,transcribed from the #ahhi ,cassell ,company edition by ,david ,price1 email ccx#jgdpglaf4org ,picture3 ,book cover ,,cassell',s ,,national ,,library4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,rasselas ,,prince ,,of ,,abyssinia 99 99 99 99 99 ,,by ,,samuel ,,johnson1 ,,ll4,d4 ,picture3 ,decorative image ,,cassell ,,company1 ,,limited3 ,,london1 ,,paris ,,melbourne4 #ahhi4 ,,introduction4 ,,rasselas was written by ,samuel ,johnson in the year #agei1 when his age was fifty4 ,he had written his ,london in #agch2 his ,vanity of ,human ,wishes in #agdj2 his ,rambler between ,march1 #agej1 and ,march1 #ageb4 ,in #agee his ,dictionary had appeared1 and ,dublin1 by giving him its honorary ,,ll4,d41 had enabled his friends to call him 8,doctor0 ,johnson4 ,his friends were many1 and his honour among men was great4 ,he owed them to his union of intellectual power with unflinching probity4 ,but he had worked hard1 battling against the wolf without1 and the black dog within--poverty and hypochondria4 ,he was still poor1 though his personal wants did not exceed a hundred pounds a year4 ,his wife had been seven years dead1 and he missed her sorely4 ,his old mother1 who lived to the age of ninety1 died poor in ,january of this year1 #agei4 ,in her old age1 ,johnson had sought to help her from his earnings4 ,at her death there were some little debts1 and there were costs of burial4 ,that he might earn enough to pay them he wrote ,rasselas4 ,rasselas was written in the evenings of one week1 and sent to press while being written4 ,johnson earned by it a hundred pounds1 with twenty-five pounds more for a second edition4 ,it was published in ,march or ,april2 ,johnson never read it after it had been published until more than twenty years afterwards4 ,then1 finding it in a chaise with ,boswell1 he took it up and read it eagerly4 ,this is one of ,johnson's letters to his mother1 written after he knew that her last illness had come upon her4 ,it is dated about ten days before her death4 ,the 8,miss0 referred to in it was a faithful friend4 8,miss0 was his home name for an affectionate step-daughter1 ,lucy ,porter3-- 8,,honoured ,,madam1-- 8,the account which ,miss gives me of your health pierces my heart4 ,god comfort and preserve you1 and save you1 for the sake of ,jesus ,christ4 8,i would have ,miss read to you from time to time the ,passion of our ,saviour2 and sometimes the sentences in the ,communion ,service beginning--',come unto me1 all ye that travail and are heavy laden1 and ,i will give you rest4' 8,i have just now read a physical book which inclines me to think that a strong infusion of the bark would do you good4 ,do1 dear mother1 try it4 8,pray1 send me your blessing1 and forgive all that ,i have done amiss to you4 ,and whatever you would have done1 and what debts you would have paid first1 or anything else that you would direct1 let ,miss put it down2 ,i shall endeavour to obey you4 8,i have got twelve guineas to send you0 six were borrowed4 ,there was a note in ,johnson's ,diary of six guineas repaid to ,allen1 the printer1 who had lent them when he wanted to send money to his dying mother1 8but unhappily am at a loss how to send it to-night4 ,if ,i cannot send it to-night1 it will come by the next post4 8,pray1 do not omit anything mentioned in this letter4 ,god bless you for ever and ever4 8,i am1 8,your dutiful ,son1 8,,sam4 ,,johnson4 8,jan4 #ac1 #agei40 ,that is the personal side of the tale of ,rasselas4 ,in that way ,johnson suddenly1 on urgent pressure1 carried out a design that had been in his mind4 ,the success of ,eastern tales1 written as a form of moral essay1 in the ,rambler and ,adventurer1 upon suggestion1 no doubt1 of ,addison's ,vision of ,mirza1 had prompted him to express his view of life more fully than in essay form by way of ,oriental apologue2 and his early work on ,father ,lobo's ,voyage to ,abyssinia1 caused him to choose ,abyssinia for the land in which to lay his fable4 ,but ,johnson's ,rasselas has also a close relation to the time when it was written1 as ,johnson himself had to the time in which he lived4 ,from the beginning of the century--and especially1 in ,england1 since the beginning of the reign of ,george the ,second--there had been a growing sense of the ills of life1 associated in some minds with doubt whether there could be a just ,god ruling this unhappy world4 ,hard problems of humanity pressed more and more on earnest minds4 ,the feeling expressed in ,johnson's ,vanity of ,human ,wishes had deepened everywhere by the year #agei4 ,this has intense expression in ,rasselas1 where all the joys of life1 without active use of the energies of life1 can give no joy2 and where all uses of the energies of men are for the attainment of ideals worthless or delusive4 ,this life was to ,johnson1 and to almost all the earnest thinkers of his time1 unhappy in itself--a school-house where the rod was ever active4 ,but in its unhappiness ,johnson found no power that could overthrow his faith4 ,to him this world was but a place of education for the happiness that would be to the faithful in the world to come4 ,there was a great dread for him in the question1 ,who shall be found faithful8 ,but there was no doubt in his mind that the happiness of man is to be found only beyond the grave4 ,this was a feeling spread through ,europe in the darkness gathering before the outburst of the storm of the great ,french ,revolution4 ,even ,gray1 in his ,ode on a ,distant ,prospect of ,eton ,college1 regarded ,eton boys at their sports as 8little victims10 unconscious of the doom of miseries awaiting them in life4 ,thus ,johnson's ,rasselas is a book doubly typical4 ,we have in it the spirit of the writer when it best expressed the spirit of his time4 ,h4 ,m4 ,,chapter ,i ,,description ,,of ,a ,,palace ,,in ,a ,,valley4 ,,ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy1 and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope2 who expect that age will perform the promises of youth1 and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow1 attend to the history of ,rasselas1 ,prince of ,abyssinia4 ,rasselas was the fourth son of the mighty ,emperor in whose dominions the father of waters begins his course--whose bounty pours down the streams of plenty1 and scatters over the world the harvests of ,egypt4 ,according to the custom which has descended from age to age among the monarchs of the torrid zone1 ,rasselas was confined in a private palace1 with the other sons and daughters of ,abyssinian royalty1 till the order of succession should call him to the throne4 ,the place which the wisdom or policy of antiquity had destined for the residence of the ,abyssinian princes was a spacious valley in the kingdom of ,amhara1 surrounded on every side by mountains1 of which the summits overhang the middle part4 ,the only passage by which it could be entered was a cavern that passed under a rock1 of which it had long been disputed whether it was the work of nature or of human industry4 ,the outlet of the cavern was concealed by a thick wood1 and the mouth which opened into the valley was closed with gates of iron1 forged by the artificers of ancient days1 so massive that no man1 without the help of engines1 could open or shut them4 ,from the mountains on every side rivulets descended that filled all the valley with verdure and fertility1 and formed a lake in the middle1 inhabited by fish of every species1 and frequented by every fowl whom nature has taught to dip the wing in water4 ,this lake discharged its superfluities by a stream1 which entered a dark cleft of the mountain on the northern side1 and fell with dreadful noise from precipice to precipice till it was heard no more4 ,the sides of the mountains were covered with trees1 the banks of the brooks were diversified with flowers2 every blast shook spices from the rocks1 and every month dropped fruits upon the ground4 ,all animals that bite the grass or browse the shrubs1 whether wild or tame1 wandered in this extensive circuit1 secured from beasts of prey by the mountains which confined them4 ,on one part were flocks and herds feeding in the pastures1 on another all the beasts of chase frisking in the lawns1 the sprightly kid was bounding on the rocks1 the subtle monkey frolicking in the trees1 and the solemn elephant reposing in the shade4 ,all the diversities of the world were brought together1 the blessings of nature were collected1 and its evils extracted and excluded4 ,the valley1 wide and fruitful1 supplied its inhabitants with all the necessaries of life1 and all delights and superfluities were added at the annual visit which the ,emperor paid his children1 when the iron gate was opened to the sound of music1 and during eight days every one that resided in the valley was required to propose whatever might contribute to make seclusion pleasant1 to fill up the vacancies of attention1 and lessen the tediousness of time4 ,every desire was immediately granted4 ,all the artificers of pleasure were called to gladden the festivity2 the musicians exerted the power of harmony1 and the dancers showed their activity before the princes1 in hopes that they should pass their lives in blissful captivity1 to which those only were admitted whose performance was thought able to add novelty to luxury4 ,such was the appearance of security and delight which this retirement afforded1 that they to whom it was new always desired that it might be perpetual2 and as those on whom the iron gate had once closed were never suffered to return1 the effect of longer experience could not be known4 ,thus every year produced new scenes of delight1 and new competitors for imprisonment4 ,the palace stood on an eminence1 raised about thirty paces above the surface of the lake4 ,it was divided into many squares or courts1 built with greater or less magnificence according to the rank of those for whom they were designed4 ,the roofs were turned into arches of massive stone1 joined by a cement that grew harder by time1 and the building stood from century to century1 deriding the solstitial rains and equinoctial hurricanes1 without need of reparation4 ,this house1 which was so large as to be fully known to none but some ancient officers1 who successively inherited the secrets of the place1 was built as if ,suspicion herself had dictated the plan4 ,to every room there was an open and secret passage2 every square had a communication with the rest1 either from the upper storeys by private galleries1 or by subterraneous passages from the lower apartments4 ,many of the columns had unsuspected cavities1 in which a long race of monarchs had deposited their treasures4 ,they then closed up the opening with marble1 which was never to be removed but in the utmost exigences of the kingdom1 and recorded their accumulations in a book1 which was itself concealed in a tower1 not entered but by the ,emperor1 attended by the prince who stood next in succession4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,discontent ,,of ,,rasselas ,,in ,,the ,,happy ,,valley4 ,,here the sons and daughters of ,abyssinia lived only to know the soft vicissitudes of pleasure and repose1 attended by all that were skilful to delight1 and gratified with whatever the senses can enjoy4 ,they wandered in gardens of fragrance1 and slept in the fortresses of security4 ,every art was practised to make them pleased with their own condition4 ,the sages who instructed them told them of nothing but the miseries of public life1 and described all beyond the mountains as regions of calamity1 where discord was always racing1 and where man preyed upon man4 ,to heighten their opinion of their own felicity1 they were daily entertained with songs1 the subject of which was the ,happy ,valley4 ,their appetites were excited by frequent enumerations of different enjoyments1 and revelry and merriment were the business of every hour1 from the dawn of morning to the close of the evening4 ,these methods were generally successful2 few of the princes had ever wished to enlarge their bounds1 but passed their lives in full conviction that they had all within their reach that art or nature could bestow1 and pitied those whom nature had excluded from this seat of tranquillity as the sport of chance and the slaves of misery4 ,thus they rose in the morning and lay down at night1 pleased with each other and with themselves1 all but ,rasselas1 who1 in the twenty-sixth year of his age1 began to withdraw himself from the pastimes and assemblies1 and to delight in solitary walks and silent meditation4 ,he often sat before tables covered with luxury1 and forgot to taste the dainties that were placed before him2 he rose abruptly in the midst of the song1 and hastily retired beyond the sound of music4 ,his attendants observed the change1 and endeavoured to renew his love of pleasure4 ,he neglected their officiousness1 repulsed their invitations1 and spent day after day on the banks of rivulets sheltered with trees1 where he sometimes listened to the birds in the branches1 sometimes observed the fish playing in the streams1 and anon cast his eyes upon the pastures and mountains filled with animals1 of which some were biting the herbage1 and some sleeping among the bushes4 ,the singularity of his humour made him much observed4 ,one of the sages1 in whose conversation he had formerly delighted1 followed him secretly1 in hope of discovering the cause of his disquiet4 ,rasselas1 who knew not that any one was near him1 having for some time fixed his eyes upon the goats that were browsing among the rocks1 began to compare their condition with his own4 8,what10 said he1 8makes the difference between man and all the rest of the animal creation8 ,every beast that strays beside me has the same corporal necessities with myself3 he is hungry1 and crops the grass2 he is thirsty1 and drinks the stream2 his thirst and hunger are appeased2 he is satisfied1 and sleeps2 he rises again1 and is hungry2 he is again fed1 and is at rest4 ,i am hungry and thirsty1 like him1 but when thirst and hunger cease1 ,i am not at rest4 ,i am1 like him1 pained with want1 but am not1 like him1 satisfied with fulness4 ,the intermediate hours are tedious and gloomy2 ,i long again to be hungry that ,i may again quicken the attention4 ,the birds peck the berries or the corn1 and fly away to the groves1 where they sit in seeming happiness on the branches1 and waste their lives in tuning one unvaried series of sounds4 ,i likewise can call the lutist and the singer2 but the sounds that pleased me yesterday weary me to-day1 and will grow yet more wearisome to-morrow4 ,i can discover in me no power of perception which is not glutted with its proper pleasure1 yet ,i do not feel myself delighted4 ,man surely has some latent sense for which this place affords no gratification2 or he has some desire distinct from sense1 which must be satisfied before he can be happy40 ,after this he lifted up his head1 and seeing the moon rising1 walked towards the palace4 ,as he passed through the fields1 and saw the animals around him1 8,ye10 said he1 8are happy1 and need not envy me that walk thus among you1 burdened with myself2 nor do ,i1 ye gentle beings1 envy your felicity2 for it is not the felicity of man4 ,i have many distresses from which you are free2 ,i fear pain when ,i do not feel it2 ,i sometimes shrink at evils recollected1 and sometimes start at evils anticipated3 surely the equity of ,providence has balanced peculiar sufferings with peculiar enjoyments40 ,with observations like these the ,prince amused himself as he returned1 uttering them with a plaintive voice1 yet with a look that discovered him to feel some complacence in his own perspicacity1 and to receive some solace of the miseries of life from consciousness of the delicacy with which he felt and the eloquence with which he bewailed them4 ,he mingled cheerfully in the diversions of the evening1 and all rejoiced to find that his heart was lightened4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,wants ,,of ,,him ,,that ,,wants ,,nothing4 ,,on the next day1 his old instructor1 imagining that he had now made himself acquainted with his disease of mind1 was in hope of curing it by counsel1 and officiously sought an opportunity of conference1 which the ,prince1 having long considered him as one whose intellects were exhausted1 was not very willing to afford4 8,why10 said he1 8does this man thus intrude upon me8 ,shall ,i never be suffered to forget these lectures1 which pleased only while they were new1 and to become new again must be forgotten80 ,he then walked into the wood1 and composed himself to his usual meditations2 when1 before his thoughts had taken any settled form1 he perceived his pursuer at his side1 and was at first prompted by his impatience to go hastily away2 but being unwilling to offend a man whom he had once reverenced and still loved1 he invited him to sit down with him on the bank4 ,the old man1 thus encouraged1 began to lament the change which had been lately observed in the ,prince1 and to inquire why he so often retired from the pleasures of the palace to loneliness and silence4 8,i fly from pleasure10 said the ,prince1 8because pleasure has ceased to please3 ,i am lonely because ,i am miserable1 and am unwilling to cloud with my presence the happiness of others40 8,you1 sir10 said the sage1 8are the first who has complained of misery in the ,happy ,valley4 ,i hope to convince you that your complaints have no real cause4 ,you are here in full possession of all the ,emperor of ,abyssinia can bestow2 here is neither labour to be endured nor danger to be dreaded1 yet here is all that labour or danger can procure or purchase4 ,look round and tell me which of your wants is without supply3 if you want nothing1 how are you unhappy80 8,that ,i want nothing10 said the ,prince1 8or that ,i know not what ,i want1 is the cause of my complaint3 if ,i had any known want1 ,i should have a certain wish2 that wish would excite endeavour1 and ,i should not then repine to see the sun move so slowly towards the western mountains1 or to lament when the day breaks1 and sleep will no longer hide me from myself4 ,when ,i see the kids and the lambs chasing one another1 ,i fancy that ,i should be happy if ,i had something to pursue4 ,but1 possessing all that ,i can want1 ,i find one day and one hour exactly like another1 except that the latter is still more tedious than the former4 ,let your experience inform me how the day may now seem as short as in my childhood1 while nature was yet fresh1 and every moment showed me what ,i never had observed before4 ,i have already enjoyed too much3 give me something to desire40 ,the old man was surprised at this new species of affliction1 and knew not what to reply1 yet was unwilling to be silent4 8,sir10 said he1 8if you had seen the miseries of the world1 you would know how to value your present state40 8,now10 said the ,prince1 8you have given me something to desire4 ,i shall long to see the miseries of the world1 since the sight of them is necessary to happiness40 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,the ,,prince ,,continues ,,to ,,grieve ,,and ,,muse4 ,,at this time the sound of music proclaimed the hour of repast1 and the conversation was concluded4 ,the old man went away sufficiently discontented to find that his reasonings had produced the only conclusion which they were intended to prevent4 ,but in the decline of life1 shame and grief are of short duration3 whether it be that we bear easily what we have borne long2 or that1 finding ourselves in age less regarded1 we less regard others2 or that we look with slight regard upon afflictions to which we know that the hand of death is about to put an end4 ,the ,prince1 whose views were extended to a wider space1 could not speedily quiet his emotions4 ,he had been before terrified at the length of life which nature promised him1 because he considered that in a long time much must be endured3 he now rejoiced in his youth1 because in many years much might be done4 ,the first beam of hope that had been ever darted into his mind rekindled youth in his cheeks1 and doubled the lustre of his eyes4 ,he was fired with the desire of doing something1 though he knew not yet1 with distinctness1 either end or means4 ,he was now no longer gloomy and unsocial2 but considering himself as master of a secret stock of happiness1 which he could only enjoy by concealing it1 he affected to be busy in all the schemes of diversion1 and endeavoured to make others pleased with the