1)
71 Usbek to Zelis. The impossibility of proving whether a woman is a virgin	148	(1)
72 Rica to Usbek. The decisioneer	148	(1)
73 Rica to ***. The idiosyncrasies of the French Academy	149	(1)
74 Usbek to Rica. Arrogance and sense of position in noblemen	150	(1)
75 Usbek to Rhedi. Christian changeability and unfaithfulness to their beliefs	151	(1)
76 Usbek to Ibben. Doubts concerning suicide	152	(2)
77 Ibben to Usbek. Reasons for laws against suicide	154	(1)
78 Rica to Usbek. Spanish solemnity, pride, devoutness, and other oddities; French lunacy	155	(2)
79 The Chief Black Eunuch to Usbek. Inspection and purchase of a Circassian slave-girl	157	(1)
80 Usbek to Rhedi. The best mode of government; the advantages of a mild policy in dealing with political crimes	158	(2)
81 Nargum to Usbek. The Tartars and their unrecorded glory	160	(1)
82 Rica to Ibben. Bad habits in conversation	161	(1)
83 Usbek to Rhedi. The universal principle of justice, in God and man	162	(1)
84 Rica to ***. Praise of the Invalides and its inhabitants	163	(1)
85 Usbek to Mirza. The disadvantages of religious intolerance, in Persia and Europe	164	(2)
86 Rica to ***. Families and family law	166	(1)
87 Rica to ***. Sociability carried to extremes; epitaph of a visitor	167	(2)
88 Usbek to Rhedi. Social importance in France and Persia	169	(1)
89 Usbek to Ibben. The desire for glory and its consequences in France, the ancient states, and Persia	169	(2)
90 Usbek to the same. The feudal `point of honour'	171	(1)
91 Usbek to Rustan. An unworthy envoy from Persia	172	(1)
92 Usbek to Rhedi. Louis XIV's death and Philippe d'Orleans' manoeuvres to become regent	173	(1)
93 Usbek to his brother the santon. The santon's holiness; the interpretation of legends about hermits	174	(1)
94 Usbek to Rhedi. International law and its distortions	175	(1)
95 Usbek to the same. Sanctions in international law	176	(2)
96 The First Eunuch to Usbek. Purchase of an Indian woman for Usbek's brother's seraglio; effects of her arrival there; plea for Usbek's return	178	(2)
97 Usbek to Hosain. Western science and Eastern religion	180	(2)
98 Usbek to Ibben. The swiftness of changes of fortune in France	182	(1)
99 Rica to Rhedi. The caprices of fashion	183	(1)
100 Rica to the same. French authority over fashion and dependence in legislative matters	184	(2)
101 Usbek to ***. The ignorant bishop and his adviser	186	(1)
102 Usbek to Ibben. The exercise of royal power in Europe and Persia	187	(2)
Letter 103 Usbek to the same. The Asians' indifference towards their rulers and the likelihood of assassination	189	(1)
104 Usbek to the same. English ideas about the bond between king and people	190	(2)
105 Rhedi to Usbek. Doubts concerning the value of technical progress	192	(1)
106 Usbek to Rhedi. Refutation of Rhedi's doubts; the dependence of national power on the industriousness of the people	193	(3)
107 Rica to Ibben. The young Louis XV; the political influence of women	196	(2)
108 Usbek to ***. Literary journals; reviews, reviewers and writers	198	(1)
109 Rica to ***. Trivial controversies at the University of Paris and in Spain	199	(1)
110 Rica to ***. The difficulties of being a women of fashion	200	(1)
111 Usbek to ***. Propaganda warfare at the time of the Fronde	201	(1)
112 Rhedi to Usbek. The problem of the depopulation of the modern world	202	(2)
113 Usbek to Rhedi. Universal catastrophes which cause depopulation; the Flood and the question of the creation of man	204	(2)
114 Usbek to the same. Polygamy as a cause of depopulation	206	(2)
115 Usbek to the same. How the Roman slave system encouraged population and wealth	208	(1)
116 Usbek to the same. The Christian ban on divorce as a cause of depopulation	209	(2)
117 Usbek to the same. Monasticism as a cause of depopulation; economic advantages of Protestantism	211	(2)
