Voltaire begins this letter with several lines of poetry, and then goes on to talk about Alexander the Great of Macedon. He tells Frederick about how Alexander the Great had a love for the fine arts. Alexander was a skilled writer of poetry, something which surprised the Macedonians, because they only knew him as a "brave warrior". Voltaire mentions a scholar/ foreigner who apparently retired in the Caucasus Mountains after serving in the court of Alexander. Voltaire "would give all the Caucasus Mountains in order to see this foreigner for two days in the Court of Alexander."