University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for its Department of Romance Studies

WAS VOLTAIRE INFLUENCED BY LUCIAN IN "MICROMÉGAS?"

Author(s): Ralph Arthur Nablow
Source: Romance Notes, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Winter, 1981), pp. 186-191
Published by: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for its Department of Romance
Studies
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 WAS VOLTAIRE INFLUENCED BY LUCIAN
IN MICROMÉGAS?

Ralph Arthur Nablow

_ X X X X X X X X XX X XXXXXXXXXX X X X X X X X X X X

In Micromégas, Voltaire essayed the genre of t

a genre whose exponents include, among oth
Rabelais, Cyrano de Bergerac, Fontenelle, an
his critical edition, takes into account three of
gantua, the Etats et empires de la lurte , and G
Dismissing Rabelais briefly, he points out sever
Voltaire and Cyrano, and studies in close detai
ness to Swift. What has been overlooked by
tale, however, 2 is the striking points of resem
Lucian's satiric dialogue Icaromenippus, or th
an examination of this resemblance that th
devoted. 4

Although Voltaire makes no mention of the I

are reasons for believing that he knew this
Lucian. In his Spectator of 29 May 1712, Addison produces a

1 Voltaire's * Micromégas A Study in the Fusion of Science , Myth , and

Art (Princeton University Press, 1950), pp. 80-88.
2 E.g., Ludwig Schwenk, who discusses Voltaire's contes in his Lukian und
die französische Literatur im Zeitalter der Aufklärung (München: Universitäts-
Buchdruckerei, 1931), pp. 115-118.
3 The proper nouns alone are analogous: Menippus, as an interplanetary
voyager, is compared with Icarus, while Micromégas, likewise a celestial
traveller, bears a name composed of two Greek words, "mikros" the small
and "megas" the large.
4 Quotations from Micromégas and the Icaromenippus are taken respec-
tively from the Wade edition (which reproduces the text of the undated London
edition of 1752) and from Lucian (with an English translation by A. M. Harmon)
(London/Cambridge, Massachusetts: Heinemann/Harvard University Press,
1960), ii, 268-323; the Greek text is cited in English and references to sections
are given.

186

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 WAS VOLTAIRE INFLUENCED BY LUCIAN IN... 187

"heathen fable relating to prayers" composed, as he says, in

manner of Lucian and in fact an expansion of the prayer episod
the Icaromenippus. As Voltaire was intimately familiar with Add
Spectator from the time of his English sojourn, 5 it is very po
that this passage served as his introduction to Lucian's dialogue
library at Ferney contained Perrot d'Ablancourt's three-volume t
lation of Lucian's works (Paris, 1733) as well as John Carr's tran
tion of the dialogues (London, 1774, 5 vols.). 6 Scattered throug
his works and correspondence are numerous references to the G
writer. 7 Of particular interest is a remark he made on 5 June
almost a year before the publication of Micromégas the follo
March. Sending one of his early dialogues philosophiques to Fre
ick, he spoke in terms that betray a probable re-reading of Luc
"J'envoye à votre majesté ce dialogue de Marc Aurèle. 8 J'ay
de l'écrire à la manière de Lucien. Ce Lucien est naïf, il fait pen
ses lecteurs, et on est toujours tenté d'ajouter à ses dialogues" (B
D4486). 9 Since it is probable that Micromégas was at least to
extent a product of the early 1750s, 10 this reference would as
a special significance from the point of view of the gestati
the tale.

On the intellectual plane, the works in question present parallels

and analogies of a general nature. In the Icaromenippus , the epon-
ymous hero recounts how he flew up to heaven to consult Zeus on

5 See my "Voltaire's Indebtedness to Addison in the Alphabetical Works,"

Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 176 (1979), 63-75.
6 See M. P. Alekseev and T. K. Kopreeva, eds. Bibliothèque de Voltaire:
catalogue des livres (Moscow: Editions de l'Académie des Sciences de l'URSS,
1961), p. 575, and George R. Havens and Norman L. Torrey, eds., "Voltaire's
Catalogue of his library at Ferney," Studies on Voltaire , 9 (1959), 70, 191.
7 See, for instance, the Conversation de Lucien, Erasme et Rabelais dans
les Champs Elysées (1765), and Best. D4486, D 13588, and D 15526.
8 The Dialogue entre Marc Aurele et un recollet.
9 Cf. his remark of 16 September 1766 to Damilaville: "Je connaissais
déjà le projet de la traduction de Lucien et j'avais lu le plus beau de ses
dialogues" (Best. D 13562).
10 W. H. Barber maintains that Micromégas is closely related to Voltaire's
ideas and attitudes of this period: see "The Genesis of Voltaire's Micromégas ,"
French Studies, 11 (1957), 1-15. For the argument that it was in large part
written in 1739, see Wade, op. cit., pp. 12-36, and Jacques van den Heuvel,
Voltaire dans ses contes (Paris: Armand Colin, 1967), pp. 76-78, note 42.

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 188 ROMANCE NOTES

philosophical matters. Here, as in M

at the philosophers with their contr
wrangling about metaphysical conc
the origin and purpose of the univer
from the philosophers, for "althoug
anyone else in anything he said, but
dictory and inconsistent, they never
and each tried to win me over to his
when Micromégas inquires about the
he is informed that they agree upon
understand, while disputing upon tw
are beyond their comprehension (c
them as to the nature of the soul and
simultaneously expound the views of
Locke (ibid.). Both authors conclud
sophical speculation. When the secre
opens the book of fate, which was
("le bout des choses"), he finds no
principles, we may infer, are beyon
and speculation thereon is useless. In
a speech condemning the philosophe
selves into schools and inventing v
themselves Stoics, Academics, Epic
things much more laughable than th
all their sects "shall be annihilated
(sec. 33). The truth about the nature of the universe is no more
accessible to Menippus than it is to Voltaire's philosophers; and he,
like Icarus, loses his wings. 12

11 Which brings to mind the Homeric laughter of Micromégas and the

Saturnian (ch. 7).
12 Certain differences between the works may be pointed out. Voltaire,
unlike Lucian, presents the concept (for the first time? - an interesting question)
of the human traveller (as contrasted to the divine being) from outer space.
Whereas Lucian's scene in heaven represents a satire on contemporary Greek
religion (e.g., the Mithras cult), the satire on organized religion in Micromégas
is virtually non-existent. Also, the philosophic strain is more pronounced in
the French tale.

