Sherrod and Voltaire

[dem mba]

Stumbled upon this curious case of history repeating itself in the Endnotes of The Count of Monte Cristo. (I just finished the abridged version. I see why it's a classic!)

"The idea of an enigmatic note that does not reveal its complete meaning until it is reunited with its missing other half would have stuck a chord with contemporary readers in France, reminding them of an incident in Voltaire's "Oriental" tale Zadig (1747): A poet is sentenced to die for a four-line verse insulting the local monarch, but then the other half of the sheet is fortuitously found, and the completed lines turn out to form a hymn of praise to the king."

There ain't nothing new under the sun folks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zadig

:P