"
"It is Caesar, it is Marcus Aurelius, it is Julian, it is sometimes Abbe
Chaulieu, with whom I sup," he further wrote; "there is the charm of
retirement, there is the freedom of the country, with all those little
delights which the lord of a castle who is a king can procure for his
very obedient humble servants and guests. My own duties are to do
nothing. I enjoy my leisure. I give an hour a day to the King of Prussia
to touch up a bit his works in prose and verse; I am his grammarian, not
his chamberlain ... Never in any place in the world was there more
freedom of speech touching the superstitions of men, and never were they
treated with more banter and contempt. God is respected, but all they
who have cajoled men in His name are treated unsparingly."
It was, in short, an Eden for a free-thinker; but an Eden with its
serpent, and this serpent was the envy, jealousy, and unrestrainable
satiric spirit of Voltaire. There was soon trouble between him and his
fellow-exiles. He managed to get Arnaud exiled from the country, and
gradually a coolness arose between him and Maupertuis, whom Frederick
had made president of the Berlin Academy.
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