A woman so influential could not fail to have a swarm of flatterers. The resources of fawning and hyperbole were exhausted in her favor. The most exaggerated of her sycophants was Voltaire--Voltaire to whom the republicans are nowadays raising statues. He treated the Marquise as a superior being, a goddess, and pushed his flattery to absurdity, to platitude. In 1745, the moment when the reign of the favorite began, he sent her this compliment:-- “Sincère et tendre Pompadour (Car je peux vous donner d’avance Ce nom qui rime avec l’amour Et qui sera bientôt le plus beau nom de France), Ce tokai dont Votre Excellence Dans Étioles me régala, N’a-t-il pas quelque ressemblance Avec le roi qui le donna? Il est, comme lui, sans mélange; Il unit, comme lui, la force à la douceur, Plaît aux yeux, enchante le cœur, Fait du bien et jamais ne change.”[38] In 1746, when Marshal de Lowendal had just taken Berg-Op-Zoom, it was Madame de Pompadour whom Voltaire felicitated on the victory, in strains like these:-- “Les esprits, et les cœurs, et les remparts terribles, Tout cède à ses efforts, tout fléchit sous sa loi, Et Berg-Op-Zoom et vous, vous êtes invincibles; Vous n’avez cédé qu’à mon roi. Il vole dans vos bras du sein de la Victoire, Le prix de ses travaux n’est que dans votre cœur. Rien ne peut augmenter sa gloire, Et vous augmentez son bonheur.”[39] The Marquise rewarded Voltaire at the end of the same year by producing the _Enfant prodigue_ in the theatre of the little cabinets, and taking the part of Lise herself. It was then that the poet, beside himself with joy, addressed the beautiful actress the following lines, which exasperated the daughters of Louis XV. and dissatisfied the King himself:-- “Ainsi donc, vous réunissez Tous les arts, tous les dons de plaire; Pompadour, vous embellissez La cour, le Parnasse et Cythère. Charme de tous les yeux, trésor d’un seul mortel, Que votre amour soit éternel! Que tous vos jours soient marqués par des fêtes! Que de nouveaux succès marquent ceux de Louis! Vivez tous deux sans ennemis Et gardez tous deux vos conquêtes!”[40] So many madrigals were not enough. Both verse and prose were needed. In addressing to the Marquise a copy of the _Précis du siècle de Louis XV._ Voltaire inserted in it a passage, gravely congratulating her upon that treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle which had so grievously offended the national sentiment:-- “It must be owned that Europe may date its felicity from the day of this peace. People will learn with surprise that it was the result of the urgent counsels of a young lady of high rank, celebrated for her charms, her singular talents, her wit, and an envied position. It was the destiny of Europe in this long quarrel that a woman began it and a woman ended it. The second has bestowed as many benefits as the first caused harm.”