Zadig

Zadig travels by night to Memphis, Egypt. The stars awe him, making him realize the earth’s insignificance. He envisions people as “insects devouring one another on a tiny fragment of mud” (99). When this contemplation ends, however, his and Astarte’s predicaments return to mind, eclipsing the universe.

On the outskirts of Memphis, Zadig witnesses a man he judges a jealous lover beating a woman he judges unfaithful. When Zadig sees the woman’s beauty and resemblance to Astarte, his feelings change to horror at the man and compassion for the woman. He intervenes by beseeching the man to stop after the woman cries for help. Incensed, the man attacks Zadig, and they duel. The enraged man is stronger, but the composed Zadig is more tactical, and he eventually disarms the man and offers him mercy. At this, the man stabs Zadig who, enraged by the breach of etiquette, kills the man.

The woman is furious. She wishes that instead Zadig was dead and that her lover was still alive to beat her. Zadig is stunned by her reaction, responding that, given how ferociously the man was beating her, she has a strange conception of “lover.” As Zadig departs, four Babylonian horsemen identify the woman as matching a description and abduct her.