state of which he himself was weary4 ,but pleasures can never be so multiplied or continued as not to leave much of life unemployed2 there were many hours1 both of the night and day1 which he could spend without suspicion in solitary thought4 ,the load of life was much lightened2 he went eagerly into the assemblies1 because he supposed the frequency of his presence necessary to the success of his purposes2 he retired gladly to privacy1 because he had now a subject of thought4 ,his chief amusement was to picture to himself that world which he had never seen1 to place himself in various conditions1 to be entangled in imaginary difficulties1 and to be engaged in wild adventures2 but1 his benevolence always terminated his projects in the relief of distress1 the detection of fraud1 the defeat of oppression1 and the diffusion of happiness4 ,thus passed twenty months of the life of ,rasselas4 ,he busied himself so intensely in visionary bustle that he forgot his real solitude2 and amidst hourly preparations for the various incidents of human affairs1 neglected to consider by what means he should mingle with mankind4 ,one day1 as he was sitting on a bank1 he feigned to himself an orphan virgin robbed of her little portion by a treacherous lover1 and crying after him for restitution4 ,so strongly was the image impressed upon his mind that he started up in the maid's defence1 and ran forward to seize the plunderer with all the eagerness of real pursuit4 ,fear naturally quickens the flight of guilt4 ,rasselas could not catch the fugitive with his utmost efforts2 but1 resolving to weary by perseverance him whom he could not surpass in speed1 he pressed on till the foot of the mountain stopped his course4 ,here he recollected himself1 and smiled at his own useless impetuosity4 ,then raising his eyes to the mountain1 8,this10 said he1 8is the fatal obstacle that hinders at once the enjoyment of pleasure and the exercise of virtue4 ,how long is it that my hopes and wishes have flown beyond this boundary of my life1 which yet ,i never have attempted to surmount80 ,struck with this reflection1 he sat down to muse1 and remembered that since he first resolved to escape from his confinement1 the sun had passed twice over him in his annual course4 ,he now felt a degree of regret with which he had never been before acquainted4 ,he considered how much might have been done in the time which had passed1 and left nothing real behind it4 ,he compared twenty months with the life of man4 8,in life10 said he1 8is not to be counted the ignorance of infancy or imbecility of age4 ,we are long before we are able to think1 and we soon cease from the power of acting4 ,the true period of human existence may be reasonably estimated at forty years1 of which ,i have mused away the four-and-twentieth part4 ,what ,i have lost was certain1 for ,i have certainly possessed it2 but of twenty months to come1 who can assure me80 ,the consciousness of his own folly pierced him deeply1 and he was long before he could be reconciled to himself4 8,the rest of my time10 said he1 8has been lost by the crime or folly of my ancestors1 and the absurd institutions of my country2 ,i remember it with disgust1 yet without remorse3 but the months that have passed since new light darted into my soul1 since ,i formed a scheme of reasonable felicity1 have been squandered by my own fault4 ,i have lost that which can never be restored2 ,i have seen the sun rise and set for twenty months1 an idle gazer on the light of heaven2 in this time the birds have left the nest of their mother1 and committed themselves to the woods and to the skies2 the kid has forsaken the teat1 and learned by degrees to climb the rocks in quest of independent sustenance4 ,i only have made no advances1 but am still helpless and ignorant4 ,the moon1 by more than twenty changes1 admonished me of the flux of life2 the stream that rolled before my feet upbraided my inactivity4 ,i sat feasting on intellectual luxury1 regardless alike of the examples of the earth and the instructions of the planets4 ,twenty months are passed3 who shall restore them80 ,these sorrowful meditations fastened upon his mind2 he passed four months in resolving to lose no more time in idle resolves1 and was awakened to more vigorous exertion by hearing a maid1 who had broken a porcelain cup1 remark that what cannot be repaired is not to be regretted4 ,this was obvious2 and ,rasselas reproached himself that he had not discovered it--having not known1 or not considered1 how many useful hints are obtained by chance1 and how often the mind1 hurried by her own ardour to distant views1 neglects the truths that lie open before her4 ,he for a few hours regretted his regret1 and from that time bent his whole mind upon the means of escaping from the ,valley of ,happiness4 ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,prince ,,meditates ,,his ,,escape4 ,,he now found that it would be very difficult to effect that which it was very easy to suppose effected4 ,when he looked round about him1 he saw himself confined by the bars of nature1 which had never yet been broken1 and by the gate through which none that had once passed it were ever able to return4 ,he was now impatient as an eagle in a grate4 ,he passed week after week in clambering the mountains to see if there was any aperture which the bushes might conceal1 but found all the summits inaccessible by their prominence4 ,the iron gate he despaired to open for it was not only secured with all the power of art1 but was always watched by successive sentinels1 and was1 by its position1 exposed to the perpetual observation of all the inhabitants4 ,he then examined the cavern through which the waters of the lake were discharged2 and1 looking down at a time when the sun shone strongly upon its mouth1 he discovered it to be full of broken rocks1 which1 though they permitted the stream to flow through many narrow passages1 would stop any body of solid bulk4 ,he returned discouraged and dejected2 but having now known the blessing of hope1 resolved never to despair4 ,in these fruitless researches he spent ten months4 ,the time1 however1 passed cheerfully away--in the morning he rose with new hope2 in the evening applauded his own diligence2 and in the night slept soundly after his fatigue4 ,he met a thousand amusements1 which beguiled his labour and diversified his thoughts4 ,he discerned the various instincts of animals and properties of plants1 and found the place replete with wonders1 of which he proposed to solace himself with the contemplation if he should never be able to accomplish his flight--rejoicing that his endeavours1 though yet unsuccessful1 had supplied him with a source of inexhaustible inquiry4 ,but his original curiosity was not yet abated2 he resolved to obtain some knowledge of the ways of men4 ,his wish still continued1 but his hope grew less4 ,he ceased to survey any longer the walls of his prison1 and spared to search by new toils for interstices which he knew could not be found1 yet determined to keep his design always in view1 and lay hold on any expedient that time should offer4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,a ,,dissertation ,,on ,,the ,,art ,,of ,,flying4 ,,among the artists that had been allured into the ,happy ,valley1 to labour for the accommodation and pleasure of its inhabitants1 was a man eminent for his knowledge of the mechanic powers1 who had contrived many engines both of use and recreation4 ,by a wheel which the stream turned he forced the water into a tower1 whence it was distributed to all the apartments of the palace4 ,he erected a pavilion in the garden1 around which he kept the air always cool by artificial showers4 ,one of the groves1 appropriated to the ladies1 was ventilated by fans1 to which the rivulets that ran through it gave a constant motion2 and instruments of soft music were played at proper distances1 of which some played by the impulse of the wind1 and some by the power of the stream4 ,this artist was sometimes visited by ,rasselas who was pleased with every kind of knowledge1 imagining that the time would come when all his acquisitions should be of use to him in the open world4 ,he came one day to amuse himself in his usual manner1 and found the master busy in building a sailing chariot4 ,he saw that the design was practicable upon a level surface1 and with expressions of great esteem solicited its completion4 ,the workman was pleased to find himself so much regarded by the ,prince1 and resolved to gain yet higher honours4 8,sir10 said he1 8you have seen but a small part of what the mechanic sciences can perform4 ,i have been long of opinion that1 instead of the tardy conveyance of ships and chariots1 man might use the swifter migration of wings1 that the fields of air are open to knowledge1 and that only ignorance and idleness need crawl upon the ground40 ,this hint rekindled the ,prince's desire of passing the mountains4 ,having seen what the mechanist had already performed1 he was willing to fancy that he could do more1 yet resolved to inquire further before he suffered hope to afflict him by disappointment4 8,i am afraid10 said he to the artist1 8that your imagination prevails over your skill1 and that you now tell me rather what you wish than what you know4 ,every animal has his element assigned him2 the birds have the air1 and man and beasts the earth40 8,so10 replied the mechanist1 8fishes have the water1 in which yet beasts can swim by nature and man by art4 ,he that can swim needs not despair to fly2 to swim is to fly in a grosser fluid1 and to fly is to swim in a subtler4 ,we are only to proportion our power of resistance to the different density of matter through which we are to pass4 ,you will be necessarily up-borne by the air if you can renew any impulse upon it faster than the air can recede from the pressure40 8,but the exercise of swimming10 said the ,prince1 8is very laborious2 the strongest limbs are soon wearied4 ,i am afraid the act of flying will be yet more violent2 and wings will be of no great use unless we can fly further than we can swim40 8,the labour of rising from the ground10 said the artist1 8will be great1 as we see it in the heavier domestic fowls2 but as we mount higher the earth's attraction and the body's gravity will be gradually diminished1 till we shall arrive at a region where the man shall float in the air without any tendency to fall2 no care will then be necessary but to move forward1 which the gentlest impulse will effect4 ,you1 sir1 whose curiosity is so extensive1 will easily conceive with what pleasure a philosopher1 furnished with wings and hovering in the sky1 would see the earth and all its inhabitants rolling beneath him1 and presenting to him successively1 by its diurnal motion1 all the countries within the same parallel4 ,how must it amuse the pendent spectator to see the moving scene of land and ocean1 cities and deserts2 to survey with equal security the marts of trade and the fields of battle2 mountains infested by barbarians1 and fruitful regions gladdened by plenty and lulled by peace4 ,how easily shall we then trace the ,nile through all his passages1 pass over to distant regions1 and examine the face of nature from one extremity of the earth to the other40 8,all this10 said the ,prince1 8is much to be desired1 but ,i am afraid that no man will be able to breathe in these regions of speculation and tranquillity4 ,i have been told that respiration is difficult upon lofty mountains1 yet from these precipices1 though so high as to produce great tenuity of air1 it is very easy to fall2 therefore ,i suspect that from any height where life can be supported1 there may be danger of too quick descent40 8,nothing10 replied the artist1 8will ever be attempted if all possible objections must be first overcome4 ,if you will favour my project1 ,i will try the first flight at my own hazard4 ,i have considered the structure of all volant animals1 and find the folding continuity of the bat's wings most easily accommodated to the human form4 ,upon this model ,i shall begin my task to-morrow1 and in a year expect to tower into the air beyond the malice and pursuit of man4 ,but ,i will work only on this condition1 that the art shall not be divulged1 and that you shall not require me to make wings for any but ourselves40 8,why10 said ,rasselas1 8should you envy others so great an advantage8 ,all skill ought to be exerted for universal good2 every man has owed much to others1 and ought to repay the kindness that he has received40 8,if men were all virtuous10 returned the artist1 8,i should with great alacrity teach them to fly4 ,but what would be the security of the good if the bad could at pleasure invade them from the sky8 ,against an army sailing through the clouds neither walls1 mountains1 nor seas could afford security4 ,a flight of northern savages might hover in the wind and light with irresistible violence upon the capital of a fruitful reason4 ,even this valley1 the retreat of princes1 the abode of happiness1 might be violated by the sudden descent of some of the naked nations that swarm on the coast of the southern sea60 ,the ,prince promised secrecy1 and waited for the performance1 not wholly hopeless of success4 ,he visited the work from time to time1 observed its progress1 and remarked many ingenious contrivances to facilitate motion and unite levity with strength4 ,the artist was every day more certain that he should leave vultures and eagles behind him1 and the contagion of his confidence seized upon the ,prince4 ,in a year the wings were finished2 and on a morning appointed the maker appeared1 furnished for flight1 on a little promontory2 he waved his pinions awhile to gather air1 then leaped from his stand1 and in an instant dropped into the lake4 ,his wings1 which were of no use in the air1 sustained him in the water2 and the ,prince drew him to land half dead with terror and vexation4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,the ,,prince ,,finds ,a ,,man ,,of ,,learning4 ,,the ,prince was not much afflicted by this disaster1 having suffered himself to hope for a happier event only because he had no other means of escape in view4 ,he still persisted in his design to leave the ,happy ,valley by the first opportunity4 ,his imagination was now at a stand2 he had no prospect of entering into the world1 and1 notwithstanding all his endeavours to support himself1 discontent by degrees preyed upon him1 and he began again to lose his thoughts in sadness when the rainy season1 which in these countries is periodical1 made it inconvenient to wander in the woods4 ,the rain continued longer and with more violence than had ever been known2 the clouds broke on the surrounding mountains1 and the torrents streamed into the plain on every side1 till the cavern was too narrow to discharge the water4 ,the lake overflowed its banks1 and all the level of the valley was covered with the inundation4 ,the eminence on which the palace was built1 and some other spots of rising ground1 were all that the eye could now discover4 ,the herds and flocks left the pasture1 and both the wild beasts and the tame retreated to the mountains4 ,this inundation confined all the princes to domestic amusements1 and the attention of ,rasselas was particularly seized by a poem 7which ,imlac rehearsed7 upon the various conditions of humanity4 ,he commanded the poet to attend him in his apartment1 and recite his verses a second time2 then entering into familiar talk1 he thought himself happy in having found a man who knew the world so well1 and could so skilfully paint the scenes of life4 ,he asked a thousand questions about things to which1 though common to all other mortals1 his confinement from childhood had kept him a stranger4 ,the poet pitied his ignorance1 and loved his curiosity1 and entertained him from day to day with novelty and instruction so that the ,prince regretted the necessity of sleep1 and longed till the morning should renew his pleasure4 ,as they were sitting together1 the ,prince commanded ,imlac to relate his history1 and to tell by what accident he was forced1 or by what motive induced1 to close his life in the ,happy ,valley4 ,as he was going to begin his narrative1 ,rasselas was called to a concert1 and obliged to restrain his curiosity till the evening4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,the ,,history ,,of ,,imlac4 ,,the close of the day is1 in the regions of the torrid zone1 the only season of diversion and entertainment1 and it was therefore midnight before the music ceased and the princesses retired4 ,rasselas then called for his companion1 and required him to begin the story of his life4 8,sir10 said ,imlac1 8my history will not be long3 the life that is devoted to knowledge passes silently away1 and is very little diversified by events4 ,to talk in public1 to think in solitude1 to read and to hear1 to inquire and answer inquiries1 is the business of a scholar4 ,he wanders about the world without pomp or terror1 and is neither known nor valued but by men like himself4 8,i was born in the kingdom of ,goiama1 at no great distance from the fountain of the ,nile4 ,my father was a wealthy merchant1 who traded between the inland countries of ,africa and the ports of the ,red ,sea4 ,he was honest1 frugal1 and diligent1 but of mean sentiments and narrow comprehension2 he desired only to be rich1 and to conceal his riches1 lest he should be spoiled by the governors of the province40 8,surely10 said the ,prince1 8my father must be negligent of his charge if any man in his dominions dares take that which belongs to another4 ,does he not know that kings are accountable for injustice permitted as well as done8 ,if ,i were ,emperor1 not the meanest of my subjects should be oppressed with impunity4 ,my blood boils when ,i am told that a merchant durst not enjoy his honest gains for fear of losing them by the rapacity of power4 ,name the governor who robbed the people that ,i may declare his crimes to the ,emperor60 8,sir10 said ,imlac1 8your ardour is the natural effect of virtue animated by youth4 ,the time will come when you will acquit your father1 and perhaps hear with less impatience of the governor4 ,oppression is1 in the ,abyssinian dominions1 neither frequent nor tolerated2 but no form of government has been yet discovered by which cruelty can be wholly prevented4 ,subordination supposes power on one part and subjection on the other2 and if power be in the hands of men it will sometimes be abused4 ,the vigilance of the supreme magistrate may do much1 but much will still remain undone4 ,he can never know all the crimes that are committed1 and can seldom punish all that he knows40 8,this10 said the ,prince1 8,i do not understand2 but ,i had rather hear thee than dispute4 ,continue thy narration40 8,my father10 proceeded ,imlac1 8originally intended that ,i should have no other education than such as might qualify me for commerce2 and discovering in me great strength of memory and quickness of apprehension1 often declared his hope that ,i should be some time the richest man in ,abyssinia40 8,why10 said the ,prince1 8did thy father desire the increase of his wealth when it was already greater than he durst discover or enjoy8 ,i am unwilling to doubt thy veracity1 yet inconsistencies cannot both be true40 8,inconsistencies10 answered ,imlac1 8cannot both be right2 but1 imputed to man1 they may both be true4 ,yet diversity is not inconsistency4 ,my father might expect a time of greater security4 ,however1 some desire is necessary to keep life in motion2 and he whose real wants are supplied must admit those of fancy40 8,this10 said the ,prince1 8,i can in some measure conceive4 ,i repent that ,i interrupted thee40 8,with this hope10 proceeded ,imlac1 8he sent me to school4 ,but when ,i had once found the delight of knowledge1 and felt the pleasure of intelligence and the pride of invention1 ,i began silently to despise riches1 and determined to disappoint the purposes of my father1 whose grossness of conception raised my pity4 ,i was twenty years old before his tenderness would expose me to the fatigue of travel2 in which time ,i had been instructed1 by successive masters1 in all the literature of my native country4 ,as every hour taught me something new1 ,i lived in a continual course of gratification2 but as ,i advanced towards manhood1 ,i lost much of the reverence with which ,i had been used to look on my instructors2 because when the lessons were ended ,i did not find them wiser