VOLTAIRE ( 1694-1778), like Cicero, is not an original po-
litical thinker, but rather reflects the current ideas of the
time. Unlike the latter, however, he has no coherent system
of political thought to offer and is indeed in one sense not a
political philosopher at all. Yet he had a singular genius for
expressing in a simple way the fundamental attitude of the ra-
tional liberals of the eighteenth century towards government.
He was, moreover, the leading advocate of tolerance. His in-
fluence was tremendous and was greatly increased by the happy
accident of longevity. His political interest indeed developed
somewhat late when he had already made a reputation as the
leading dramatist of his day. How far he was driven to a con-
sideration of public affairs by his own unfortunate personal
experiences with the law, and with the ruling classes in whose
interest it was administered, is naturally hard to say, though his
bitter irony in dealing with the forces of government was doubt-
less not unconnected with the harsh treatment he received.

François Marie Arouet, to give him his proper name, was
born in Paris, son of a notary. The whole family was composed
of prosperous petit bourgeois--of traders or substantial yeomen.
His mother, indeed, did have connections with a higher rank of
society and her friend, the Abbé de Chateauneuf, introduced the
young Voltaire both to literature and to that rational religion

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