"The Three Impostors" is an atheistic book that argues Jesus, Moses, and Muhammad are 'Impostors'. And Voltaire wrote an Epistle against to the atheism of that book.
https://www.whitman.edu/VSA/trois.imposteurs.html (Link of original text and English translation)
Voltaire begins the letter with the following sentences:
Insipid writer, you pretend to draw for your readers The portraits of your 3 impostors; How is it that, witlessly, you have become the fourth? Why, poor enemy of the supreme essence, Do you confuse Mohammed and the Creator, And the deeds of man with God, his author?... Criticize the servant, but respect the master. God should not suffer for the stupidity of the priest: Let us recognize this God, although he is poorly served.
In the first paragraph, just like the author of the book, Voltaire acknowledges that Jesus, Moses, and Muhammad are impostors --people who poorly serve God--. However, he denies the claims of atheism about the Creator God itself.
My lodging is filled with lizards and rats; But the architect exists, and anyone who denies it Is touched with madness under the guise of wisdom. Consult Zoroaster, and Minos, and Solon, And the martyr Socrates, and the great Cicero: They all adored a master, a judge, a father. This sublime system is necessary to man. It is the sacred tie that binds society, The first foundation of holy equity, The bridle to the wicked, the hope of the just.
In the second paragraph, Voltaire mentions the names of great figures who believed in God, such as Zoroaster, Minos, Solon, Socrates, and Cicero, to support his argument about necessity of believing God.
However, since Zoroaster is also a 'prophet' of God in Zoroastrianism, it is plausible to think that Voltaire might consider Zoroaster as an "impostor" just like Jesus, Moses, and Muhammad. If it is true, why did Voltaire mention Impostor Zoroaster as an example of great person in the second paragraph?