or better than common men4 8,at length my father resolved to initiate me in commerce2 and1 opening one of his subterranean treasuries1 counted out ten thousand pieces of gold4 #8,this1 young man1' said he1 #8is the stock with which you must negotiate4 ,i began with less than a fifth part1 and you see how diligence and parsimony have increased it4 ,this is your own1 to waste or improve4 ,if you squander it by negligence or caprice1 you must wait for my death before you will be rich2 if in four years you double your stock1 we will thenceforward let subordination cease1 and live together as friends and partners1 for he shall be always equal with me who is equally skilled in the art of growing rich4' 8,we laid out our money upon camels1 concealed in bales of cheap goods1 and travelled to the shore of the ,red ,sea4 ,when ,i cast my eye on the expanse of waters1 my heart bounded like that of a prisoner escaped4 ,i felt an inextinguishable curiosity kindle in my mind1 and resolved to snatch this opportunity of seeing the manners of other nations1 and of learning sciences unknown in ,abyssinia4 8,i remembered that my father had obliged me to the improvement of my stock1 not by a promise1 which ,i ought not to violate1 but by a penalty1 which ,i was at liberty to incur2 and therefore determined to gratify my predominant desire1 and1 by drinking at the fountain of knowledge1 to quench the thirst of curiosity4 8,as ,i was supposed to trade without connection with my father1 it was easy for me to become acquainted with the master of a ship1 and procure a passage to some other country4 ,i had no motives of choice to regulate my voyage4 ,it was sufficient for me that1 wherever ,i wandered1 ,i should see a country which ,i had not seen before4 ,i therefore entered a ship bound for ,surat1 having left a letter for my father declaring my intention40 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,the ,,history ,,of ,,imlac 7continued74 8,,when ,i first entered upon the world of waters1 and lost sight of land1 ,i looked round about me in pleasing terror1 and thinking my soul enlarged by the boundless prospect1 imagined that ,i could gaze around me for ever without satiety2 but in a short time ,i grew weary of looking on barren uniformity1 where ,i could only see again what ,i had already seen4 ,i then descended into the ship1 and doubted for awhile whether all my future pleasures would not end1 like this1 in disgust and disappointment4 #8,yet surely1' said ,i1 #8the ocean and the land are very different4 ,the only variety of water is rest and motion4 ,but the earth has mountains and valleys1 deserts and cities2 it is inhabited by men of different customs and contrary opinions2 and ,i may hope to find variety in life1 though ,i should miss it in nature4' 8,with this thought ,i quieted my mind1 and amused myself during the voyage1 sometimes by learning from the sailors the art of navigation1 which ,i have never practised1 and sometimes by forming schemes for my conduct in different situations1 in not one of which ,i have been ever placed4 8,i was almost weary of my naval amusements when we safely landed at ,surat4 ,i secured my money and1 purchasing some commodities for show1 joined myself to a caravan that was passing into the inland country4 ,my companions1 for some reason or other1 conjecturing that ,i was rich1 and1 by my inquiries and admiration1 finding that ,i was ignorant1 considered me as a novice whom they had a right to cheat1 and who was to learn1 at the usual expense1 the art of fraud4 ,they exposed me to the theft of servants and the exaction of officers1 and saw me plundered upon false pretences1 without any advantage to themselves but that of rejoicing in the superiority of their own knowledge40 8,stop a moment10 said the ,prince2 8is there such depravity in man as that he should injure another without benefit to himself8 ,i can easily conceive that all are pleased with superiority2 but your ignorance was merely accidental1 which1 being neither your crime nor your folly1 could afford them no reason to applaud themselves2 and the knowledge which they had1 and which you wanted1 they might as effectually have shown by warning as betraying you40 8,pride10 said ,imlac1 8is seldom delicate2 it will please itself with very mean advantages1 and envy feels not its own happiness but when it may be compared with the misery of others4 ,they were my enemies because they grieved to think me rich1 and my oppressors because they delighted to find me weak40 8,proceed10 said the ,prince2 8,i doubt not of the facts which you relate1 but imagine that you impute them to mistaken motives40 8,in this company10 said ,imlac1 8,i arrived at ,agra1 the capital of ,hindostan1 the city in which the ,great ,mogul commonly resides4 ,i applied myself to the language of the country1 and in a few months was able to converse with the learned men2 some of whom ,i found morose and reserved1 and others easy and communicative2 some were unwilling to teach another what they had with difficulty learned themselves2 and some showed that the end of their studies was to gain the dignity of instructing4 8,to the tutor of the young princes ,i recommended myself so much that ,i was presented to the ,emperor as a man of uncommon knowledge4 ,the ,emperor asked me many questions concerning my country and my travels1 and though ,i cannot now recollect anything that he uttered above the power of a common man1 he dismissed me astonished at his wisdom and enamoured of his goodness4 8,my credit was now so high that the merchants with whom ,i had travelled applied to me for recommendations to the ladies of the ,court4 ,i was surprised at their confidence of solicitation and greatly reproached them with their practices on the road4 ,they heard me with cold indifference1 and showed no tokens of shame or sorrow4 8,they then urged their request with the offer of a bribe1 but what ,i would not do for kindness ,i would not do for money1 and refused them1 not because they had injured me1 but because ,i would not enable them to injure others2 for ,i knew they would have made use of my credit to cheat those who should buy their wares4 8,having resided at ,agra till there was no more to be learned1 ,i travelled into ,persia1 where ,i saw many remains of ancient magnificence and observed many new accommodations of life4 ,the ,persians are a nation eminently social1 and their assemblies afforded me daily opportunities of remarking characters and manners1 and of tracing human nature through all its variations4 8,from ,persia ,i passed into ,arabia1 where ,i saw a nation pastoral and warlike1 who lived without any settled habitation1 whose wealth is their flocks and herds1 and who have carried on through ages an hereditary war with mankind1 though they neither covet nor envy their possessions40 ,,chapter ,x ,,imlac',s ,,history 7continued7--,a ,,dissertation ,,upon ,,poetry4 8,,wherever ,i went ,i found that poetry was considered as the highest learning1 and regarded with a veneration somewhat approaching to that which man would pay to angelic nature4 ,and yet it fills me with wonder that in almost all countries the most ancient poets are considered as the best2 whether it be that every other kind of knowledge is an acquisition greatly attained1 and poetry is a gift conferred at once2 or that the first poetry of every nation surprised them as a novelty1 and retained the credit by consent which it received by accident at first2 or whether1 as the province of poetry is to describe nature and passion1 which are always the same1 the first writers took possession of the most striking objects for description and the most probable occurrences for fiction1 and left nothing to those that followed them but transcription of the same events and new combinations of the same images4 ,whatever be the reason1 it is commonly observed that the early writers are in possession of nature1 and their followers of art2 that the first excel in strength and invention1 and the latter in elegance and refinement4 8,i was desirous to add my name to this illustrious fraternity4 ,i read all the poets of ,persia and ,arabia1 and was able to repeat by memory the volumes that are suspended in the mosque of ,mecca4 ,but ,i soon found that no man was ever great by imitations4 ,my desire of excellence impelled me to transfer my attention to nature and to life4 ,nature was to be my subject1 and men to be my auditors4 ,i could never describe what ,i had not seen4 ,i could not hope to move those with delight or terror whose interests and opinions ,i did not understand4 8,being now resolved to be a poet1 ,i saw everything with a new purpose2 my sphere of attention was suddenly magnified2 no kind of knowledge was to be overlooked4 ,i ranged mountains and deserts for images and resemblances1 and pictured upon my mind every tree of the forest and flower of the valley4 ,i observed with equal care the crags of the rock and the pinnacles of the palace4 ,sometimes ,i wandered along the mazes of the rivulet1 and sometimes watched the changes of the summer clouds4 ,to a poet nothing can be useless4 ,whatever is beautiful and whatever is dreadful must be familiar to his imagination2 he must be conversant with all that is awfully vast or elegantly little4 ,the plants of the garden1 the animals of the wood1 the minerals of the earth1 and meteors of the sky1 must all concur to store his mind with inexhaustible variety2 for every idea is useful for the enforcement or decoration of moral or religious truth1 and he who knows most will have most power of diversifying his scenes and of gratifying his reader with remote allusions and unexpected instruction4 8,all the appearances of nature ,i was therefore careful to study1 and every country which ,i have surveyed has contributed something to my poetical powers40 8,in so wide a survey10 said the ,prince1 8you must surely have left much unobserved4 ,i have lived till now within the circuit of the mountains1 and yet cannot walk abroad without the sight of something which ,i had never beheld before1 or never heeded40 8,this business of a poet10 said ,imlac1 8is to examine1 not the individual1 but the species2 to remark general properties and large appearances4 ,he does not number the streaks of the tulip1 or describe the different shades of the verdure of the forest4 ,he is to exhibit in his portraits of nature such prominent and striking features as recall the original to every mind1 and must neglect the minuter discriminations1 which one may have remarked and another have neglected1 for those characteristics which are alike obvious to vigilance and carelessness4 8,but the knowledge of nature is only half the task of a poet2 he must be acquainted likewise with all the modes of life4 ,his character requires that he estimate the happiness and misery of every condition1 observe the power of all the passions in all their combinations1 and trace the changes of the human mind1 as they are modified by various institutions and accidental influences of climate or custom1 from the sprightliness of infancy to the despondence of decrepitude4 ,he must divest himself of the prejudices of his age and country2 he must consider right and wrong in their abstracted and invariable state2 he must disregard present laws and opinions1 and rise to general and transcendental truths1 which will always be the same4 ,he must1 therefore1 content himself with the slow progress of his name1 contemn the praise of his own time1 and commit his claims to the justice of posterity4 ,he must write as the interpreter of nature and the legislator of mankind1 and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts and manners of future generations1 as a being superior to time and place4 8,his labour is not yet at an end4 ,he must know many languages and many sciences1 and1 that his style may be worthy of his thoughts1 must by incessant practice familiarise to himself every delicacy of speech and grace of harmony40 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,imlac',s ,,narrative 7continued7--,a ,,hint ,,of ,,pilgrimage4 ,,imlac now felt the enthusiastic fit1 and was proceeding to aggrandise his own profession1 when then ,prince cried out3 8,enough6 thou hast convinced me that no human being can ever be a poet4 ,proceed with thy narration40 8,to be a poet10 said ,imlac1 8is indeed very difficult40 8,so difficult10 returned the ,prince1 8that ,i will at present hear no more of his labours4 ,tell me whither you went when you had seen ,persia40 8,from ,persia10 said the poet1 8,i travelled through ,syria1 and for three years resided in ,palestine1 where ,i conversed with great numbers of the northern and western nations of ,europe1 the nations which are now in possession of all power and all knowledge1 whose armies are irresistible1 and whose fleets command the remotest parts of the globe4 ,when ,i compared these men with the natives of our own kingdom and those that surround us1 they appeared almost another order of beings4 ,in their countries it is difficult to wish for anything that may not be obtained2 a thousand arts1 of which we never heard1 are continually labouring for their convenience and pleasure1 and whatever their own climate has denied them is supplied by their commerce40 8,by what means10 said the ,prince1 8are the ,europeans thus powerful8 or why1 since they can so easily visit ,asia and ,africa for trade or conquest1 cannot the ,asiatics and ,africans invade their coast1 plant colonies in their ports1 and give laws to their natural princes8 ,the same wind that carries them back would bring us thither40 8,they are more powerful1 sir1 than we10 answered ,imlac1 8because they are wiser2 knowledge will always predominate over ignorance1 as man governs the other animals4 ,but why their knowledge is more than ours ,i know not what reason can be given but the unsearchable will of the ,supreme ,being40 8,when10 said the ,prince with a sigh1 8shall ,i be able to visit ,palestine1 and mingle with this mighty confluence of nations8 ,till that happy moment shall arrive1 let me fill up the time with such representations as thou canst give me4 ,i am not ignorant of the motive that assembles such numbers in that place1 and cannot but consider it as the centre of wisdom and piety1 to which the best and wisest men of every land must be continually resorting40 8,there are some nations10 said ,imlac1 8that send few visitants to ,palestine2 for many numerous and learned sects in ,europe concur to censure pilgrimage as superstitious1 or deride it as ridiculous40 8,you know10 said the ,prince1 8how little my life has made me acquainted with diversity of opinions2 it will be too long to hear the arguments on both sides2 you1 that have considered them1 tell me the result40 8,pilgrimage10 said ,imlac1 8like many other acts of piety1 may be reasonable or superstitious1 according to the principles upon which it is performed4 ,long journeys in search of truth are not commanded4 ,truth1 such as is necessary to the regulation of life1 is always found where it is honestly sought4 ,change of place is no natural cause of the increase of piety1 for it inevitably produces dissipation of mind4 ,yet1 since men go every day to view the fields where great actions have been performed1 and return with stronger impressions of the event1 curiosity of the same kind may naturally dispose us to view that country whence our religion had its beginning1 and ,i believe no man surveys those awful scenes without some confirmation of holy resolutions4 ,that the ,supreme ,being may be more easily propitiated in one place than in another is the dream of idle superstition1 but that some places may operate upon our own minds in an uncommon manner is an opinion which hourly experience will justify4 ,he who supposes that his vices may be more successfully combated in ,palestine1 will perhaps find himself mistaken2 yet he may go thither without folly2 he who thinks they will be more freely pardoned1 dishonours at once his reason and religion40 8,these10 said the ,prince1 8are ,european distinctions4 ,i will consider them another time4 ,what have you found to be the effect of knowledge8 ,are those nations happier than we80 8,there is so much infelicity10 said the poet1 8in the world1 that scarce any man has leisure from his own distresses to estimate the comparative happiness of others4 ,knowledge is certainly one of the means of pleasure1 as is confessed by the natural desire which every mind feels of increasing its ideas4 ,ignorance is mere privation1 by which nothing can be produced2 it is a vacuity in which the soul sits motionless and torpid for want of attraction1 and1 without knowing why1 we always rejoice when we learn1 and grieve when we forget4 ,i am therefore inclined to conclude that if nothing counteracts the natural consequence of learning1 we grow more happy as out minds take a wider range4 8,in enumerating the particular comforts of life1 we shall find many advantages on the side of the ,europeans4 ,they cure wounds and diseases with which we languish and perish4 ,we suffer inclemencies of weather which they can obviate4 ,they have engines for the despatch of many laborious works1 which we must perform by manual industry4 ,there is such communication between distant places that one friend can hardly be said to be absent from another4 ,their policy removes all public inconveniences2 they have roads cut through the mountains1 and bridges laid over their rivers4 ,and1 if we descend to the privacies of life1 their habitations are more commodious and their possessions are more secure40 8,they are surely happy10 said the ,prince1 8who have all these conveniences1 of which ,i envy none so much as the facility with which separated friends interchange their thoughts40 8,the ,europeans10 answered ,imlac1 8are less unhappy than we1 but they are not happy4 ,human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed40 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,imlac 7continued74 8,i ,,am not willing10 said the ,prince1 8to suppose that happiness is so parsimoniously distributed to mortals1 nor can ,i believe but that1 if ,i had the choice of life1 ,i should be able to fill every day with pleasure4 ,i would injure no man1 and should provoke no resentments2 ,i would relieve every distress1 and should enjoy the benedictions of gratitude4 ,i would choose my friends among the wise and my wife among the virtuous1 and therefore should be in no danger from treachery or unkindness4 ,my children should by my care be learned and pious1 and would repay to my age what their childhood had received4 ,what would dare to molest him who might call on every side to thousands enriched by his bounty or assisted by his power8 ,and why should not life glide away in the soft reciprocation of protection and reverence8 ,all this may be done without the help of ,european refinements1 which appear by their effects to be rather specious than useful4 ,let us leave them and pursue our journey40 8,from ,palestine10 said ,imlac1 8,i passed through many regions of ,asia2 in the more civilised kingdoms as a trader1 and among the barbarians of the mountains as a pilgrim4 ,at last ,i began to long for my native country1 that ,i might repose after my travels and fatigues in the places where ,i had spent my earliest years1 and gladden my old companions with the recital of my adventures4 ,often did ,i figure to myself those with whom ,i had sported away the gay hours of dawning life1 sitting round me in its evening1 wondering at my tales and listening to my counsels4 8,when this thought had taken possession of my mind1 ,i considered every moment as wasted which did not bring me nearer to ,abyssinia4 ,i hastened into ,egypt1 and1 notwithstanding my impatience1 was detained ten months in the contemplation of its ancient magnificence and in inquiries after the remains of its ancient learning4 ,i found in ,cairo a mixture of all nations3 some brought thither by the love of knowledge1 some by the hope of gain2 many by the desire of living after their own manner without observation1 and of lying hid in the obscurity of multitudes2 for in a city populous as ,cairo it is possible to obtain at the same time the gratifications of society and the secrecy of solitude4 8,from ,cairo ,i travelled to ,suez1 and embarked on the ,red ,sea1 passing along the coast till ,i arrived at the port from which ,i had departed twenty years before4 ,here ,i joined myself to a caravan1 and re-entered my native country4 8,i now expected