The Eagles, the Vultures, the Bats, and the Owl¹

Who Rules?

(from Voltaire's Questions on the Encyclopaedia [s.v. 'Government'])

AN EAGLE RULED OVER ALL THE BIRDS in the land of Ornithia. Admittedly, he had no right other than the right derived from beak and talons. But in the end, when he had made provision for his meals and his pleasures, he ruled as well as any other bird of prey.

In his old age, he was attacked by starving vultures from the far North, who came and laid waste to all the eagles’ provinces. Then a tawny owl appeared who had been born in one of the scraggiest thickets in the empire, called for a long time lucifugax. He was crafty; he joined forces with the bats, and while the vultures fought against the eagle, our owl and his gang entered the area under dispute as peacemakers.

The eagle and the vultures, after having fought a pretty long war, finally referred the matter to the owl who, with his solemn features, knew how to impose his authority on the two sides.

He persuaded the eagle and the vultures to have their nails trimmed and the tip of their beaks cut off, the better to reach agreement. Before that the owl had always told the birds: ‘Obey the eagle.’ After that he said: ‘Obey the vultures.’ Soon he said: ‘Obey me and no-one else.’ The poor birds did not know who to listen to; they had their feathers plucked by the eagle, the vulture, the tawny owl and the bats. Qui habet aures audiat.²

Endnotes

¹ From David Williams, ed. Voltaire: Political Writings (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 55. ⇑

² Matthew, XI.15 (“He who has ears, let him hear”). ⇑