Having searched for Cacambo in every inn of Venice and found nothing, Candide finally agrees, “All is misery and deceit.” Martin gave a not so comforting speech to the depressed Candide, who only dwelt more on the unfavorable circumstances. At this moment, a monk and a pretty girl who seemed to care for him deeply walked by. Candide challenged Martin that at least they had to be happy, so he invited both to dinner and found that the girl was Paquette, the Baroness' chambermaid.
The two were thrilled to see each other, but when asked as to her status, Paquette revealed that her life was not so joyous as it seemed, just as Martin's. She had been beaten for a man she did not love, imprisoned for the murder of the wife of a physician, and she had taken up the undesirable trade of whoring. The monk, Friar Giroflee, was just as unhappy as Paquette and really despised the monasteries. Thus Martin won the bet.
However Candide could not give up so easily and insisted that Senator Pococurante was a man that had no troubles. A meeting was arranged and there they went. The palace was beautiful wit beautiful girls, beautiful paintings, beautiful writings, beautiful everything. With none was the senator impressed or amused with for long. He thinks Raphael's paintings are unrealistic and that Milton and Homer's tales are atrocious. Voltaire puts down each classic novel, each in a religious superstition of one or the other. Candide had thought he proved his point, but Martin points out that Pococurante is disgusted by everything, therefore not happy.
Weeks pass and still Candide has not found Cacambo, he wallows in fits of depression until one night that Martin and he go to dinner with a few foreign kings. Each of the kings tells a story of being dethroned and coming to Venice for travel. Consequently enough, a servant of one of the kings is Cacambo, who tells Candide to wait and go on a ship with him. After dinner, Cacambo gets permission for Martin and Candide to sail with King Achmet III, who sailed to Constantinople.
On the ship Cacambo tells Candide that Cunégonde is washing dishes as a slave to a prince in Constantinople. On the voyage there, Candide sees two slaves rowing the ship that look familiar. As it turns out Pangloss and the Baron's son are still alive! However this fact is so only because of many horrible events and at the end of Pangloss' explanation for his life Candide asks him if he still believes if that all is for the best. “I have always abided by my first opinion,” answered Pangloss; “for, after all, I am a philosopher, and it would not become me to retract my sentiments; especially as Leibnitz could not be in the wrong: and since harmony is the finest thing in the world, as well as a plenum and the subtle matter.” And with talks of philosophical nature, Candide, Pangloss, the Baron, Cacambo, and Martin filled all the time in between Venice and Constantinople.
At first sight of Cunégonde, Candide was torn by her repulsiveness and his promises. Ignoring this, he ransomed both the old woman and Cunégonde; he also buys a small farm, which the old woman had suggested. When things are set on the farm, Candide (although he has no true desire to) brings the concept of marrying Cunégonde to the Baron, who again throws fits about status. As a result, with no word to Cunégonde, the group decides to send the Baron back to the Turkish captain.
Soon after, Candide and Cunégonde are married, not exactly as the original fantasy was. Then everyone on the farm began to bore and sought the meaning of life from a dervish, who so rudely states that these lower beings should not worry about things meant for higher authority. Just as enlightened as they were before, the group goes back to the farm and meets another farmer who invites them to dinner.
At this meal, the farmer says one thing that truly makes things clear to Candide. The next few days he ponders the words of the farmer, who had said, “I have no more than twenty acres of ground, the whole of which I cultivate myself with the help of my children; and our labor keeps off from us three great evils-idleness, vice, and want.”
In the midst of Pangloss and Martin's philosophical theories, Candide stopped and said, “That is all well, but we must cultivate our garden.” And although neither Martin nor Pangloss went back on their opinions, everyone seemed to realize that a man makes his own future: his own utopia or his own damnation. Candide had, at last, made his.