the caresses of my kinsmen and the congratulations of my friends1 and was not without hope that my father1 whatever value he had set upon riches1 would own with gladness and pride a son who was able to add to the felicity and honour of the nation4 ,but ,i was soon convinced that my thoughts were vain4 ,my father had been dead fourteen years1 having divided his wealth among my brothers1 who were removed to some other provinces4 ,of my companions1 the greater part was in the grave2 of the rest1 some could with difficulty remember me1 and some considered me as one corrupted by foreign manners4 8,a man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected4 ,i forgot1 after a time1 my disappointment1 and endeavoured to recommend myself to the nobles of the kingdom2 they admitted me to their tables1 heard my story1 and dismissed me4 ,i opened a school1 and was prohibited to teach4 ,i then resolved to sit down in the quiet of domestic life1 and addressed a lady that was fond of my conversation1 but rejected my suit because my father was a merchant4 8,wearied at last with solicitation and repulses1 ,i resolved to hide myself for ever from the world1 and depend no longer on the opinion or caprice of others4 ,i waited for the time when the gate of the ,happy ,valley should open1 that ,i might bid farewell to hope and fear2 the day came1 my performance was distinguished with favour1 and ,i resigned myself with joy to perpetual confinement40 8,hast thou here found happiness at last80 said ,rasselas4 8,tell me1 without reserve1 art thou content with thy condition1 or dost thou wish to be again wandering and inquiring8 ,all the inhabitants of this valley celebrate their lot1 and at the annual visit of the ,emperor invite others to partake of their felicity40 8,great ,prince10 said ,imlac1 8,i shall speak the truth4 ,i know not one of all your attendants who does not lament the hour when he entered this retreat4 ,i am less unhappy than the rest1 because ,i have a mind replete with images1 which ,i can vary and combine at pleasure4 ,i can amuse my solitude by the renovation of the knowledge which begins to fade from my memory1 and by recollection of the accidents of my past life4 ,yet all this ends in the sorrowful consideration that my acquirements are now useless1 and that none of my pleasures can be again enjoyed4 ,the rest1 whose minds have no impression but of the present moment1 are either corroded by malignant passions or sit stupid in the gloom of perpetual vacancy40 8,what passions can infest those10 said the ,prince1 8who have no rivals8 ,we are in a place where impotence precludes malice1 and where all envy is repressed by community of enjoyments40 8,there may be community10 said ,imlac1 8of material possessions1 but there can never be community of love or of esteem4 ,it must happen that one will please more than another2 he that knows himself despised will always be envious1 and still more envious and malevolent if he is condemned to live in the presence of those who despise him4 ,the invitations by which they allure others to a state which they feel to be wretched1 proceed from the natural malignity of hopeless misery4 ,they are weary of themselves and of each other1 and expect to find relief in new companions4 ,they envy the liberty which their folly has forfeited1 and would gladly see all mankind imprisoned like themselves4 8,from this crime1 however1 ,i am wholly free4 ,no man can say that he is wretched by my persuasion4 ,i look with pity on the crowds who are annually soliciting admission to captivity1 and wish that it were lawful for me to warn them of their danger40 8,my dear ,imlac10 said the ,prince1 8,i will open to thee my whole heart4 ,i have long meditated an escape from the ,happy ,valley4 ,i have examined the mountain on every side1 but find myself insuperably barred--teach me the way to break my prison2 thou shalt be the companion of my flight1 the guide of my rambles1 the partner of my fortune1 and my sole director in the choice of life4 8,sir10 answered the poet1 8your escape will be difficult1 and perhaps you may soon repent your curiosity4 ,the world1 which you figure to yourself smooth and quiet as the lake in the valley1 you will find a sea foaming with tempests and boiling with whirlpools2 you will be sometimes overwhelmed by the waves of violence1 and sometimes dashed against the rocks of treachery4 ,amidst wrongs and frauds1 competitions and anxieties1 you will wish a thousand times for these seats of quiet1 and willingly quit hope to be free from fear40 8,do not seek to deter me from my purpose10 said the ,prince4 8,i am impatient to see what thou hast seen2 and since thou art thyself weary of the valley1 it is evident that thy former state was better than this4 ,whatever be the consequence of my experiment1 ,i am resolved to judge with mine own eyes of the various conditions of men1 and then to make deliberately my choice of life40 8,i am afraid10 said ,imlac1 8you are hindered by stronger restraints than my persuasions2 yet1 if your determination is fixed1 ,i do not counsel you to despair4 ,few things are impossible to diligence and skill40 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,rasselas ,,discovers ,,the ,,means ,,of ,,escape4 ,,the ,prince now dismissed his favourite to rest2 but the narrative of wonders and novelties filled his mind with perturbation4 ,he revolved all that he had heard1 and prepared innumerable questions for the morning4 ,much of his uneasiness was now removed4 ,he had a friend to whom he could impart his thoughts1 and whose experience could assist him in his designs4 ,his heart was no longer condemned to swell with silent vexation4 ,he thought that even the ,happy ,valley might be endured with such a companion1 and that if they could range the world together he should have nothing further to desire4 ,in a few days the water was discharged1 and the ground dried4 ,the ,prince and ,imlac then walked out together1 to converse without the notice of the rest4 ,the ,prince1 whose thoughts were always on the wing1 as he passed by the gate said1 with a countenance of sorrow1 8,why art thou so strong1 and why is man so weak80 8,man is not weak10 answered his companion2 8knowledge is more than equivalent to force4 ,the master of mechanics laughs at strength4 ,i can burst the gate1 but cannot do it secretly4 ,some other expedient must be tried40 ,as they were walking on the side of the mountain they observed that the coneys1 which the rain had driven from their burrows1 had taken shelter among the bushes1 and formed holes behind them tending upwards in an oblique line4 8,it has been the opinion of antiquity10 said ,imlac1 8that human reason borrowed many arts from the instinct of animals2 let us1 therefore1 not think ourselves degraded by learning from the coney4 ,we may escape by piercing the mountain in the same direction4 ,we will begin where the summit hangs over the middle part1 and labour upward till we shall issue out beyond the prominence40 ,the eyes of the ,prince1 when he heard this proposal1 sparkled with joy4 ,the execution was easy and the success certain4 ,no time was now lost4 ,they hastened early in the morning to choose a place proper for their mine4 ,they clambered with great fatigue among crags and brambles1 and returned without having discovered any part that favoured their design4 ,the second and the third day were spent in the same manner1 and with the same frustration2 but on the fourth day they found a small cavern concealed by a thicket1 where they resolved to make their experiment4 ,imlac procured instruments proper to hew stone and remove earth1 and they fell to their work on the next day with more eagerness than vigour4 ,they were presently exhausted by their efforts1 and sat down to pant upon the grass4 ,the ,prince for a moment appeared to be discouraged4 8,sir10 said his companion1 8practice will enable us to continue our labour for a longer time4 ,mark1 however1 how far we have advanced1 and ye will find that our toil will some time have an end4 ,great works are performed not by strength1 but perseverance2 yonder palace was raised by single stones1 yet you see its height and spaciousness4 ,he that shall walk with vigour three hours a day1 will pass in seven years a space equal to the circumference of the globe40 ,they returned to their work day after day1 and in a short time found a fissure in the rock1 which enabled them to pass far with very little obstruction4 ,this ,rasselas considered as a good omen4 8,do not disturb your mind10 said ,imlac1 8with other hopes or fears than reason may suggest2 if you are pleased with the prognostics of good1 you will be terrified likewise with tokens of evil1 and your whole life will be a prey to superstition4 ,whatever facilitates our work is more than an omen2 it is a cause of success4 ,this is one of those pleasing surprises which often happen to active resolution4 ,many things difficult to design prove easy to performance40 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,rasselas ,,and ,,imlac ,,receive ,,an ,,unexpected ,,visit4 ,,they had now wrought their way to the middle1 and solaced their toil with the approach of liberty1 when the ,prince1 coming down to refresh himself with air1 found his sister ,nekayah standing at the mouth of the cavity4 ,he started1 and stood confused1 afraid to tell his design1 and yet hopeless to conceal it4 ,a few moments determined him to repose on her fidelity1 and secure her secrecy by a declaration without reserve4 8,do not imagine10 said the ,princess1 8that ,i came hither as a spy4 ,i had long observed from my window that you and ,imlac directed your walk every day towards the same point1 but ,i did not suppose you had any better reason for the preference than a cooler shade or more fragrant bank1 nor followed you with any other design than to partake of your conversation4 ,since1 then1 not suspicion1 but fondness1 has detected you1 let me not lose the advantage of my discovery4 ,i am equally weary of confinement with yourself1 and not less desirous of knowing what is done or suffered in the world4 ,permit me to fly with you from this tasteless tranquillity1 which will yet grow more loathsome when you have left me4 ,you may deny me to accompany you1 but cannot hinder me from following40 ,the ,prince1 who loved ,nekayah above his other sisters1 had no inclination to refuse her request1 and grieved that he had lost an opportunity of showing his confidence by a voluntary communication4 ,it was1 therefore1 agreed that she should leave the valley with them2 and that in the meantime she should watch1 lest any other straggler should1 by chance or curiosity1 follow them to the mountain4 ,at length their labour was at an end4 ,they saw light beyond the prominence1 and1 issuing to the top of the mountain1 beheld the ,nile1 yet a narrow current1 wandering beneath them4 ,the ,prince looked round with rapture1 anticipated all the pleasures of travel1 and in thought was already transported beyond his father's dominions4 ,imlac1 though very joyful at his escape1 had less expectation of pleasure in the world1 which he had before tried and of which he had been weary4 ,rasselas was so much delighted with a wider horizon1 that he could not soon be persuaded to return into the valley4 ,he informed his sister that the way was now open1 and that nothing now remained but to prepare for their departure4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,the ,,prince ,,and ,,princess ,,leave ,,the ,,valley1 ,,and ,,see ,,many ,,wonders4 ,,the ,prince and ,princess had jewels sufficient to make them rich whenever they came into a place of commerce1 which1 by ,imlac's direction1 they hid in their clothes1 and on the night of the next full moon all left the valley4 ,the ,princess was followed only by a single favourite1 who did not know whither she was going4 ,they clambered through the cavity1 and began to go down on the other side4 ,the ,princess and her maid turned their eyes toward every part1 and seeing nothing to bound their prospect1 considered themselves in danger of being lost in a dreary vacuity4 ,they stopped and trembled4 8,i am almost afraid10 said the ,princess1 8to begin a journey of which ,i cannot perceive an end1 and to venture into this immense plain where ,i may be approached on every side by men whom ,i never saw40 ,the ,prince felt nearly the same emotions1 though he thought it more manly to conceal them4 ,imlac smiled at their terrors1 and encouraged them to proceed4 ,but the ,princess continued irresolute till she had been imperceptibly drawn forward too far to return4 ,in the morning they found some shepherds in the field1 who set some milk and fruits before them4 ,the ,princess wondered that she did not see a palace ready for her reception and a table spread with delicacies2 but being faint and hungry1 she drank the milk and ate the fruits1 and thought them of a higher flavour than the products of the valley4 ,they travelled forward by easy journeys1 being all unaccustomed to toil and difficulty1 and knowing that1 though they might be missed1 they could not be pursued4 ,in a few days they came into a more populous region1 where ,imlac was diverted with the admiration which his companions expressed at the diversity of manners1 stations1 and employments4 ,their dress was such as might not bring upon them the suspicion of having anything to conceal2 yet the ,prince1 wherever he came1 expected to be obeyed1 and the ,princess was frighted because those who came into her presence did not prostrate themselves4 ,imlac was forced to observe them with great vigilance1 lest they should betray their rank by their unusual behaviour1 and detained them several weeks in the first village to accustom them to the sight of common mortals4 ,by degrees the royal wanderers were taught to understand that they had for a time laid aside their dignity1 and were to expect only such regard as liberality and courtesy could procure4 ,and ,imlac having by many admonitions prepared them to endure the tumults of a port and the ruggedness of the commercial race1 brought them down to the sea-coast4 ,the ,prince and his sister1 to whom everything was new1 were gratified equally at all places1 and therefore remained for some months at the port without any inclination to pass further4 ,imlac was content with their stay1 because he did not think it safe to expose them1 unpractised in the world1 to the hazards of a foreign country4 ,at last he began to fear lest they should be discovered1 and proposed to fix a day for their departure4 ,they had no pretensions to judge for themselves1 and referred the whole scheme to his direction4 ,he therefore took passage in a ship to ,suez1 and1 when the time came1 with great difficulty prevailed on the ,princess to enter the vessel4 ,they had a quick and prosperous voyage1 and from ,suez travelled by land to ,cairo4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,they ,,enter ,,cairo1 ,,and ,,find ,,every ,,man ,,happy4 ,,as they approached the city1 which filled the strangers with astonishment1 8,this10 said ,imlac to the ,prince1 8is the place where travellers and merchants assemble from all corners of the earth4 ,you will here find men of every character and every occupation4 ,commerce is here honourable4 ,i will act as a merchant1 and you shall live as strangers who have no other end of travel than curiosity2 it will soon be observed that we are rich4 ,our reputation will procure us access to all whom we shall desire to know2 you shall see all the conditions of humanity1 and enable yourselves at leisure to make your choice of life40 ,they now entered the town1 stunned by the noise and offended by the crowds4 ,instruction had not yet so prevailed over habit but that they wondered to see themselves pass undistinguished along the streets1 and met by the lowest of the people without reverence or notice4 ,the ,princess could not at first bear the thought of being levelled with the vulgar1 and for some time continued in her chamber1 where she was served by her favourite ,pekuah1 as in the palace of the valley4 ,imlac1 who understood traffic1 sold part of the jewels the next day1 and hired a house1 which he adorned with such magnificence that he was immediately considered as a merchant of great wealth4 ,his politeness attracted many acquaintances1 and his generosity made him courted by many dependants4 ,his companions1 not being able to mix in the conversation1 could make no discovery of their ignorance or surprise1 and were gradually initiated in the world as they gained knowledge of the language4 ,the ,prince had by frequent lectures been taught the use and nature of money2 but the ladies could not for a long time comprehend what the merchants did with small pieces of gold and silver1 or why things of so little use should be received as an equivalent to the necessaries of life4 ,they studied the language two years1 while ,imlac was preparing to set before them the various ranks and conditions of mankind4 ,he grew acquainted with all who had anything uncommon in their fortune or conduct4 ,he frequented the voluptuous and the frugal1 the idle and the busy1 the merchants and the men of learning4 ,the ,prince now being able to converse with fluency1 and having learned the caution necessary to be observed in his intercourse with strangers1 began to accompany ,imlac to places of resort1 and to enter into all assemblies1 that he might make his choice of life4 ,for some time he thought choice needless1 because all appeared to him really happy4 ,wherever he went he met gaiety and kindness1 and heard the song of joy or the laugh of carelessness4 ,he began to believe that the world overflowed with universal plenty1 and that nothing was withheld either from want or merit2 that every hand showered liberality and every heart melted with benevolence3 8,and who then10 says he1 8will be suffered to be wretched80 ,imlac permitted the pleasing delusion1 and was unwilling to crush the hope of inexperience3 till one day1 having sat awhile silent1 8,i know not10 said the ,prince1 8what can be the reason that ,i am more unhappy than any of our friends4 ,i see them perpetually and unalterably cheerful1 but feel my own mind restless and uneasy4 ,i am unsatisfied with those pleasures which ,i seem most to court4 ,i live in the crowds of jollity1 not so much to enjoy company as to shun myself1 and am only loud and merry to conceal my sadness40 8,every man10 said ,imlac1 8may by examining his own mind guess what passes in the minds of others4 ,when you feel that your own gaiety is counterfeit1 it may justly lead you to suspect that of your companions not to be sincere4 ,envy is commonly reciprocal4 ,we are long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found1 and each believes it possessed by others1 to keep alive the hope of obtaining it for himself4 ,in the assembly where you passed the last night there appeared such sprightliness of air and volatility of fancy as might have suited beings of a higher order1 formed to inhabit serener regions1 inaccessible to care or sorrow2 yet1 believe me1 ,prince1 was there not one who did not dread the moment when solitude should deliver him to the tyranny of reflection40 8,this10 said the ,prince1 8may be true of others since it is true of me2 yet1 whatever be the general infelicity of man1 one condition is more happy than another1 and wisdom surely directs us to take the least evil in the choice of life40 8,the causes of good and evil10 answered ,imlac1 8are so various and uncertain1 so often entangled with each other1 so diversified by various relations1 and so much subject to accidents which cannot be foreseen1 that he who would fix his condition upon incontestable reasons of preference must live and die inquiring and deliberating40 8,but1 surely10 said ,rasselas1 8the wise men1 to whom we listen with reverence and wonder1 chose that mode of life for themselves which they thought most likely to make them happy40 8,very few10 said the poet1 8live by choice4 ,every man is placed in the present condition by causes which acted without his foresight1 and with which he did not always willingly co-operate1 and therefore you will rarely meet one who does not think the lot of his neighbour better than his own40 8,i am pleased to think10 said the ,prince1 8that my birth has given me at least one advantage over others by enabling me to determine for myself4 ,i have here the world before me4 ,i will review it at leisure3 surely happiness is somewhere