Cacambo's glowing praise of the Jesuits' government in Paraguay provides another example. "Their government is a wonderful thing. The kingdom is already more than seven hundred fifty miles across, and it's divided into thirty provinces. The Fathers have everything, the people nothing; it's a masterpiece of reason and justice. I don't know of anyone as divine as the Fathers."
The Bulgar-Abar conflict gave Voltaire quite as good a chance for satire in which he made the most of euphemism (Chapter II). Having recruited Candide into the service of "the most charming of kings," one of the recruiting sergeants said: "You're now the support, the upholder, the defender and the hero of the Bulgars: your fortune is made and your glory is assured." Immediately after this high-flown speech, Candide was put in irons and taken to a regiment. In this entire episode euphemism as opposed to reality abounds. We read of the gay uniforms, the stirring music — and learn the grim facts of warfare (Chapter III):
"Nothing could have been more splendid, brilliant, smart or orderly than the two armies. The trumpets, oboes, drums and cannon produced a harmony whose equal was never heard in hell. First the cannons laid low about six thousand men on each side, then rifle fire removed from the best of worlds about nine or ten thousand scoundrels who had been infesting its surface."
