The teacher of the heir to the throne of the Duke of Burgundy, the grandson of King Louis XIV, Fenelon wrote for his young student a philosophical and utopian novel "The Adventures of Telemachus" about how a real sovereign should be and how to govern the people and the state.
The action of the novel takes place in ancient times. Telemachus sets off in search of his father Ulysses (Odyssey), who did not return home after the Greeks defeated the Trojans. During his wanderings, Telemac and his mentor Mentor were thrown by a storm to the island of the nymph Calypso, whom Uliss had once visited. She offers Telemacus to stay with her and gain immortality. He refuses. To detain him, Calypso asks to tell about his wanderings. Telemachus begins the story of how he traveled to different countries and saw different kingdoms and kings, and how a wise sovereign should be in order to intelligently rule the people and not use power to evil himself and others.
Telemacus speaks of Egypt, where Sezostris reigns, a wise sovereign who loves the people as his children. Everyone is happy to obey him, give his life for him, everyone has one thought - "not to be free from his power, but to be forever under his power." Sezostris daily receives complaints from citizens and administers judgment, but does so with patience, reason and rightness. Such a king is not afraid of his subjects. However, even the wisest sovereigns are subject to dangers, for "treachery and greed are always at the foot of the throne." Evil and cunning courtiers are ready to please the sovereign for their own benefit, and woe to the tsar if he becomes a "playful of evil cunning", if he does not persecute "himself flattery and does not like those who speak the truth with a bold voice." According to the slander of one of these courtiers, Telemachus sent herds of herds of cows with the slaves.
After the death of Sezostris, Telemachus sailed on a Phoenician ship to Phenicia, where Pygmalion reigned. This is a greedy and envious ruler, from whom neither the people nor the state benefit. From stinginess, he is incredulous, suspicious and bloodthirsty, drives the rich, the poor afraid, everyone hates him. A violent death threatens him both in his “invisible halls” and in the midst of all his bodyguards. “Good Sezostris, on the other hand,” Telemachus argues, “was in the midst of countless people, like a father in a house in the midst of a kind family.
After many adventures, Telemac is on the island of Crete and learns from his mentor Mentor what laws King Tsar Minos established there. Children are accustomed to a simple and active lifestyle. Three vices - ingratitude, pretense and love of money - are tolerated in other places, are punished in Crete. Magnificence and luxury are unknown, everyone is working, but no one is "hungering for enrichment." “Precious utensils, magnificent robes, sweetened houses, luxurious feasts” are forbidden. Magnificent architecture is not expelled, but "provided for the temples dedicated to the gods." People do not dare to build houses for themselves like the dwellings of the immortals.
Here the king has full power over his subjects, but he himself is "under the law." His power is unlimited in everything that is aimed at the good of the people, but his hands are tied when evil is turned. Laws require that sovereign wisdom and meekness contribute to the prosperity of many, and not vice versa - that thousands "nourished the pride and luxury of one, creeping themselves into poverty and slavery." The first tsar is obliged “to precede by his own example in strict moderation, in the contempt of luxury, pomp, vanity. It should be distinguished not by the brilliance of wealth and not by the coolness of the bliss, but by wisdom, valor, and glory. From the outside, he must be the protector of the kingdom, the leader of rati; inside - judge the people and affirm their happiness, enlighten the minds, guide morals. The gods give him the rod of government not for him, but for the people: the people belong to him all his time, all his labors, all the love of his heart, and he is worthy of power only as he forgets himself, as he sacrifices himself for the common good. ”
The Cretans choose the king of the most intelligent and worthy, and Telemac becomes one of the contenders for the throne. The sages ask him a question: who is the most unhappy? He replies that the emperor, lulled in imaginary prosperity, is the most unhappy sovereign, while the people groan under his yoke. "In blinding, he is especially unhappy: without knowing the disease, he cannot even be cured ... Truth does not reach him through the crowd of caressers." Telemac is chosen as king, but he refuses and says: “It is up to you to elect not the one who judges the laws better than others, but the one who obeys them ... Choose a husband whose laws are inscribed in his heart, which is all life would be the fulfillment of the law. ”
Telemacus and his mentor manage to escape from the nymph Calypso. They meet at sea with the Phoenicians. And they learn from them about the wonderful country of Betik. It is believed that "all the amenities of the Golden Age" remained there: the climate is warm, plenty of gold and silver, the crop is harvested twice a year. That people have no money; they do not trade with anyone. From gold and silver make plows and other tools. There are no palaces and any luxury, because this, as it is believed, prevents living. The inhabitants of Betica have no property - "not dividing land among themselves, they live together", they have neither theft nor envy. All property is common and plenty. The main thing is to cultivate the land, for it brings "uncomplicated wealth, faithful food." They consider it unreasonable to look for gold and silver in the sweat of the face underground in mines, since this “can neither constitute happiness nor satisfy any true need.”