to be found40 ,,chapter ,,xvii ,,the ,,prince ,,associates ,,with ,,young ,,men ,,of ,,spirit ,,and ,,gaiety4 ,,rasselas rose next day1 and resolved to begin his experiments upon life4 8,youth10 cried he1 8is the time of gladness3 ,i will join myself to the young men whose only business is to gratify their desires1 and whose time is all spent in a succession of enjoyments40 ,to such societies he was readily admitted1 but a few days brought him back weary and disgusted4 ,their mirth was without images1 their laughter without motive2 their pleasures were gross and sensual1 in which the mind had no part2 their conduct was at once wild and mean--they laughed at order and at law1 but the frown of power dejected and the eye of wisdom abashed them4 ,the ,prince soon concluded that he should never be happy in a course of life of which he was ashamed4 ,he thought it unsuitable to a reasonable being to act without a plan1 and to be sad or cheerful only by chance4 8,happiness10 said he1 8must be something solid and permanent1 without fear and without uncertainty40 ,but his young companions had gained so much of his regard by their frankness and courtesy that he could not leave them without warning and remonstrance4 8,my friends10 said he1 8,i have seriously considered our manners and our prospects1 and find that we have mistaken our own interest4 ,the first years of man must make provision for the last4 ,he that never thinks1 never can be wise4 ,perpetual levity must end in ignorance2 and intemperance1 though it may fire the spirits for an hour1 will make life short or miserable4 ,let us consider that youth is of no long duration1 and that in mature age1 when the enchantments of fancy shall cease1 and phantoms of delight dance no more about us1 we shall have no comforts but the esteem of wise men and the means of doing good4 ,let us therefore stop while to stop is in our power3 let us live as men who are some time to grow old1 and to whom it will be the most dreadful of all evils to count their past years by follies1 and to be reminded of their former luxuriance of health only by the maladies which riot has produced40 ,they stared awhile in silence one upon another1 and at last drove him away by a general chorus of continued laughter4 ,the consciousness that his sentiments were just and his intention kind was scarcely sufficient to support him against the horror of derision4 ,but he recovered his tranquillity and pursued his search4 ,,chapter ,,xviii ,,the ,,prince ,,finds ,a ,,wise ,,and ,,happy ,,man4 ,,as he was one day walking in the street he saw a spacious building which all were by the open doors invited to enter4 ,he followed the stream of people1 and found it a hall or school of declamation1 in which professors read lectures to their auditory4 ,he fixed his eye upon a sage raised above the rest1 who discoursed with great energy on the government of the passions4 ,his look was venerable1 his action graceful1 his pronunciation clear1 and his diction elegant4 ,he showed with great strength of sentiment and variety of illustration that human nature is degraded and debased when the lower faculties predominate over the higher2 that when fancy1 the parent of passion1 usurps the dominion of the mind1 nothing ensues but the natural effect of unlawful government1 perturbation1 and confusion2 that she betrays the fortresses of the intellect to rebels1 and excites her children to sedition against their lawful sovereign4 ,he compared reason to the sun1 of which the light is constant1 uniform1 and lasting2 and fancy to a meteor1 of bright but transitory lustre1 irregular in its motion and delusive in its direction4 ,he then communicated the various precepts given from time to time for the conquest of passion1 and displayed the happiness of those who had obtained the important victory1 after which man is no longer the slave of fear nor the fool of hope2 is no more emaciated by envy1 inflamed by anger1 emasculated by tenderness1 or depressed by grief2 but walks on calmly through the tumults or privacies of life1 as the sun pursues alike his course through the calm or the stormy sky4 ,he enumerated many examples of heroes immovable by pain or pleasure1 who looked with indifference on those modes or accidents to which the vulgar give the names of good and evil4 ,he exhorted his hearers to lay aside their prejudices1 and arm themselves against the shafts of malice or misfortune1 by invulnerable patience3 concluding that this state only was happiness1 and that this happiness was in every one's power4 ,rasselas listened to him with the veneration due to the instructions of a superior being1 and waiting for him at the door1 humbly implored the liberty of visiting so great a master of true wisdom4 ,the lecturer hesitated a moment1 when ,rasselas put a purse of gold into his hand1 which he received with a mixture of joy and wonder4 8,i have found10 said the ,prince at his return to ,imlac1 8a man who can teach all that is necessary to be known2 who1 from the unshaken throne of rational fortitude1 looks down on the scenes of life changing beneath him4 ,he speaks1 and attention watches his lips4 ,he reasons1 and conviction closes his periods4 ,this man shall be my future guide3 ,i will learn his doctrines and imitate his life40 8,be not too hasty10 said ,imlac1 8to trust or to admire the teachers of morality3 they discourse like angels1 but they live like men40 ,rasselas1 who could not conceive how any man could reason so forcibly without feeling the cogency of his own arguments1 paid his visit in a few days1 and was denied admission4 ,he had now learned the power of money1 and made his way by a piece of gold to the inner apartment1 where he found the philosopher in a room half darkened1 with his eyes misty and his face pale4 8,sir10 said he1 8you are come at a time when all human friendship is useless2 what ,i suffer cannot be remedied3 what ,i have lost cannot be supplied4 ,my daughter1 my only daughter1 from whose tenderness ,i expected all the comforts of my age1 died last night of a fever4 ,my views1 my purposes1 my hopes1 are at an end3 ,i am now a lonely being1 disunited from society40 8,sir10 said the ,prince1 8mortality is an event by which a wise man can never be surprised3 we know that death is always near1 and it should therefore always be expected40 8,young man10 answered the philosopher1 8you speak like one that has never felt the pangs of separation40 8,have you then forgot the precepts10 said ,rasselas1 8which you so powerfully enforced8 ,has wisdom no strength to arm the heart against calamity8 ,consider that external things are naturally variable1 but truth and reason are always the same40 8,what comfort10 said the mourner1 8can truth and reason afford me8 ,of what effect are they now1 but to tell me that my daughter will not be restored80 ,the ,prince1 whose humanity would not suffer him to insult misery with reproof1 went away1 convinced of the emptiness of rhetorical sounds1 and the inefficacy of polished periods and studied sentences4 ,,chapter ,,xix ,a ,,glimpse ,,of ,,pastoral ,,life4 ,,he was still eager upon the same inquiry2 and having heard of a hermit that lived near the lowest cataract of the ,nile1 and filled the whole country with the fame of his sanctity1 resolved to visit his retreat1 and inquire whether that felicity which public life could not afford was to be found in solitude1 and whether a man whose age and virtue made him venerable could teach any peculiar art of shunning evils or enduring them4 ,imlac and the ,princess agreed to accompany him1 and after the necessary preparations1 they began their journey4 ,their way lay through the fields1 where shepherds tended their flocks and the lambs were playing upon the pasture4 8,this10 said the poet1 8is the life which has been often celebrated for its innocence and quiet2 let us pass the heat of the day among the shepherds' tents1 and know whether all our searches are not to terminate in pastoral simplicity40 ,the proposal pleased them2 and they induced the shepherds1 by small presents and familiar questions1 to tell the opinion of their own state4 ,they were so rude and ignorant1 so little able to compare the good with the evil of the occupation1 and so indistinct in their narratives and descriptions1 that very little could be learned from them4 ,but it was evident that their hearts were cankered with discontent2 that they considered themselves as condemned to labour for the luxury of the rich1 and looked up with stupid malevolence towards those that were placed above them4 ,the ,princess pronounced with vehemence that she would never suffer these envious savages to be her companions1 and that she should not soon be desirous of seeing any more specimens of rustic happiness2 but could not believe that all the accounts of primeval pleasures were fabulous1 and was in doubt whether life had anything that could be justly preferred to the placid gratification of fields and woods4 ,she hoped that the time would come when1 with a few virtuous and elegant companions1 she should gather flowers planted by her own hands1 fondle the lambs of her own ewe1 and listen without care1 among brooks and breezes1 to one of her maidens reading in the shade4 ,,chapter ,,xx ,,the ,,danger ,,of ,,prosperity4 ,,on the next day they continued their journey till the heat compelled them to look round for shelter4 ,at a small distance they saw a thick wood1 which they no sooner entered than they perceived that they were approaching the habitations of men4 ,the shrubs were diligently cut away to open walks where the shades ware darkest2 the boughs of opposite trees were artificially interwoven2 seats of flowery turf were raised in vacant spaces2 and a rivulet that wantoned along the side of a winding path had its banks sometimes opened into small basins1 and its stream sometimes obstructed by little mounds of stone heaped together to increase its murmurs4 ,they passed slowly through the wood1 delighted with such unexpected accommodations1 and entertained each other with conjecturing what or who he could be that in those rude and unfrequented regions had leisure and art for such harmless luxury4 ,as they advanced they heard the sound of music1 and saw youths and virgins dancing in the grove2 and going still farther beheld a stately palace built upon a hill surrounded by woods4 ,the laws of ,eastern hospitality allowed them to enter1 and the master welcomed them like a man liberal and wealthy4 ,he was skilful enough in appearances soon to discern that they were no common guests1 and spread his table with magnificence4 ,the eloquence of ,imlac caught his attention1 and the lofty courtesy of the ,princess excited his respect4 ,when they offered to depart1 he entreated their stay1 and was the next day more unwilling to dismiss them than before4 ,they were easily persuaded to stop1 and civility grew up in time to freedom and confidence4 ,the ,prince now saw all the domestics cheerful and all the face of nature smiling round the place1 and could not forbear to hope that he should find here what he was seeking2 but when he was congratulating the master upon his possessions he answered with a sigh1 8,my condition has indeed the appearance of happiness1 but appearances are delusive4 ,my prosperity puts my life in danger2 the ,bassa of ,egypt is my enemy1 incensed only by my wealth and popularity4 ,i have been hitherto protected against him by the princes of the country2 but as the favour of the great is uncertain ,i know not how soon my defenders may be persuaded to share the plunder with the ,bassa4 ,i have sent my treasures into a distant country1 and upon the first alarm am prepared to follow them4 ,then will my enemies riot in my mansion1 and enjoy the gardens which ,i have planted40 ,they all joined in lamenting his danger and deprecating his exile2 and the ,princess was so much disturbed with the tumult of grief and indignation that she retired to her apartment4 ,they continued with their kind inviter a few days longer1 and then went to find the hermit4 ,,chapter ,,xxi ,,the ,,happiness ,,of ,,solitude--,,the ,,hermit',s ,,history4 ,,they came on the third day1 by the direction of the peasants1 to the hermit's cell4 ,it was a cavern in the side of a mountain1 overshadowed with palm trees1 at such a distance from the cataract that nothing more was heard than a gentle uniform murmur1 such as composes the mind to pensive meditation1 especially when it was assisted by the wind whistling among the branches4 ,the first rude essay of ,nature had been so much improved by human labour that the cave contained several apartments appropriated to different uses1 and often afforded lodging to travellers whom darkness or tempests happened to overtake4 ,the hermit sat on a bench at the door1 to enjoy the coolness of the evening4 ,on one side lay a book with pens and paper2 on the other mechanical instruments of various kinds4 ,as they approached him unregarded1 the ,princess observed that he had not the countenance of a man that had found or could teach the way to happiness4 ,they saluted him with great respect1 which he repaid like a man not unaccustomed to the forms of ,courts4 8,my children10 said he1 8if you have lost your way1 you shall be willingly supplied with such conveniences for the night as this cavern will afford4 ,i have all that ,nature requires1 and you will not expect delicacies in a hermit's cell40 ,they thanked him2 and1 entering1 were pleased with the neatness and regularity of the place4 ,the hermit set flesh and wine before them1 though he fed only upon fruits and water4 ,his discourse was cheerful without levity1 and pious without enthusiasm4 ,he soon gained the esteem of his guests1 and the ,princess repented her hasty censure4 ,at last ,imlac began thus3 8,i do not now wonder that your reputation is so far extended3 we have heard at ,cairo of your wisdom1 and came hither to implore your direction for this young man and maiden in the choice of life40 8,to him that lives well10 answered the hermit1 8every form of life is good2 nor can ,i give any other rule for choice than to remove all apparent evil40 8,he will most certainly remove from evil10 said the ,prince1 8who shall devote himself to that solitude which you have recommended by your example40 8,i have indeed lived fifteen years in solitude10 said the hermit1 8but have no desire that my example should gain any imitators4 ,in my youth ,i professed arms1 and was raised by degrees to the highest military rank4 ,i have traversed wide countries at the head of my troops1 and seen many battles and sieges4 ,at last1 being disgusted by the preferments of a younger officer1 and feeling that my vigour was beginning to decay1 ,i resolved to close my life in peace1 having found the world full of snares1 discord1 and misery4 ,i had once escaped from the pursuit of the enemy by the shelter of this cavern1 and therefore chose it for my final residence4 ,i employed artificers to form it into chambers1 and stored it with all that ,i was likely to want4 8,for some time after my retreat ,i rejoiced like a tempest-beaten sailor at his entrance into the harbour1 being delighted with the sudden change of the noise and hurry of war to stillness and repose4 ,when the pleasure of novelty went away1 ,i employed my hours in examining the plants which grow in the valley1 and the minerals which ,i collected from the rocks4 ,but that inquiry is now grown tasteless and irksome4 ,i have been for some time unsettled and distracted3 my mind is disturbed with a thousand perplexities of doubt and vanities of imagination1 which hourly prevail upon me1 because ,i have no opportunities of relaxation or diversion4 ,i am sometimes ashamed to think that ,i could not secure myself from vice but by retiring from the exercise of virtue1 and begin to suspect that ,i was rather impelled by resentment than led by devotion into solitude4 ,my fancy riots in scenes of folly1 and ,i lament that ,i have lost so much1 and have gained so little4 ,in solitude1 if ,i escape the example of bad men1 ,i want likewise the counsel and conversation of the good4 ,i have been long comparing the evils with the advantages of society1 and resolve to return into the world to-morrow4 ,the life of a solitary man will be certainly miserable1 but not certainly devout40 ,they heard his resolution with surprise1 but after a short pause offered to conduct him to ,cairo4 ,he dug up a considerable treasure which he had hid among the rocks1 and accompanied them to the city1 on which1 as he approached it1 he gazed with rapture4 ,,chapter ,,xxii ,,the ,,happiness ,,of ,a ,,life ,,led ,,according ,,to ,,nature4 ,,rasselas went often to an assembly of learned men1 who met at stated times to unbend their minds and compare their opinions4 ,their manners were somewhat coarse1 but their conversation was instructive1 and their disputations acute1 though sometimes too violent1 and often continued till neither controvertist remembered upon what question he began4 ,some faults were almost general among them3 every one was pleased to hear the genius or knowledge of another depreciated4 ,in this assembly ,rasselas was relating his interview with the hermit1 and the wonder with which he heard him censure a course of life which he had so deliberately chosen and so laudably followed4 ,the sentiments of the hearers were various4 ,some were of opinion that the folly of his choice had been justly punished by condemnation to perpetual perseverance4 ,one of the youngest among them1 with great vehemence1 pronounced him a hypocrite4 ,some talked of the right of society to the labour of individuals1 and considered retirement as a desertion of duty4 ,others readily allowed that there was a time when the claims of the public were satisfied1 and when a man might properly sequester himself1 to review his life and purify his heart4 ,one who appeared more affected with the narrative than the rest thought it likely that the hermit would in a few years go back to his retreat1 and perhaps1 if shame did not restrain or death intercept him1 return once more from his retreat into the world4 8,for the hope of happiness10 said he1 8is so strongly impressed that the longest experience is not able to efface it4 ,of the present state1 whatever it be1 we feel and are forced to confess the misery2 yet when the same state is again at a distance1 imagination paints it as desirable4 ,but the time will surely come when desire will no longer be our torment and no man shall be wretched but by his own fault4 8,this10 said a philosopher who had heard him with tokens of great impatience1 8is the present condition of a wise man4 ,the time is already come when none are wretched but by their own fault4 ,nothing is more idle than to inquire after happiness which ,nature has kindly placed within our reach4 ,the way to be happy is to live according to ,nature1 in obedience to that universal and unalterable law with which every heart is originally impressed2 which is not written on it by precept1 but engraven by destiny2 not instilled by education1 but infused at our nativity4 ,he that lives according to ,nature will suffer nothing from the delusions of hope or importunities of desire2 he will receive and reject with equability of temper2 and act or suffer as the reason of things shall alternately prescribe4 ,other men may amuse themselves with subtle definitions or intricate ratiocination4 ,let them learn to be wise by easier means3 let them observe the hind of the forest and the linnet of the grove3 let them consider the life of animals1 whose motions are regulated by instinct2 they obey their guide1 and are happy4 ,let us therefore at length cease to dispute1 and learn to live3 throw away the encumbrance of precepts1 which they who utter them with so much pride and pomp do not understand1 and carry with us this simple and intelligible maxim3 that deviation from ,nature is deviation from happiness40 ,when he had spoken he looked round him with a placid air1 and enjoyed the consciousness of his own beneficence4 8,sir10 said the ,prince with great modesty1 8as ,i1 like all the rest of mankind1 am desirous of felicity1 my closest attention has been fixed upon your discourse3 ,i doubt not the truth of a position which a man so learned has so confidently advanced4 ,let me only know what it is to live according to ,nature40 8,when ,i find young men so humble and so docile10 said the philosopher1 8,i can deny them no information which my studies have enabled me to afford4 ,to live