The singular narrative and unique journey of Zadig still stands as a philosophical reference to “nothing is either good or bad without the comparison of one with the other.” It was originally published as Memnon in Amsterdam (with a false imprint of London given) and first issued under its more familiar title in 1748.

Voltaire challenges religious and metaphysical orthodoxy with his presentation of the moral revolution taking place in Zadig himself.

Shortly after, Zadig makes a full recovery and falls into the arms of another woman, Azora, whom he marries, but who promptly betrays him.

Upon his release from prison, Zadig rises in favour with the king and queen of Babylonia and is eventually appointed prime minister; in this role, he proves himself to be a very honest man, looked upon favourably by the king, as he passes fair judgements on his citizens unlike the other ministers who base their judgements on the people's wealth.

In one incident, Zadig manages to reverse an ancient custom of certain tribes in which women felt obliged to burn themselves alive with their husbands on the death of the latter.

Almona marries Sétoc, who in turn gives Zadig his freedom and then he begins his journey back to Babylonia in order to discover what has become of Astarté.

Arbogad, the leader of the group of Arabs, sets him free and he heads for Babylonia once more, equipped with the knowledge that a rebellion has taken place to oust the king.

Zadig then stumbles upon a meadow in which women are searching for a basilisk for their lord who is ill, ordered by his doctor to find one of these rare animals to cure his sickness.

The hermit claims that he will teach Zadig lessons in life; in one such incident, the pair go to an opulent castle and are treated generously.

He then throws the fourteen-year-old into the river drowning him, as he claims that Providence tells that he would have killed his aunt within a year, and Zadig within two.

The hermit then reveals his true identity as the angel Jesrad, and opines that Zadig, out of all men, deserves to be best informed about Fate.

Zadig solves the Enigmas with consummate ease and proves that it was he that won the first contest by challenging Itobad once again to a duel.

Zadig offers to fight wearing only his robes and armed with a sword against Itobad clad in the stolen white armor.

[7] Georges Cuvier wrote, in 1834, in the context of the new science of paleontology: "Today, anyone who sees only the print of a cloven hoof might conclude that the animal that had left it behind was a ruminator, and this conclusion is as certain as any in physics and in ethics.

This footprint alone, then, provides the observer with information about the teeth, the jawbone, the vertebrae, each leg bone, the thighs, shoulders and pelvis of the animal which had just passed: it is a more certain proof than all Zadig's tracks."[6]T.

[6] As Barzun and Taylor put it in A Catalogue of Crime: "However implausible and 'agrarian' his method, he is the first systematic detective in modern literature, and that priority itself adds to his troubles in the story until his royal vindication.