118 Usbek to the same. The African slave trade as a cause of depopulation	213	(1)
119 Usbek to the same. Religious and other beliefs which affect population	214	(1)
120 Usbek to the same. Causes of depopulation among primitive tribes	215	(1)
121 Usbek to the same. Colonies as a cause of depopulation; the disasters due to the Conquistadores	216	(3)
122 Usbek to the same. The effect on population of different modes of government	219	(2)
123 Usbek to Mohammed Ali. Defeats inflicted by the Christians on the Turks	221	(1)
124 Usbek to Rhedi. The generosity of kings to their courtiers; an imaginary edict in their favour, at the expense of other classes	221	(2)
125 Rica to ***. The pleasures of Paradise; a Hindu widow and the rite of suttee	223	(1)
126 Rica to Usbek. Sympathy towards a prince imprisoned for conspiracy	224	(1)
127 Rica to Ibben. The chief minister of Charles XII of Sweden and ministerial influence on kings	225	(1)
128 Rica to Usbek. In a coffee-house; the mathematician and the translator of Horace	226	(3)
Letter 129 Usbek to Rhedi. The shortcomings of legislators; the importance of paternal authority	229	(1)
130 Rica to ***. The futilities of newsmongers; three letters from them	230	(3)
131 Rhedi to Rica. The prevalence of republican government in ancient times	233	(2)
132 Rica to ***. In a coffee-house: the value of money as against land; fears of military and cosmic disasters	235	(2)
133 Rica to ***. A monastery library; the monk and the refectory bell	237	(1)
134 Rica to the same. The library: books concerned with religion	238	(1)
135 Rica to the same. The library: various sciences; an argument about astrology	239	(2)
136 Rica to the same. The library: national histories	241	(2)
137 Rica to the same. The library: works of literature	243	(1)
138 Rica to Ibben. Financial policy in France: its changeability, complexity, and bizarre social consequences	244	(2)
139 Rica to the same. Greatness of character in two queens of Sweden	246	(1)
140 Rica to Usbek. The Parlement of Paris exiled; duties of Parlements to king and people	246	(1)
141 Rica to the same. Two stories: Anals in Paradise, and the two Ibrahims	247	(7)
142 Rica to Usbek. A letter from an antiquarian scholar; a mythological fragment about the son of Aeolus	254	(4)
Letter 143 Rica to Nathaniel Levi. Arguments against magic spells; a letter from a doctor on curing insomnia by reading; prescriptions following the same principle	258	(6)
144 Usbek to Rica. Conceit and modesty	264	(1)
145 Usbek to ***. The social disadvantages of an intellectual; a letter from a scientist; the risks of publishing	265	(3)
146 Usbek to Rhedi. The degradation of a nation by a finance minister	268	(2)
147 The Chief Eunuch to Usbek. Faults committed by Usbek's wives	270	(1)
148 Usbek to the First Eunuch. Orders to investigate without pity	271	(1)
149 Narsit to Usbek. Death of the Chief Eunuch	271	(1)
150 Usbek to Narsit. Reiteration of his orders	272	(1)
151 Solim to Usbek. Usbek's wives suspected of infidelity	272	(2)
152 Narsit to Usbek. Assurances that all is well; loss of a letter from Usbek	274	(1)
153 Usbek to Solim. Orders to avenge his honour	274	(1)
154 Usbek to his wives. Appointment of Solim as Chief Eunuch	275	(1)
155 Usbek to Nessir. Anxieties about the seraglio and fears of what he will find on his return	275	(1)
156 Roxana to Usbek. Protests at Solim's measures	276	(1)
157 Zashi to Usbek. Protests at being punished by Solim	277	(1)
158 Zelis to Usbek. Protests at Usbek's orders	278	(1)
159 Solim to Usbek. Roxana's infidelity and the death of her lover	279	(1)
Letter 160 Solim to Usbek. Decision to punish	280	(1)
161 Roxana to Usbek. Her true feelings for Usbek; her revenge on the eunuchs and her suicide	280	(3)
Montesquieu's `Some Reflections on the Persian Letters' (1754)	283	(2)
Appendix: Letters' and fragments not published by Montesquieu	285	(16)
Notes	301