according to ,nature is to act always with due regard to the fitness arising from the relations and qualities of causes and effects2 to concur with the great and unchangeable scheme of universal felicity2 to co-operate with the general disposition and tendency of the present system of things40 ,the ,prince soon found that this was one of the sages whom he should understand less as he heard him longer4 ,he therefore bowed and was silent2 and the philosopher1 supposing him satisfied and the rest vanquished1 rose up and departed with the air of a man that had co-operated with the present system4 ,,chapter ,,xxiii ,,the ,,prince ,,and ,,his ,,sister ,,divide ,,between ,,them ,,the ,,work ,,of ,,observation4 ,,rasselas returned home full of reflections1 doubting how to direct his future steps4 ,of the way to happiness he found the learned and simple equally ignorant2 but as he was yet young1 he flattered himself that he had time remaining for more experiments and further inquiries4 ,he communicated to ,imlac his observations and his doubts1 but was answered by him with new doubts and remarks that gave him no comfort4 ,he therefore discoursed more frequently and freely with his sister1 who had yet the same hope with himself1 and always assisted him to give some reason why1 though he had been hitherto frustrated1 he might succeed at last4 8,we have hitherto10 said she1 8known but little of the world2 we have never yet been either great or mean4 ,in our own country1 though we had royalty1 we had no power2 and in this we have not yet seen the private recesses of domestic peace4 ,imlac favours not our search1 lest we should in time find him mistaken4 ,we will divide the task between us2 you shall try what is to be found in the splendour of ,courts1 and ,i will range the shades of humbler life4 ,perhaps command and authority may be the supreme blessings1 as they afford the most opportunities of doing good2 or perhaps what this world can give may be found in the modest habitations of middle fortune--too low for great designs1 and too high for penury and distress40 ,,chapter ,,xxiv ,,the ,,prince ,,examines ,,the ,,happiness ,,of ,,high ,,stations4 ,,rasselas applauded the design1 and appeared next day with a splendid retinue at the ,court of the ,bassa4 ,he was soon distinguished for his magnificence1 and admitted1 as a ,prince whose curiosity had brought him from distant countries1 to an intimacy with the great officers and frequent conversation with the ,bassa himself4 ,he was at first inclined to believe that the man must be pleased with his own condition whom all approached with reverence and heard with obedience1 and who had the power to extend his edicts to a whole kingdom4 8,there can be no pleasure10 said he1 8equal to that of feeling at once the joy of thousands all made happy by wise administration4 ,yet1 since by the law of subordination this sublime delight can be in one nation but the lot of one1 it is surely reasonable to think that there is some satisfaction more popular and accessible1 and that millions can hardly be subjected to the will of a single man1 only to fill his particular breast with incommunicable content40 ,these thoughts were often in his mind1 and he found no solution of the difficulty4 ,but as presents and civilities gained him more familiarity1 he found that almost every man who stood high in his employment hated all the rest and was hated by them1 and that their lives were a continual succession of plots and detections1 stratagems and escapes1 faction and treachery4 ,many of those who surrounded the ,bassa were sent only to watch and report his conduct3 every tongue was muttering censure1 and every eye was searching for a fault4 ,at last the letters of revocation arrived3 the ,bassa was carried in chains to ,constantinople1 and his name was mentioned no more4 8,what are we now to think of the prerogatives of power80 said ,rasselas to his sister3 8is it without efficacy to good1 or is the subordinate degree only dangerous1 and the supreme safe and glorious8 ,is the ,sultan the only happy man in his dominions1 or is the ,sultan himself subject to the torments of suspicion and the dread of enemies80 ,in a short time the second ,bassa was deposed4 ,the ,sultan that had advanced him was murdered by the ,janissaries1 and his successor had other views or different favourites4 ,,chapter ,,xxv ,,the ,,princess ,,pursues ,,her ,,inquiry ,,with ,,more ,,diligence ,,than ,,success4 ,,the ,princess in the meantime insinuated herself into many families2 for there are few doors through which liberality1 joined with good humour1 cannot find its way4 ,the daughters of many houses were airy and cheerful2 but ,nekayah had been too long accustomed to the conversation of ,imlac and her brother to be much pleased with childish levity and prattle which had no meaning4 ,she found their thoughts narrow1 their wishes low1 and their merriment often artificial4 ,their pleasures1 poor as they were1 could not be preserved pure1 but were embittered by petty competitions and worthless emulation4 ,they were always jealous of the beauty of each other1 of a quality to which solicitude can add nothing1 and from which detraction can take nothing away4 ,many were in love with triflers like themselves1 and many fancied that they were in love when in truth they were only idle4 ,their affection was not fixed on sense or virtue1 and therefore seldom ended but in vexation4 ,their grief1 however1 like their joy1 was transient2 everything floated in their mind unconnected with the past or future1 so that one desire easily gave way to another1 as a second stone1 cast into the water1 effaces and confounds the circles of the first4 ,with these girls she played as with inoffensive animals1 and found them proud of her countenance and weary of her company4 ,but her purpose was to examine more deeply1 and her affability easily persuaded the hearts that were swelling with sorrow to discharge their secrets in her ear1 and those whom hope flattered or prosperity delighted often courted her to partake their pleasure4 ,the ,princess and her brother commonly met in the evening in a private summerhouse on the banks of the ,nile1 and related to each other the occurrences of the day4 ,as they were sitting together the ,princess cast her eyes upon the river that flowed before her4 8,answer10 said she1 8great father of waters1 thou that rollest thy goods through eighty nations1 to the invocations of the daughter of thy native king4 ,tell me if thou waterest through all thy course a single habitation from which thou dost not hear the murmurs of complaint40 8,you are then10 said ,rasselas1 8not more successful in private houses than ,i have been in ,courts40 8,i have1 since the last partition of our provinces10 said the ,princess1 8enabled myself to enter familiarly into many families1 where there was the fairest show of prosperity and peace1 and know not one house that is not haunted by some fury that destroys their quiet4 8,i did not seek ease among the poor1 because ,i concluded that there it could not be found4 ,but ,i saw many poor whom ,i had supposed to live in affluence4 ,poverty has in large cities very different appearances4 ,it is often concealed in splendour and often in extravagance4 ,it is the care of a very great part of mankind to conceal their indigence from the rest4 ,they support themselves by temporary expedients1 and every day is lost in contriving for the morrow4 8,this1 however1 was an evil which1 though frequent1 ,i saw with less pain1 because ,i could relieve it4 ,yet some have refused my bounties2 more offended with my quickness to detect their wants than pleased with my readiness to succour them2 and others1 whose exigencies compelled them to admit my kindness1 have never been able to forgive their benefactress4 ,many1 however1 have been sincerely grateful without the ostentation of gratitude or the hope of other favours40 ,,chapter ,,xxvi ,,the ,,princess ,,continues ,,her ,,remarks ,,upon ,,private ,,life4 ,,nekayah1 perceiving her brother's attention fixed1 proceeded in her narrative4 8,in families where there is or is not poverty there is commonly discord4 ,if a kingdom be1 as ,imlac tells us1 a great family1 a family likewise is a little kingdom1 torn with factions and exposed to revolutions4 ,an unpractised observer expects the love of parents and children to be constant and equal4 ,but this kindness seldom continues beyond the years of infancy2 in a short time the children become rivals to their parents4 ,benefits are allowed by reproaches1 and gratitude debased by envy4 8,parents and children seldom act in concert2 each child endeavours to appropriate the esteem or the fondness of the parents2 and the parents1 with yet less temptation1 betray each other to their children4 ,thus1 some place their confidence in the father and some in the mother1 and by degrees the house is filled with artifices and feuds4 8,the opinions of children and parents1 of the young and the old1 are naturally opposite1 by the contrary effects of hope and despondency1 of expectation and experience1 without crime or folly on either side4 ,the colours of life in youth and age appear different1 as the face of ,nature in spring and winter4 ,and how can children credit the assertions of parents which their own eyes show them to be false8 8,few parents act in such a manner as much to enforce their maxims by the credit of their lives4 ,the old man trusts wholly to slow contrivance and gradual progression2 the youth expects to force his way by genius1 vigour1 and precipitance4 ,the old man pays regard to riches1 and the youth reverences virtue4 ,the old man deifies prudence2 the youth commits himself to magnanimity and chance4 ,the young man1 who intends no ill1 believes that none is intended1 and therefore acts with openness and candour2 but his father2 having suffered the injuries of fraud1 is impelled to suspect and too often allured to practise it4 ,age looks with anger on the temerity of youth1 and youth with contempt on the scrupulosity of age4 ,thus parents and children for the greatest part live on to love less and less2 and if those whom ,nature has thus closely united are the torments of each other1 where shall we look for tenderness and consolations80 8,surely10 said the ,prince1 8you must have been unfortunate in your choice of acquaintance4 ,i am unwilling to believe that the most tender of all relations is thus impeded in its effects by natural necessity40 8,domestic discord10 answered she1 8is not inevitably and fatally necessary1 but yet it is not easily avoided4 ,we seldom see that a whole family is virtuous2 the good and the evil cannot well agree1 and the evil can yet less agree with one another4 ,even the virtuous fall sometimes to variance1 when their virtues are of different kinds and tending to extremes4 ,in general1 those parents have most reverence who most deserve it1 for he that lives well cannot be despised4 8,many other evils infest private life4 ,some are the slaves of servants whom they have trusted with their affairs4 ,some are kept in continual anxiety by the caprice of rich relations1 whom they cannot please and dare not offend4 ,some husbands are imperious and some wives perverse1 and1 as it is always more easy to do evil than good1 though the wisdom or virtue of one can very rarely make many happy1 the folly or vice of one makes many miserable40 8,if such be the general effect of marriage10 said the ,prince1 8,i shall for the future think it dangerous to connect my interest with that of another1 lest ,i should be unhappy by my partner's fault40 8,i have met10 said the ,princess1 8with many who live single for that reason1 but ,i never found that their prudence ought to raise envy4 ,they dream away their time without friendship1 without fondness1 and are driven to rid themselves of the day1 for which they have no use1 by childish amusements or vicious delights4 ,they act as beings under the constant sense of some known inferiority that fills their minds with rancour and their tongues with censure4 ,they are peevish at home and malevolent abroad1 and1 as the outlaws of human nature1 make it their business and their pleasure to disturb that society which debars them from its privileges4 ,to live without feeling or exciting sympathy1 to be fortunate without adding to the felicity of others1 or afflicted without tasting the balm of pity1 is a state more gloomy than solitude2 it is not retreat but exclusion from mankind4 ,marriage has many pains1 but celibacy has no pleasures40 8,what then is to be done80 said ,rasselas4 8,the more we inquire the less we can resolve4 ,surely he is most likely to please himself that has no other inclination to regard40 ,,chapter ,,xxvii ,,disquisition ,,upon ,,greatness4 ,,the conversation had a short pause4 ,the ,prince1 having considered his sister's observation1 told her that she had surveyed life with prejudice and supposed misery where she did not find it4 8,your narrative10 says he1 8throws yet a darker gloom upon the prospects of futurity4 ,the predictions of ,imlac were but faint sketches of the evils painted by ,nekayah4 ,i have been lately convinced that quiet is not the daughter of grandeur or of power2 that her presence is not to be bought by wealth nor enforced by conquest4 ,it is evident that as any man acts in a wider compass he must be more exposed to opposition from enmity or miscarriage from chance4 ,whoever has many to please or to govern must use the ministry of many agents1 some of whom will be wicked and some ignorant1 by some he will be misled and by others betrayed4 ,if he gratifies one he will offend another2 those that are not favoured will think themselves injured1 and since favours can be conferred but upon few the greater number will be always discontented40 8,the discontent10 said the ,princess1 8which is thus unreasonable1 ,i hope that ,i shall always have spirit to despise and you power to repress40 8,discontent10 answered ,rasselas1 8will not always be without reason under the most just and vigilant administration of public affairs4 ,none1 however attentive1 can always discover that merit which indigence or faction may happen to obscure1 and none1 however powerful1 can always reward it4 ,yet he that sees inferior desert advanced above him will naturally impute that preference to partiality or caprice1 and indeed it can scarcely be hoped that any man1 however magnanimous by ,nature or exalted by condition1 will be able to persist for ever in fixed and inexorable justice of distribution2 he will sometimes indulge his own affections and sometimes those of his favourites2 he will permit some to please him who can never serve him2 he will discover in those whom he loves qualities which in reality they do not possess1 and to those from whom he receives pleasure he will in his turn endeavour to give it4 ,thus will recommendations sometimes prevail which were purchased by money or by the more destructive bribery of flattery and servility4 8,he that hath much to do will do something wrong1 and of that wrong must suffer the consequences1 and if it were possible that he should always act rightly1 yet1 when such numbers are to judge of his conduct1 the bad will censure and obstruct him by malevolence and the good sometimes by mistake4 8,the highest stations cannot therefore hope to be the abodes of happiness1 which ,i would willingly believe to have fled from thrones and palaces to seats of humble privacy and placid obscurity4 ,for what can hinder the satisfaction or intercept the expectations of him whose abilities are adequate to his employments1 who sees with his own eyes the whole circuit of his influence1 who chooses by his own knowledge all whom he trusts1 and whom none are tempted to deceive by hope or fear8 ,surely he has nothing to do but to love and to be loved2 to be virtuous and to be happy40 8,whether perfect happiness would be procured by perfect goodness10 said ,nekayah1 8this world will never afford an opportunity of deciding4 ,but this1 at least1 may be maintained1 that we do not always find visible happiness in proportion to visible virtue4 ,all natural and almost all political evils are incident alike to the bad and good2 they are confounded in the misery of a famine1 and not much distinguished in the fury of a faction2 they sink together in a tempest and are driven together from their country by invaders4 ,all that virtue can afford is quietness of conscience and a steady prospect of a happier state2 this may enable us to endure calamity with patience1 but remember that patience must oppose pain40 ,,chapter ,,xxviii ,,rasselas ,,and ,,nekayah ,,continue ,,their ,,conversation4 8,,dear ,princess10 said ,rasselas1 8you fall into the common errors of exaggeratory declamation1 by producing in a familiar disquisition examples of national calamities and scenes of extensive misery which are found in books rather than in the world1 and which1 as they are horrid1 are ordained to be rare4 ,let us not imagine evils which we do not feel1 nor injure life by misrepresentations4 ,i cannot bear that querulous eloquence which threatens every city with a siege like that of ,jerusalem1 that makes famine attend on every flight of locust1 and suspends pestilence on the wing of every blast that issues from the south4 8,on necessary and inevitable evils which overwhelm kingdoms at once all disputation is vain2 when they happen they must be endured4 ,but it is evident that these bursts of universal distress are more dreaded than felt2 thousands and tens of thousands flourish in youth and wither in age1 without the knowledge of any other than domestic evils1 and share the same pleasures and vexations1 whether their kings are mild or cruel1 whether the armies of their country pursue their enemies or retreat before them4 ,while ,courts are disturbed with intestine competitions and ambassadors are negotiating in foreign countries1 the smith still plies his anvil and the husbandman drives his plough forward2 the necessaries of life are required and obtained1 and the successive business of the season continues to make its wonted revolutions4 8,let us cease to consider what perhaps may never happen1 and what1 when it shall happen1 will laugh at human speculation4 ,we will not endeavour to modify the motions of the elements or to fix the destiny of kingdoms4 ,it is our business to consider what beings like us may perform1 each labouring for his own happiness by promoting within his circle1 however narrow1 the happiness of others4 8,marriage is evidently the dictate of ,nature2 men and women were made to be the companions of each other1 and therefore ,i cannot be persuaded but that marriage is one of the means of happiness40 8,i know not10 said the ,princess1 8whether marriage be more than one of the innumerable modes of human misery4 ,when ,i see and reckon the various forms of connubial infelicity1 the unexpected causes of lasting discord1 the diversities of temper1 the oppositions of opinion1 the rude collisions of contrary desire where both are urged by violent impulses1 the obstinate contest of disagreeing virtues where both are supported by consciousness of good intention1 ,i am sometimes disposed to think1 with the severer casuists of most nations1 that marriage is rather permitted than approved1 and that none1 but by the instigation of a passion too much indulged1 entangle themselves with indissoluble compact40 8,you seem to forget10 replied ,rasselas1 8that you have1 even now represented celibacy as less happy than marriage4 ,both conditions may be bad1 but they cannot both be worse4 ,thus it happens1 when wrong opinions are entertained1 that they mutually destroy each other and leave the mind open to truth40 8,i did not expect10 answered1 the ,princess1 8to hear that imputed to falsehood which is the consequence only of frailty4 ,to the mind1 as to the eye1 it is difficult to compare with exactness objects vast in their extent and various in their parts4 ,when we see or conceive the whole at once1 we readily note the discriminations and decide the preference1 but of two systems1 of which neither can be surveyed by any human being in its full compass of magnitude and multiplicity of complication1 where is the wonder that1 judging of the whole by parts1 ,i am alternately affected by one and the other as either presses on my memory or fancy8 ,we differ from ourselves just as we differ from each other when we see only part of the question1 as in the multifarious relations of politics and morality1 