“It is because,” said Martin, “I have seen the world.”
“Observe those gondoliers,” said Candide; “are they not perpetually singing?”
“You do not see them,” answered Martin, “at home with their wives and brats. The doge has his chagrin, gondoliers theirs. Nevertheless, in the main, I look upon the gondolier’s life as preferable to that of the doge; but the difference is so trifling that it is not worth the trouble of examining into.”
“I have heard great talk,” said Candide, “of the senator Pococurante, who lives in that fine house at the Brenta, where, they say, he entertains foreigners in the most polite manner. They claim that this man is a perfect stranger to uneasiness.”
“I should be glad to see so extraordinary a being,” said Martin.
Candide thereupon sent a messenger to Signor Pococurante, desiring permission to wait on him the next day.
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