Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/427

VOLTAIRE of a new sect of thinkers and writers, who took the name of the encyclopaedists, and who, differing from him in many particulars, were yet glad to be sheltered under the auspices of his fame. The idea of the great work, the En- cyclopedic, in which this school embodied its schemes, was a substantial exposition of every- thing which human genius had conceived or created since the beginning of society. (See CYCLOPAEDIA, and DIDEROT.) Voltaire was a decided theist, and he rebuked the philosophy of his age, which tried to banish God from the universe. In his 84th year he visited Paris, whither he carried a new tragedy, Irene, and was received by all classes with unparalleled demonstrations of honor. His carriage was drawn by the people ; his rooms were crowd- ed with the grandees of politics, society, and letters, from morning to night ; and his visits to the theatres were ovations, in which he was crowned with laurels and roses, and all the arts conspired to do him homage. Among his latest words were these : " I die worshipping God, loving my friends, not hating my ene- mies, but detesting superstition." Impedi- ments were raised by the French clergy to his decent burial in the parish where he expired, and his remains were carried to the abbey of Scellieres, belonging to one of his nephews, where he was interred. On the stone his friends placed the simple inscription : Ci-gU Voltaire. The government ordered the news : papers not to comment upon his death ; but Frederick of Prussia caused the Berlin acade- my to do honor to his memory, and Catharine II. of Russia, with whom he had long corre- sponded, openly mourned the event. As for the character of Voltaire, it will be, as it long has been, variously judged. His literary mer- its admit of less doubt, and posterity has con- firmed the sentiment of his contemporaries, that he was the sovereign writer of his centu- ry. No other writer controlled so completely the opinions of the world. Yet he was not a great thinker, not a great poet, not a great his- torian, not a great novelist, and not a great manager or man of action. Of his 28 or 30 dramatic pieces, scarcely one rises to the high- est line of dramatic art ; his comedies, like his epics, are no longer read ; his histories are sprightly and entertaining, but not authentic ; and his essays, both in prose and verse, with perhaps the single exception of his historical disquisitions, have ceased to instruct. For the secret of his success we must turn to those satires, tales, vers de societe, madrigals, letters, and epigrams, in which the whole spirit of the age saw itself expressed with inimitable vivaci- ty, grace, point, and agreeableness. He was there the master of all styles, save, in his own phrase, of the ennuyeux or dull and weari- some. In delicate derision and irony he never had an equal ; his understanding was clear and piercing, and perhaps the most dexterous that ever was created ; his judgment, though not profound or solid, was remarkable for good VOLTERRA 407 sense ; his wit was brilliant, glancing, and keen as a flash, and his fancy lively and inexhausti- ble. His principal works besides those already mentioned are : Histoire de Charles XII., roi de Suede (1730); Le temple du gout (1733), a critical and satirical production, half prose and half verse ; seven Discours sur Vhomme, imitated from Pope ; Le dictionnaire philoso- phique ; Histoire de la Rustic sous Pierre le Grand ; Histoire du parlement ; Philosophic de Vhistoire ; La Bible commentee ; and His- toire de Vetablissement du Chri&tianisme. Of the numerous editions of his works, the best probably are those by Beuchot (70 vols. 8vo, 1829-'34) and Louis Barre (20 vols., 1856-'9). Among the best lives of Voltaire are those of Cordorcet (1787), Mazure (1821), and Long- champs and "Wagniere (2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1825). See also Voltaire, by David Friedrich Strauss (1870; 3d ed., 1872); "Voltaire," by JohnMorley (London, 1871); and Voltaire et la societe du XVIII" siecle, by T. G. Desnoires- terres (8 vols., 1855-'76). VOLTERRA (anc. Volaterrae), a town of Tus- cany, Italy, in the province of Pisa, on an ele- vated plateau between the Era on the north and the Cecina on the south, 30 m. S. W. of Florence ; pop. about 6,000. It retains more of its original Etruscan character than any other Italian city. It is the seat of a bishop and of a college and episcopal seminary, and has a remarkable cathedral, the sacristy of which is especially rich in relics, and many other interesting churches and palaces. In the vicinity are salt and borax springs, salines, coal mines, and quarries of marble, gypsum,, and alabaster, the last being largely manufac- tured. The old citadel contains the dungeon, il mastio di Volterra, where the mathema- tician Lorenzini and others were incarcera- ted, and the Avhole building is now used as a prison. Volaterrse was one of the oldest and most important of the Etruscan cities. It ad- hered to the Latins'in their war with Tarquin- ius Priscus, resisted L. Cornelius Scipio Barba- tus in the beginning of the 3d century B. 0., and subsequently in the same century became a dependent ally of Rome. It was the last stronghold of Marius in Italy, and did not sur- render to the troops of Sulla till after a two years' siege. Its inhabitants received the rights of Roman citizens, and were protected by Cice- ro from the effort made during his consulship to dispossess them of their territory by an agra- rian law. There are no allusions to it in the history of the Roman empire, but after the fall of the western empire it again came into notice as a stronghold in the wars of the Goths with Narses. Of the ruins and antiquities of the city, the most remarkable are two of the an- cient gates, one, the Porta all' Arco, retaining perfect its sculptured arch. OI TFKKA, Daniele da, an Italian painter, whose real name was Ricciarelli, born in Vol- terra in 1509, died in Rome about 1566. He studied under Sodoma in Volterra, Baldassare