Pedanius Dioscorides (c. 40 – 90), a Greek physician and traveling surgeon for the Roman army. That a surgeon in the 1700s would still be using methods dating from ancient Greece suggests that he isn't, in fact, a very good surgeon, and that medicine in the early modern period left something to be desired.

In this case, the King of the Bulgarians pardons Candide not for his wisdom, as a student of metaphysics, but for his ignorance, as an innocent youth incapable of understanding the depths of the philosophy he claims to espouse. Thus, we see Voltaire's contempt for the philosophers of the Enlightenment, who were viewed somewhat critically at that time.

Metaphysics, or the philosophy of being, hails from Greece and early philosophers like Thales, who believed life originated from water, and Aristotle, who wrote Metaphysics. It is one of the oldest and most well-known philosophies and was very popular in the early modern period when Candide was written.

In 18th century Europe, guns were generally larger, bulkier, and less wieldy. They took fewer rounds of ammunition and required a great deal of time to load. The "bullets" of Prussian guns were in fact small balls of lead that were shot like pellets at a target. Their results were analogous to those of modern bullets.

In Candide's philosophy, as taught to him by Pangloss, belief in free will doesn't necessarily mean that one doesn't believe in God. In fact, Liebnizian optimism, from which Pangloss' philosophy derives, states that God gave humans free will that they might choose to love Him (their punishment for not doing so being physical evil, or pain and suffering, which reflects their metaphysical evil, or imperfection).

These four soldiers, while taller than Candide (and thus possessive of larger strides), nevertheless are considered of lower station, because they're six feet tall instead of five feet five inches. Labeling the four as "heroes" emphasizes their mindless obedience; they perform like trained machines programmed to do as their king bids. Candide, a free thinker, wouldn't fit in with them and would upset their sense of honor.

Characteristically, Candide doesn't understand his obligations as a soldier in the army (perhaps because he didn't enlist by choice) and still believes in his freedom, that is, his ability to go for a walk whenever and wherever he pleases. As he'll quickly learn, freedom is not an inherent right in this world, and he'll have to find it in other ways.

Note the juxtaposition of "stupefied" and "hero" in this sentence. The military, Voltaire suggests, is full of soldiers just like Candide, "stupefied" youths who don't understand why they're there, let alone the full import of their actions on the national scale. Voltaire, rather than glorify the military, hilariously skewers it in this text.

A cudgel or club was used in the military to beat enemies or trainees into submission. A "rammer" was similarly a weapon used to crush or batter by force and often referred to a battering ram wielded by two or more men. In this case, the rammer refers to the smaller blunt instrument and not the larger battering ram.

The verb "to fetter" means to chain or shackle. In effect, the Bulgarians have taken Candide prisoner, forcing him into military service. Judging by the speed with which they did so, it's safe to say that this was their plan all along, and that they incited Candide to drink (but not too much) to make him easier to capture.

Having grown up in Westphalia, believing it to be "the best of all possible worlds" with the best of all possible people, Candide would have no reason to know of anything or anyone outside that world. Thus, he's ignorant of other peoples and, with the exception of God, doesn't know or love anyone he hasn't seen face to face.

Mark the exactness of this measurement. Only a few lines earlier, the gentlemen at the inn described Candide as being a fellow of "proper height," suggesting that a person's stature, like their weight, was a sign of great power and social station.

The phrase "to give them his note" means to give them an IOU declaring his intent to pay them back for their generosity. Notes such as this were, by and large, a formality and didn't guarantee that the borrower would repay the lender. Candide's offer characterizes as a genteel (but not necessarily financially responsible) young man.

In Prussia in the 18th Century, the unit of currency was the "Thaler," a variant of the German Reichsthaler, which used a different fraction of silver in its minting. The "crown" was a form of British currency in use at the time of this translation into English and was not likely to have been seen in a Prussian inn at that time.

Modern readers will likely recognize the word "comrade" in its form as an identifier used by Soviets and members of the Eastern Bloc in years of Communist rule. However, Candide was written in 1759, a full century before the word began to pick up overt political connotations. Here, it's used to signify nationality, not political affiliation.

Voltaire, a Frenchman, spent several years in the court of Frederick of Prussia, socializing with noble Germans, Prussians, and Russians. He would've been familiar with German names and cities like the fictional Waldberghofftrarbk-dikdorff, with which he pokes fun at the complex and consonant-heavy German language.

A furrow is a narrow trench dug into the soil, typically with a plough, often with the purpose of planting seeds in a field. For Candide to lie between two furrows would mean lying on the raised piece of land between trenches, a curious choice given that he's trespassing on a private estate and would likely not want to be seen.

Voltaire draws a parallel between Westphalia and the Garden of Eden, a veritable "heaven on Earth" from which Adam and Eve were expelled ("driven") after Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Bulgarians, that is, Prussians, who were at war with the French during the time Voltaire wrote Candide. The King of the Bulgarians is said to represent Frederick the Great, leader of the Prussians during the Seven Years' War against the French (1756 – 1763).