The head of the Phoenician ship promises to land Telemachus on his native Ithaca, but the helmsman goes astray and enters the city of Salent, where the king of Idomeneos rules. He made many mistakes during his reign - without caring for the people, he built magnificent palaces. By his example, the Mentor teaches Telemachus how to rule the country, and says that a long-lasting and lasting peace, as well as “agriculture and the establishment of wise laws” should be the first duty of the ruler. And power lust and vanity can lead the king to the edge of the abyss. “Power is a cruel test” for talents, says Mentor, “it exposes all weaknesses to their full extent,” because “the supreme dignity is like glass that magnifies objects. Vices in our eyes increase at that high level, where even small deeds entail important consequences. ” There are no sovereigns without flaws, therefore it is necessary to “excuse the sovereigns and regret their share”. However, the weaknesses of kings are lost in many great virtues, if they are among the rulers.
On the advice of the Mentor, Idomeneo divides all free people into seven “states” and assigns appropriate clothing and inexpensive insignia to each. In this way, the addiction to luxury is eradicated. Accordingly, food is moderate, for it is shameful to indulge in gluttony. Slaves walk in the same gray clothes. Also banned are “languid and voluptuous music” and violent festivities in honor of Bacchus, which “eclipse the mind no worse than wine, are shameless and frenzied.” Music is permitted only to glorify the Gods and heroes, while sculpture and painting, in which there should be nothing low, serve to glorify the memory of great men and deeds.
In addition, the Mentor teaches Idomeneo that “wine should never be ordinary, a common drink”, that it is necessary “to exterminate the vines when they multiply too much,” because wine is the source of many evils. It should be preserved as a medicine or "as a rarity for solemn days and sacrifices."
Telemachus, meanwhile, after many adventures and exploits in which the goddess Minerva helped him, concludes from dreams that his father passed away. Telemachus descends into the kingdom of the dead Tartarus. There he sees many sinners: cruel kings, wives who killed husbands, traitors, liars, "caressers who praised vice, evil slanderers who reproached virtue." They all appear before King Minos, who, after death, became a judge in the kingdom of shadows. He determines their punishment. For example, kings convicted of abuse of power look in the mirror where they see all the horrors of their vices. Many kings suffer not for evil done, but for lost good, for trusting evil and treacherous people, for evil done by their name.
Then Telemacus passes through the Champs Elysees, where the good kings and heroes enjoy bliss. There he meets his great-grandfather, Arcesius, who informs Telemacus that Ulysses is alive and will soon return to Ithaca. Arcezius reminds Telemac that life is fleeting and you need to think about the future - to prepare for yourself a place “in a happy country of peace”, following the path of virtue. Arcezius shows Telemac the wise kings, the heroes are separated from them with a light cloud, since they “took less glory”: the reward for courage and feats of arms can not be compared with the reward “for a wise, fair and beneficial reign”.
Among the kings, Telemak sees Tsekrops, the Egyptian, the first king in Athens - a city dedicated to the goddess of wisdom and named after her. From Egypt, from where science came to Greece, Cecrops brought useful laws to Attica, tamed morals, was philanthropic, left "the people in abundance, and his family in poverty and did not want to transfer power to the children, considering others worthy of it."
Triptolem, another Greek king, blessed for teaching the Greeks the art of cultivating the land, plowing and fertilizing it, strengthening his kingdom. Telemac should do the same, according to Arcezius, when he will reign — to turn people to agriculture, not to endure idle people.
Telemacus leaves the kingdom of Pluto and after new adventures he meets his father Ulysses on an unknown island, but does not recognize him. Telemaku is the goddess Minerva and says that he is now worthy to follow in the footsteps of his father and wisely rule the kingdom. She gives Telemacus instructions: “When you are on the throne, strive for that only glory in order to restore the golden age in your kingdom ... Love your people and spare nothing to be mutually loved ... Do not forget that the king is not on the throne for your own glory, but for the good of the people ... Fear the Gods, Telemachus! The fear of God is the greatest treasure of the human heart. “Justice and peace of mind will come to him with you, and joy, and pleasures pure, and a happy excess, and an irreparable glory.”
Telemac returns to Ithaca and finds his father there.
