What did voltaire mean by "envy and ignorance did not hold themselves beaten"?

It refers to the usage that people gave to envy and ignorance, which are vices of the human being. While we know the little education of the Voltaire era, we know that a very high percentage of the population lived in complete ignorance and even the educated did not have values instilled as justice, which allowed them to see for others before falling into the envy. It means that ignorance is followed by envy, and these causes social injustice.

The envy and ignorance that existed didn't change or go away because they are inherit to human nature. No political system can make a evolutionary change on human nature. That must happen over time.