“No, it was not of that I was speaking,” Settembrini interrupted him, closing his eyes, and shaking his small sallow hand in the air. “Besides, you are confusing two catastrophes. You are thinking of the earthquake of Messina. I have in mind the one that visited Lisbon in the year 1755.”

“Pardon.”

“Well, Voltaire was outraged by it.”

“Outraged? That is⁠—how do you mean?”

“He rebelled. Yes. He declined to accept that brutal fatum et factum