but when we perceive the whole at once1 as in numerical computations1 all agree in one judgment1 and none ever varies in his opinion40 8,let us not add10 said the ,prince1 8to the other evils of life the bitterness of controversy1 nor endeavour to vie with each other in subtilties of argument4 ,we are employed in a search of which both are equally to enjoy the success or suffer by the miscarriage2 it is therefore fit that we assist each other4 ,you surely conclude too hastily from the infelicity of marriage against its institution2 will not the misery of life prove equally that life cannot be the gift of ,heaven8 ,the world must be peopled by marriage or peopled without it40 8,how the world is to be peopled10 returned ,nekayah1 8is not my care and need not be yours4 ,i see no danger that the present generation should omit to leave successors behind them2 we are not now inquiring for the world1 but for ourselves40 ,,chapter ,,xxix ,,the ,,debate ,,on ,,marriage 7continued74 8,,the good of the whole10 says ,rasselas1 8is the same with the good of all its parts4 ,if marriage be best for mankind1 it must be evidently best for individuals2 or a permanent and necessary duty must be the cause of evil1 and some must be inevitably sacrificed to the convenience of others4 ,in the estimate which you have made of the two states1 it appears that the incommodities of a single life are in a great measure necessary and certain1 but those of the conjugal state accidental and avoidable4 ,i cannot forbear to flatter myself that prudence and benevolence will make marriage happy4 ,the general folly of mankind is the cause of general complaint4 ,what can be expected but disappointment and repentance from a choice made in the immaturity of youth1 in the ardour of desire1 without judgment1 without foresight1 without inquiry after conformity of opinions1 similarity of manners1 rectitude of judgment1 or purity of sentiment8 8,such is the common process of marriage4 ,a youth and maiden1 meeting by chance or brought together by artifice1 exchange glances1 reciprocate civilities1 go home and dream of one another4 ,having little to divert attention or diversify thought1 they find themselves uneasy when they are apart1 and therefore conclude that they shall be happy together4 ,they marry1 and discover what nothing but voluntary blindness before had concealed2 they wear out life in altercations1 and charge ,nature with cruelty4 8,from those early marriages proceeds likewise the rivalry of parents and children3 the son is eager to enjoy the world before the father is willing to forsake it1 and there is hardly room at once for two generations4 ,the daughter begins to bloom before the mother can be content to fade1 and neither can forbear to wish for the absence of the other4 8,surely all these evils may be avoided by that deliberation and delay which prudence prescribes to irrevocable choice4 ,in the variety and jollity of youthful pleasures1 life may be well enough supported without the help of a partner4 ,longer time will increase experience1 and wider views will allow better opportunities of inquiry and selection2 one advantage at least will be certain1 the parents will be visibly older than their children40 8,what reason cannot collect10 said ,nekayah1 8and what experiment has not yet taught1 can be known only from the report of others4 ,i have been told that late marriages are not eminently happy4 ,this is a question too important to be neglected2 and ,i have often proposed it to those whose accuracy of remark and comprehensiveness of knowledge made their suffrages worthy of regard4 ,they have generally determined that it is dangerous for a man and woman to suspend their fate upon each other at a time when opinions are fixed and habits are established1 when friendships have been contracted on both sides1 when life has been planned into method1 and the mind has long enjoyed the contemplation of its own prospects4 8,it is scarcely possible that two travelling through the world under the conduct of chance should have been both directed to the same path1 and it will not often happen that either will quit the track which custom has made pleasing4 ,when the desultory levity of youth has settled into regularity1 it is soon succeeded by pride ashamed to yield1 or obstinacy delighting to contend4 ,and even though mutual esteem produces mutual desire to please1 time itself1 as it modifies unchangeably the external mien1 determines likewise the direction of the passions1 and gives an inflexible rigidity to the manners4 ,long customs are not easily broken2 he that attempts to change the course of his own life very often labours in vain1 and how shall we do that for others which we are seldom able to do for ourselves80 8,but surely10 interposed the ,prince1 8you suppose the chief motive of choice forgotten or neglected4 ,whenever ,i shall seek a wife1 it shall be my first question whether she be willing to be led by reason40 8,thus it is10 said ,nekayah1 8that philosophers are deceived4 ,there are a thousand familiar disputes which reason never can decide2 questions that elude investigation1 and make logic ridiculous2 cases where something must be done1 and where little can be said4 ,consider the state of mankind1 and inquire how few can be supposed to act upon any occasions1 whether small or great1 with all the reasons of action present to their minds4 ,wretched would be the pair1 above all names of wretchedness1 who should be doomed to adjust by reason every morning all the minute details of a domestic day4 8,those who marry at an advanced age will probably escape the encroachments of their children1 but in the diminution of this advantage they will be likely to leave them1 ignorant and helpless1 to a guardian's mercy2 or if that should not happen1 they must at least go out of the world before they see those whom they love best either wise or great4 8,from their children1 if they have less to fear1 they have less also to hope2 and they lose without equivalent the joys of early love1 and the convenience of uniting with manners pliant and minds susceptible of new impressions1 which might wear away their dissimilitudes by long cohabitation1 as soft bodies by continual attrition conform their surfaces to each other4 8,i believe it will be found that those who marry late are best pleased with their children1 and those who marry early with their partners40 8,the union of these two affections10 said ,rasselas1 8would produce all that could be wished4 ,perhaps there is a time when marriage might unite them--a time neither too early for the father nor too late for the husband40 8,every hour10 answered the ,princess1 8confirms my prejudice in favour of the position so often uttered by the mouth of ,imlac1 that #8,nature sets her gifts on the right hand and on the left4' ,those conditions which flatter hope and attract desire are so constituted that as we approach one we recede from another4 ,there are goods so opposed that we cannot seize both1 but by too much prudence may pass between them at too great a distance to reach either4 ,this is often the fate of long consideration2 he does nothing who endeavours to do more than is allowed to humanity4 ,flatter not yourself with contrarieties of pleasure4 ,of the blessings set before you make your choice1 and be content4 ,no man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of the spring2 no man can at the same time fill his cup from the source and from the mouth of the ,nile40 ,,chapter ,,xxx ,,imlac ,,enters1 ,,and ,,changes ,,the ,,conversation4 ,,here ,imlac entered1 and interrupted them4 8,imlac10 said ,rasselas1 8,i have been taking from the ,princess the dismal history of private life1 and am almost discouraged from further search40 8,it seems to me10 said ,imlac1 8that while you are making the choice of life you neglect to live4 ,you wander about a single city1 which1 however large and diversified1 can now afford few novelties1 and forget that you are in a country famous among the earliest monarchies for the power and wisdom of its inhabitants--a country where the sciences first dawned that illuminate the world1 and beyond which the arts cannot be traced of civil society or domestic life4 8,the old ,egyptians have left behind them monuments of industry and power before which all ,european magnificence is confessed to fade away4 ,the ruins of their architecture are the schools of modern builders2 and from the wonders which time has spared we may conjecture1 though uncertainly1 what it has destroyed40 8,my curiosity10 said ,rasselas1 8does not very strongly lead me to survey piles of stone or mounds of earth4 ,my business is with man4 ,i came hither not to measure fragments of temples or trace choked aqueducts1 but to look upon the various scenes of the present world40 8,the things that are now before us10 said the ,princess1 8require attention1 and deserve it4 ,what have ,i to do with the heroes or the monuments of ancient times--with times which can never return1 and heroes whose form of life was different from all that the present condition of mankind requires or allows80 8,to know anything10 returned the poet1 8we must know its effects2 to see men1 we must see their works1 that we may learn what reason has dictated or passion has excited1 and find what are the most powerful motives of action4 ,to judge rightly of the present1 we must oppose it to the past2 for all judgment is comparative1 and of the future nothing can be known4 ,the truth is that no mind is much employed upon the present2 recollection and anticipation fill up almost all our moments4 ,our passions are joy and grief1 love and hatred1 hope and fear4 ,of joy and grief1 the past is the object1 and the future of hope and fear2 even love and hatred respect the past1 for the cause must have been before the effect4 8,the present state of things is the consequence of the former2 and it is natural to inquire what were the sources of the good that we enjoy1 or the evils that we suffer4 ,if we act only for ourselves1 to neglect the study of history is not prudent4 ,if we are entrusted with the care of others1 it is not just4 ,ignorance1 when it is voluntary1 is criminal2 and he may properly be charged with evil who refused to learn how he might prevent it4 8,there is no part of history so generally useful as that which relates to the progress of the human mind1 the gradual improvement of reason1 the successive advances of science1 the vicissitudes of learning and ignorance 7which are the light and darkness of thinking beings71 the extinction and resuscitation of arts1 and the revolutions of the intellectual world4 ,if accounts of battles and invasions are peculiarly the business of princes1 the useful or elegant arts are not to be neglected2 those who have kingdoms to govern have understandings to cultivate4 8,example is always more efficacious than precept4 ,a soldier is formed in war1 and a painter must copy pictures4 ,in this1 contemplative life has the advantage4 ,great actions are seldom seen1 but the labours of art are always at hand for those who desire to know what art has been able to perform4 8,when the eye or the imagination is struck with any uncommon work1 the next transition of an active mind is to the means by which it was performed4 ,here begins the true use of such contemplation4 ,we enlarge our comprehension by new ideas1 and perhaps recover some art lost to mankind1 or learn what is less perfectly known in our own country4 ,at least we compare our own with former times1 and either rejoice at our improvements1 or1 what is the first motion towards good1 discover our defects40 8,i am willing10 said the ,prince1 8to see all that can deserve my search40 8,and ,i10 said the ,princess1 8shall rejoice to learn something of the manners of antiquity40 8,the most pompous monument of ,egyptian greatness1 and one of the most bulky works of manual industry10 said ,imlac1 8are the ,pyramids3 fabrics raised before the time of history1 and of which the earliest narratives afford us only uncertain traditions4 ,of these the greatest is still standing1 very little injured by time40 8,let us visit them to-morrow10 said ,nekayah4 8,i have often heard of the ,pyramids1 and shall not rest till ,i have seen them1 within and without1 with my own eyes40 ,,chapter ,,xxxi ,,they ,,visit ,,the ,,pyramids4 ,,the resolution being thus taken1 they set out the next day4 ,they laid tents upon their camels1 being resolved to stay among the ,pyramids till their curiosity was fully satisfied4 ,they travelled gently1 turned aside to everything remarkable1 stopped from time to time and conversed with the inhabitants1 and observed the various appearances of towns ruined and inhabited1 of wild and cultivated nature4 ,when they came to the ,great ,pyramid they were astonished at the extent of the base and the height of the top4 ,imlac explained to them the principles upon which the pyramidal form was chosen for a fabric intended to co-extend its duration with that of the world3 he showed that its gradual diminution gave it such stability as defeated all the common attacks of the elements1 and could scarcely be overthrown by earthquakes themselves1 the least resistible of natural violence4 ,a concussion that should shatter the pyramid would threaten the dissolution of the continent4 ,they measured all its dimensions1 and pitched their tents at its foot4 ,next day they prepared to enter its interior apartments1 and having hired the common guides1 climbed up to the first passage2 when the favourite of the ,princess1 looking into the cavity1 stepped back and trembled4 8,pekuah10 said the ,princess1 8of what art thou afraid80 8,of the narrow entrance10 answered the lady1 8and of the dreadful gloom4 ,i dare not enter a place which must surely be inhabited by unquiet souls4 ,the original possessors of these dreadful vaults will start up before us1 and perhaps shut us in for ever40 ,she spoke1 and threw her arms round the neck of her mistress4 8,if all your fear be of apparitions10 said the ,prince1 8,i will promise you safety4 ,there is no danger from the dead3 he that is once buried will be seen no more40 8,that the dead are seen no more10 said ,imlac1 8,i will not undertake to maintain against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all ages and of all nations4 ,there is no people1 rude or learned1 among whom apparitions of the dead are not related and believed4 ,this opinion1 which perhaps prevails as far as human nature is diffused1 could become universal only by its truth3 those that never heard of one another would not have agreed in a tale which nothing but experience can make credible4 ,that it is doubted by single cavillers can very little weaken the general evidence1 and some who deny it with their tongues confess it by their fears4 8,yet ,i do not mean to add new terrors to those which have already seized upon ,pekuah4 ,there can be no reason why spectres should haunt the ,pyramid more than other places1 or why they should have power or will to hurt innocence and purity4 ,our entrance is no violation of their privileges3 we can take nothing from them2 how1 then1 can we offend them80 8,my dear ,pekuah10 said the ,princess1 8,i will always go before you1 and ,imlac shall follow you4 ,remember that you are the companion of the ,princess of ,abyssinia40 8,if the ,princess is pleased that her servant should die10 returned the lady1 8let her command some death less dreadful than enclosure in this horrid cavern4 ,you know ,i dare not disobey you--,i must go if you command me2 but if ,i once enter1 ,i never shall come back40 ,the ,princess saw that her fear was too strong for expostulation or reproof1 and1 embracing her1 told her that she should stay in the tent till their return4 ,pekuah was not yet satisfied1 but entreated the ,princess not to pursue so dreadful a purpose as that of entering the recesses of the ,pyramids4 8,though ,i cannot teach courage10 said ,nekayah1 8,i must not learn cowardice1 nor leave at last undone what ,i came hither only to do40 ,,chapter ,,xxxii ,,they ,,enter ,,the ,,pyramid4 ,,pekuah descended to the tents1 and the rest entered the ,pyramid4 ,they passed through the galleries1 surveyed the vaults of marble1 and examined the chest in which the body of the founder is supposed to have been deposited4 ,they then sat down in one of the most spacious chambers to rest awhile before they attempted to return4 8,we have now10 said ,imlac1 8gratified our minds with an exact view of the greatest work of man1 except the wall of ,china4 8,of the wall it is very easy to assign the motive4 ,it secured a wealthy and timorous nation from the incursions of barbarians1 whose unskilfulness in the arts made it easier for them to supply their wants by rapine than by industry1 and who from time to time poured in upon the inhabitants of peaceful commerce as vultures descend upon domestic fowl4 ,their celerity and fierceness made the wall necessary1 and their ignorance made it efficacious4 8,but for the ,pyramids1 no reason has ever been given adequate to the cost and labour of the work4 ,the narrowness of the chambers proves that it could afford no retreat from enemies1 and treasures might have been reposited at far less expense with equal security4 ,it seems to have been erected only in compliance with that hunger of imagination which preys incessantly upon life1 and must be always appeased by some employment4 ,those who have already all that they can enjoy must enlarge their desires4 ,he that has built for use till use is supplied must begin to build for vanity1 and extend his plan to the utmost power of human performance that he may not be soon reduced to form another wish4 8,i consider this mighty structure as a monument of the insufficiency of human enjoyments4 ,a king whose power is unlimited1 and whose treasures surmount all real and imaginary wants1 is compelled to solace1 by the erection of a pyramid1 the satiety of dominion and tastelessness of pleasures1 and to amuse the tediousness of declining life by seeing thousands labouring without end1 and one stone1 for no purpose1 laid upon another4 ,whoever thou art that1 not content with a moderate condition1 imaginest happiness in royal magnificence1 and dreamest that command or riches can feed the appetite of novelty with perpetual gratifications1 survey the ,pyramids1 and confess thy folly60 ,,chapter ,,xxxiii ,,the ,,princess ,,meets ,,with ,,an ,,unexpected ,,misfortune4 ,,they rose up1 and returned through the cavity at which they had entered2 and the ,princess prepared for her favourite a long narrative of dark labyrinths and costly rooms1 and of the different impressions which the varieties of the way had made upon her4 ,but when they came to their train1 they found every one silent and dejected3 the men discovered shame and fear in their countenances1 and the women were weeping in their tents4 ,what had happened they did not try to conjecture1 but immediately inquired4 8,you had scarcely entered into the ,pyramid10 said one of the attendants1 8when a troop of ,arabs rushed upon us3 we were too few to resist them1 and too slow to escape4 ,they were about to search the tents1 set us on our camels1 and drive us along before them1 when the approach of some ,turkish horsemen put them to flight3 but they seized the ,lady ,pekuah with her two maids1 and carried them away3 the ,turks are now pursuing them by our instigation1 but ,i fear they will not be able to overtake them40 ,the ,princess was overpowered with surprise and grief4 ,rasselas1 in the first heat of his resentment1 ordered his servants to follow him1 and prepared to pursue the robbers with his sabre in his hand4 8,sir10 said ,imlac1 8what can you hope from violence or valour8 ,the ,arabs are mounted on horses trained to battle and retreat2 we have only beasts of burden4 ,by leaving our present station we may lose the ,princess1 but cannot hope to regain ,pekuah40 ,in a short time the ,turks returned1 having not been able to reach the enemy4 ,the ,princess burst out into new lamentations1 and ,rasselas could scarcely forbear to reproach them with cowardice2 but ,imlac was of opinion that the escape of the ,arabs was no addition to their misfortune1 for perhaps they would have killed their captives rather than have resigned them4 ,,chapter ,,xxxiv ,,they ,,return ,,to ,,cairo ,,without ,,pekuah4 ,,there was nothing to be hoped from longer stay4 ,they returned to ,cairo1 repenting of their curiosity1 censuring the negligence of the government1 lamenting