Zelis to Usbek, at Paris.
THOUGH thirty leagues distant from me, you pronounce me guilty; though thirty leagues distant from me, you punish me. If a barbarous eunuch lays his vile hands upon me, he does it by your orders: it is the tyrant that outrages me, and not the tyrant’s instrument. You may, if you think proper, add to your cruel treatment. My heart is quite at ease, now that it loves you no longer. Your soul degrades itself, and you are grown cruel. Depend upon it, you are not possessed of my affections. Farewel.