The first page sets the tone of the book: "It is not only the life of Louis XIV alleged to write, we propose a larger object We want to try painting for posterity, not the shares. one man, but the minds of men in the most enlightened age that ever was. [...] Anyone who thinks, and, what is even more rare, anyone to taste, only four centuries in history of the world. These four happy ages are those where the arts were perfected [...] and are an example of posterity.
The first of these centuries in which true glory is attached, is that of Philip and Alexander, or that of Pericles, of Demosthenes, of Aristotle, Plato [...] the rest of the land then known was barbaric .
The second is the age of Caesar and Augustus, also designated by the names of Lucretius, Cicero, Livy, Virgil [...]
The third is that which followed the taking of Constantinople by Mahomet II [...] The Medici in Florence called scholars that the Turks drove out of Greece: it was the time of the glory of Italy [.... ].
The fourth century is called the century of Louis XIV, and this is perhaps the one of the four who comes closest to perfection. "
The Fronde, Mazarin, the government and the wars Louis (which he was not always the instigator), the great works of the reign, arts and sciences, religious quarrels during the reign, anecdotes, all of these chapters covered in a dazzling literary style.
A last note prodigious gallery of portraits of the main players in this kingdom, described by Voltaire.
A book to inevitably possess!