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 WAS VOLTAIRE INFLUENCED BY LUCIAN IN... 189

In addition to general resemblances there are some str

similarities of detail. In both the Icaromenippus and Micromég
terrestrial scene is reduced to minuscule proportions - in the f
because of the altitude from which it is viewed, in the latter b
of the difference in size between the denizens of our globe an
giant travellers. To Menippus, the earth seems so small tha
long time he is unable to distinguish "the big mountains and th
sea" (sec. 12). Among other landmarks, the ocean, glistening in
sun, shows him it must be the earth he is gazing upon. Micro
and the Saturnian, for their part, discern "cette mare presqu'
ceptible pour eux" (the Mediterranean), "cet autre petit étang"
Atlantic), and "ces petits grains pointus dont ce Globe est h
(i.e., mountains) (ch. 4). The cities with their population ap
Menippus as so many "ant-hills" (ļiopļir^a?«; ) - a metaphor
peats and develops at some length (sec. 19). Likewise Voltaire i
opening sentence refers to the earth as "notre petite Fourmil
and repeats this metaphor in his closing chapter ("cette fourm
d'assassins ridicules"). 13
The idea of the relativism of great and small inspires both au
to reflect on the vanity of man and his insignificance in the un
To Menippus, the whole of Greece appeared "no bigger tha
fingers" (sec. 18). "I thought," he continues, "how little th
for our friends the rich to be proud of; for it seemed to me th
widest-acred of them all had but a single Epicurean atom
cultivation . . . Again, if I saw any man pluming himself
because he had eight rings and four cups, I laughed heartily a
too, for the whole of Pangaeum, mines and all, was the si
grain of millet." Voltaire, using the same images ("atomes," ch
4-7, "la graine dont nous sommes formés," ch. 5), 14 explai
his protagonist has difficulty focussing upon "un être aussi im
ceptible que des hommes" (ch. 5). "Je ne prétends pas choq

13 The metaphor of the ant-hill has been noted by James Knowlson

"Voltaire, Lucian and Candide Studies on Voltaire, 161 (1976), p. 157,
note 15.
14 See also Leeuwenhoek (quoted in Wade, ed., p. 62) and Cyrano's Lune
in Les Œuvres libertines de Cyrano de Bergerac, ed., Frédéric Lachèvre (Paris:
Champion, 1921), p. 50.

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 190 ROMANCE NOTES

la vanité de personne," he adds iron

of the tale, Micromégas is somewhat v
petits eussent un orgueil presqu'infin
laughter recalls Voltaire's travellers
Homère est le partage des Dieux" (c
In both works the theme of the siz
associated with that of war. Menipp
boundary lines and what appear to be
looking down toward the Peloponnese
noting "what a tiny region, no bigge
bean, had caused so many Argives a
day" (sec. 18). Similarly Voltaire ex
prie, ce qu'elles [ces substances qui
leur main] penseroient de ces bataille
un Village pour le perdre ensuite" (ch
planet learn that a hundred thousand
in the mutual slaughter of a hundr
wearing turbans, 16 and simply fo
comme votre talon" (ch. 7). 17
One further point of resemblance i
considerable stress is laid on the ca
astronomical distances. In the openin
instance, Menippus is seen doing astr
distance between the earth and the m
the distance between the moon and t
Micromégas begins in the same way:
must have twenty-one million six hu
cumference than "notre petite Terre"
conclusions to which scientific specul
indicates Micromegas's height as eight
geometrical paces of five feet each.

15 Similar fits of laughter occur in the Lune (p. 89) and in Gulliver's
Travels (II, iii). It is interesting that Homer, who is evoked more than a dozen
times in the Icaromenippus, reappears at the conclusion of Micromégas.
16 The reference is to the Russo-Turkish war (1736-1739).
17 One is reminded also of the famous "quelques arpents de neige."
10 voltaire is nere satirizing woiir s speculation concerning tne size ot tne
inhabitants of Jupiter (see Wade, ed. pp. 37-39).

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 WAS VOLTAIRE INFLUENCED BY LUCIAN IN... 191

The work of Lucian has exerted an undeniable influence on the

genre of the imaginary voyage. Rabelais found in him a source of

considerable inspiration. 10 A few Lucianic reminiscences can be
discerned in Cyrano's Etats et empires de la lune . 20 Swift, who drew
extensively upon the Lune and the Soleil , was also indebted to
Lucian's True History and Icaromenippus. 21 Although Voltaire used
devices and miscellaneous details that occur in Cyrano and Swift, the
particular similarities adduced above are in most cases unique to
the authors concerned. It would be fair to conclude that no study
of the sources of Micromégas would be complete without at least
raising the question as to whether Voltaire was influenced by the
Icaromenippus.

University of Toronto

19 See Jean Plattard, L'Œuvre de Rabelais ( Sources , Invention et Com

tion) (Paris: Champion, 1910), pp. 204-214.
20 Op. cit., pp. cviii, 62, 85, 150, 193.
21 See William A. Eddy, Gullivers Travels : A Critical Study (Princ
University Press, 1923), pp. 53-57, 61-64, 109-110.

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