Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 03.djvu/207

Rh that without oracles there would be neither virtue nor repose upon earth.

At length, after having testified the most profound veneration for them, they nearly all concluded that this oracle was impertinent, and should not be obeyed; that nothing could be more indecent for a young woman, and particularly the daughter of the great king of Babylon, than to run about, without any particular destination; that this was the most certain method to prevent her being married, or else engage her in a clandestine, shameful, and ridiculous union; that, in a word, this oracle had not common sense.

The youngest of the ministers, named Onadase, who had more sense than the rest, said that the oracle doubtless meant some pilgrimage of devotion, and offered to be the princess' guide. The council approved of his opinion, but every one was for being her equerry. The king determined that the princess might go three hundred parasangs upon the road to Arabia, to the temple whose saint had the reputation of procuring young women happy marriages, and that the dean of the council should accompany her. After this determination they went to supper.