Voltaire, D'Alembert, and Diderôt.
Three spirits linking made a triple mind,
Then scorning customs shook the stars apart,
And but with thought, and a most cunning art,
Shook heaven's footstool like a sudden wind.
Apostates from the faith of Reason, they
Held but as food for scorn all sacred laws;
Yet they fought nobly in an awful cause
(For they fight well who fight in open day).
But all in vain. For baffled Reason fell,
As falls a wounded bird within the night
Unseen, and men shook as with sudden fright,
And look'd up to the sky, but all was well,
And the mad warfare of the three but served
To show to unborn years where wisdom swerved.