their own rashness1 which had neglected to procure a guard1 imagining many expedients by which the loss of ,pekuah might have been prevented1 and resolving to do something for her recovery1 though none could find anything proper to be done4 ,nekayah retired to her chamber1 where her women attempted to comfort her by telling her that all had their troubles1 and that ,lady ,pekuah had enjoyed much happiness in the world for a long time1 and might reasonably expect a change of fortune4 ,they hoped that some good would befall her wheresoever she was1 and that their mistress would find another friend who might supply her place4 ,the ,princess made them no answer2 and they continued the form of condolence1 not much grieved in their hearts that the favourite was lost4 ,next day the ,prince presented to the ,bassa a memorial of the wrong which he had suffered1 and a petition for redress4 ,the ,bassa threatened to punish the robbers1 but did not attempt to catch them2 nor indeed could any account or description be given by which he might direct the pursuit4 ,it soon appeared that nothing would be done by authority4 ,governors being accustomed to hear of more crimes than they can punish1 and more wrongs than they can redress1 set themselves at ease by indiscriminate negligence1 and presently forget the request when they lose sight of the petitioner4 ,imlac then endeavoured to gain some intelligence by private agents4 ,he found many who pretended to an exact knowledge of all the haunts of the ,arabs1 and to regular correspondence with their chiefs1 and who readily undertook the recovery of ,pekuah4 ,of these1 some were furnished with money for their journey1 and came back no more2 some were liberally paid for accounts which a few days discovered to be false4 ,but the ,princess would not suffer any means1 however improbable1 to be left untried4 ,while she was doing something1 she kept her hope alive4 ,as one expedient failed1 another was suggested2 when one messenger returned unsuccessful1 another was despatched to a different quarter4 ,two months had now passed1 and of ,pekuah nothing had been heard2 the hopes which they had endeavoured to raise in each other grew more languid2 and the ,princess1 when she saw nothing more to be tried1 sunk down inconsolable in hopeless dejection4 ,a thousand times she reproached herself with the easy compliance by which she permitted her favourite to stay behind her4 8,had not my fondness10 said she1 8lessened my authority1 ,pekuah had not dared to talk of her terrors4 ,she ought to have feared me more than spectres4 ,a severe look would have overpowered her2 a peremptory command would have compelled obedience4 ,why did foolish indulgence prevail upon me8 ,why did ,i not speak1 and refuse to hear80 8,great ,princess10 said ,imlac1 8do not reproach yourself for your virtue1 or consider that as blameable by which evil has accidentally been caused4 ,your tenderness for the timidity of ,pekuah was generous and kind4 ,when we act according to our duty1 we commit the events to ,him by whose laws our actions are governed1 and who will suffer none to be finally punished for obedience4 ,when1 in prospect of some good1 whether natural or moral1 we break the rules prescribed us1 we withdraw from the direction of superior wisdom1 and take all consequences upon ourselves4 ,man cannot so far know the connection of causes and events as that he may venture to do wrong in order to do right4 ,when we pursue our end by lawful means1 we may always console our miscarriage by the hope of future recompense4 ,when we consult only our own policy1 and attempt to find a nearer way to good by over-leaping the settled boundaries of right and wrong1 we cannot be happy even by success1 because we cannot escape the consciousness of our fault2 but if we miscarry1 the disappointment is irremediably embittered4 ,how comfortless is the sorrow of him who feels at once the pangs of guilt and the vexation of calamity which guilt has brought upon him6 8,consider1 ,princess1 what would have been your condition if the ,lady ,pekuah had entreated to accompany you1 and1 being compelled to stay in the tents1 had been carried away2 or how would you have borne the thought if you had forced her into the ,pyramid1 and she had died before you in agonies of terror80 8,had either happened10 said ,nekayah1 8,i could not have endured life till now2 ,i should have been tortured to madness by the remembrance of such cruelty1 or must have pined away in abhorrence of myself40 8,this1 at least10 said ,imlac1 8is the present reward of virtuous conduct1 that no unlucky consequence can oblige us to repent it40 ,,chapter ,,xxxv ,,the ,,princess ,,languishes ,,for ,,want ,,of ,,pekuah4 ,,nekayah1 being thus reconciled to herself1 found that no evil is insupportable but that which is accompanied with consciousness of wrong4 ,she was from that time delivered from the violence of tempestuous sorrow1 and sunk into silent pensiveness and gloomy tranquillity4 ,she sat from morning to evening recollecting all that had been done or said by her ,pekuah1 treasured up with care every trifle on which ,pekuah had set an accidental value1 and which might recall to mind any little incident or careless conversation4 ,the sentiments of her whom she now expected to see no more were treasured in her memory as rules of life1 and she deliberated to no other end than to conjecture on any occasion what would have been the opinion and counsel of ,pekuah4 ,the women by whom she was attended knew nothing of her real condition1 and therefore she could not talk to them but with caution and reserve4 ,she began to remit her curiosity1 having no great desire to collect notions which she had no convenience of uttering4 ,rasselas endeavoured first to comfort and afterwards to divert her2 he hired musicians1 to whom she seemed to listen1 but did not hear them2 and procured masters to instruct her in various arts1 whose lectures1 when they visited her again1 were again to be repeated4 ,she had lost her taste of pleasure and her ambition of excellence2 and her mind1 though forced into short excursions1 always recurred to the image of her friend4 ,imlac was every morning earnestly enjoined to renew his inquiries1 and was asked every night whether he had yet heard of ,pekuah2 till1 not being able to return the ,princess the answer that she desired1 he was less and less willing to come into her presence4 ,she observed his backwardness1 and commanded him to attend her4 8,you are not10 said she1 8to confound impatience with resentment1 or to suppose that ,i charge you with negligence because ,i repine at your unsuccessfulness4 ,i do not much wonder at your absence4 ,i know that the unhappy are never pleasing1 and that all naturally avoid the contagion of misery4 ,to hear complaints is wearisome alike to the wretched and the happy2 for who would cloud by adventitious grief the short gleams of gaiety which life allows us1 or who that is struggling under his own evils will add to them the miseries of another8 8,the time is at hand when none shall be disturbed any longer by the sighs of ,nekayah3 my search after happiness is now at an end4 ,i am resolved to retire from the world1 with all its flatteries and deceits1 and will hide myself in solitude1 without any other care than to compose my thoughts and regulate my hours by a constant succession of innocent occupations1 till1 with a mind purified from earthly desires1 ,i shall enter into that state to which all are hastening1 and in which ,i hope again to enjoy the friendship of ,pekuah40 8,do not entangle your mind10 said ,imlac1 8by irrevocable determinations1 nor increase the burden of life by a voluntary accumulation of misery4 ,the weariness of retirement will continue to increase when the loss of ,pekuah is forgot4 ,that you have been deprived of one pleasure is no very good reason for rejection of the rest40 8,since ,pekuah was taken from me10 said the ,princess1 8,i have no pleasure to reject or to retain4 ,she that has no one to love or trust has little to hope4 ,she wants the radical principle of happiness4 ,we may perhaps allow that what satisfaction this world can afford must arise from the conjunction of wealth1 knowledge1 and goodness4 ,wealth is nothing but as it is bestowed1 and knowledge nothing but as it is communicated4 ,they must therefore be imparted to others1 and to whom could ,i now delight to impart them8 ,goodness affords the only comfort which can be enjoyed without a partner1 and goodness may be practised in retirement40 8,how far solitude may admit goodness or advance it1 ,i shall not10 replied ,imlac1 8dispute at present4 ,remember the confession of the pious hermit4 ,you will wish to return into the world when the image of your companion has left your thoughts40 8,that time10 said ,nekayah1 8will never come4 ,the generous frankness1 the modest obsequiousness1 and the faithful secrecy of my dear ,pekuah will always be more missed as ,i shall live longer to see vice and folly40 8,the state of a mind oppressed with a sudden calamity10 said ,imlac1 8is like that of the fabulous inhabitants of the new-created earth1 who1 when the first night came upon them1 supposed that day would never return4 ,when the clouds of sorrow gather over us1 we see nothing beyond them1 nor can imagine how they will be dispelled2 yet a new day succeeded to the night1 and sorrow is never long without a dawn of ease4 ,but they who restrain themselves from receiving comfort do as the savages would have done had they put out their eyes when it was dark4 ,our minds1 like our bodies1 are in continual flux2 something is hourly lost1 and something acquired4 ,to lose much at once is inconvenient to either1 but while the vital power remains uninjured1 nature will find the means of reparation4 ,distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye2 and while we glide along the stream of time1 whatever we leave behind us is always lessening1 and that which we approach increasing in magnitude4 ,do not suffer life to stagnate3 it will grow muddy for want of motion2 commit yourself again to the current of the world2 ,pekuah will vanish by degrees2 you will meet in your way some other favourite1 or learn to diffuse yourself in general conversation40 8,at least10 said the ,prince1 8do not despair before all remedies have been tried4 ,the inquiry after the unfortunate lady is still continued1 and shall be carried on with yet greater diligence1 on condition that you will promise to wait a year for the event1 without any unalterable resolution40 ,nekayah thought this a reasonable demand1 and made the promise to her brother1 who had been obliged by ,imlac to require it4 ,imlac had1 indeed1 no great hope of regaining ,pekuah2 but he supposed that if he could secure the interval of a year1 the ,princess would be then in no danger of a cloister4 ,,chapter ,,xxxvi ,,pekuah ,,is ,,still ,,remembered4 ,,the ,,progress ,,of ,,sorrow4 ,,nekayah1 seeing that nothing was omitted for the recovery of her favourite1 and having by her promise set her intention of retirement at a distance1 began imperceptibly to return to common cares and common pleasures4 ,she rejoiced without her own consent at the suspension of her sorrows1 and sometimes caught herself with indignation in the act of turning away her mind from the remembrance of her whom yet she resolved never to forget4 ,she then appointed a certain hour of the day for meditation on the merits and fondness of ,pekuah1 and for some weeks retired constantly at the time fixed1 and returned with her eyes swollen and her countenance clouded4 ,by degrees she grew less scrupulous1 and suffered any important and pressing avocation to delay the tribute of daily tears4 ,she then yielded to less occasions1 and sometimes forgot what she was indeed afraid to remember1 and at last wholly released herself from the duty of periodical affliction4 ,her real love of ,pekuah was not yet diminished4 ,a thousand occurrences brought her back to memory1 and a thousand wants1 which nothing but the confidence of friendship can supply1 made her frequently regretted4 ,she therefore solicited ,imlac never to desist from inquiry1 and to leave no art of intelligence untried1 that at least she might have the comfort of knowing that she did not suffer by negligence or sluggishness4 8,yet what10 said she1 8is to be expected from our pursuit of happiness1 when we find the state of life to be such that happiness itself is the cause of misery8 ,why should we endeavour to attain that of which the possession cannot be secured8 ,i shall henceforward fear to yield my heart to excellence1 however bright1 or to fondness1 however tender1 lest ,i should lose again what ,i have lost in ,pekuah40 ,,chapter ,,xxxvii ,,the ,,princess ,,hears ,,news ,,of ,,pekuah4 ,,in seven mouths one of the messengers who had been sent away upon the day when the promise was drawn from the ,princess1 returned1 after many unsuccessful rambles1 from the borders of ,nubia1 with an account that ,pekuah was in the hands of an ,arab chief1 who possessed a castle or fortress on the extremity of ,egypt4 ,the ,arab1 whose revenue was plunder1 was willing to restore her1 with her two attendants1 for two hundred ounces of gold4 ,the price was no subject of debate4 ,the ,princess was in ecstasies when she heard that her favourite was alive1 and might so cheaply be ransomed4 ,she could not think of delaying for a moment ,pekuah's happiness or her own1 but entreated her brother to send back the messenger with the sum required4 ,imlac1 being consulted1 was not very confident of the veracity of the relater1 and was still more doubtful of the ,arab's faith1 who might1 if he were too liberally trusted1 detain at once the money and the captives4 ,he thought it dangerous to put themselves in the power of the ,arab by going into his district2 and could not expect that the rover would so much expose himself as to come into the lower country1 where he might be seized by the forces of the ,bassa4 ,it is difficult to negotiate where neither will trust4 ,but ,imlac1 after some deliberation1 directed the messenger to propose that ,pekuah should be conducted by ten horsemen to the monastery of ,st4 ,anthony1 which is situated in the deserts of ,upper ,egypt1 where she should be met by the same number1 and her ransom should be paid4 ,that no time might be lost1 as they expected that the proposal would not be refused1 they immediately began their journey to the monastery2 and when they arrived1 ,imlac went forward with the former messenger to the ,arab's fortress4 ,rasselas was desirous to go with them2 but neither his sister nor ,imlac would consent4 ,the ,arab1 according to the custom of his nation1 observed the laws of hospitality with great exactness to those who put themselves into his power1 and in a few days brought ,pekuah1 with her maids1 by easy journeys1 to the place appointed1 where1 receiving the stipulated price1 he restored her1 with great respect1 to liberty and her friends1 and undertook to conduct them back towards ,cairo beyond all danger of robbery or violence4 ,the ,princess and her favourite embraced each other with transport too violent to be expressed1 and went out together to pour the tears of tenderness in secret1 and exchange professions of kindness and gratitude4 ,after a few hours they returned into the refectory of the convent1 where1 in the presence of the prior and his brethren1 the ,prince required of ,pekuah the history of her adventures4 ,,chapter ,,xxxviii ,,the ,,adventures ,,of ,,the ,,lady ,,pekuah4 8,,at what time and in what manner ,i was forced away10 said ,pekuah1 8your servants have told you4 ,the suddenness of the event struck me with surprise1 and ,i was at first rather stupefied than agitated with any passion of either fear or sorrow4 ,my confusion was increased by the speed and tumult of our flight1 while we were followed by the ,turks1 who1 as it seemed1 soon despaired to overtake us1 or were afraid of those whom they made a show of menacing4 8,when the ,arabs saw themselves out of danger1 they slackened their course2 and as ,i was less harassed by external violence1 ,i began to feel more uneasiness in my mind4 ,after some time we stopped near a spring shaded with trees1 in a pleasant meadow1 where we were set upon the ground1 and offered such refreshments as our masters were partaking4 ,i was suffered to sit with my maids apart from the rest1 and none attempted to comfort or insult us4 ,here ,i first began to feel the full weight of my misery4 ,the girls sat weeping in silence1 and from time to time looked on me for succour4 ,i knew not to what condition we were doomed1 nor could conjecture where would be the place of our captivity1 or whence to draw any hope of deliverance4 ,i was in the hands of robbers and savages1 and had no reason to suppose that their pity was more than their justice1 or that they would forbear the gratification of any ardour of desire or caprice of cruelty4 ,i1 however1 kissed my maids1 and endeavoured to pacify them by remarking that we were yet treated with decency1 and that since we were now carried beyond pursuit1 there was no danger of violence to our lives4 8,when we were to be set again on horseback1 my maids clung round me1 and refused to be parted2 but ,i commanded them not to irritate those who had us in their power4 ,we travelled the remaining part of the day through an unfrequented and pathless country1 and came by moonlight to the side of a hill1 where the rest of the troop was stationed4 ,their tents were pitched and their fires kindled1 and our chief was welcomed as a man much beloved by his dependents4 8,we were received into a large tent1 where we found women who had attended their husbands in the expedition4 ,they set before us the supper which they had provided1 and ,i ate it rather to encourage my maids than to comply with any appetite of my own4 ,when the meat was taken away1 they spread the carpets for repose4 ,i was weary1 and hoped to find in sleep that remission of distress which nature seldom denies4 ,ordering myself1 therefore1 to be undressed1 ,i observed that the women looked very earnestly upon me1 not expecting1 ,i suppose1 to see me so submissively attended4 ,when my upper vest was taken off1 they were apparently struck with the splendour of my clothes1 and one of them timorously laid her hand upon the embroidery4 ,she then went out1 and in a short time came back with another woman1 who seemed to be of higher rank and greater authority4 ,she did1 at her entrance1 the usual act of reverence1 and1 taking me by the hand placed me in a smaller tent1 spread with finer carpets1 where ,i spent the night quietly with my maids4 8,in the morning1 as ,i was sitting on the grass1 the chief of the troop came towards me4 ,i rose up to receive him1 and he bowed with great respect4 #8,illustrious lady1' said he1 #8my fortune is better than ,i had presumed to hope3 ,i am told by my women that ,i have a princess in my camp4' #8,sir1' answered ,i1 #8your women have deceived themselves and you2 ,i am not a princess1 but an unhappy stranger who intended soon to have left this country1 in which ,i am now to be imprisoned for ever4' #8,whoever or whencesoever you are1' returned the ,arab1 #8your dress and that of your servants show your rank to be high and your wealth to be great4 ,why should you1 who can so easily procure your ransom1 think yourself in danger of perpetual captivity8 ,the purpose of my incursions is to increase my riches1 or1 more properly1 to gather tribute4 ,the sons of ,ishmael are the natural and hereditary lords of this part of the continent1 which is usurped by late invaders and low-born tyrants1 from whom we are compelled to take by the sword what is denied to justice4 ,the violence of war admits no distinction3 the lance that is lifted at guilt and power will sometimes fall on innocence and gentleness4' 8#8,how little1' said ,i1 #8did ,i expect that yesterday it should have fallen upon me6' 8',misfortunes1' answered the ,arab1 #8should always be expected4 ,if the eye of hostility could learn reverence or pity1 excellence like yours had been exempt from injury4 ,but the angels of affliction spread their toils alike for the virtuous and the wicked1 for the mighty and the mean4 ,do not be disconsolate2 ,i am not one of the lawless and cruel rovers of the desert2 ,i know the rules of civil life2 ,i will fix your ransom1 give a passport to your messenger1 and perform my stipulation with nice punctuality4' 8,you will easily believe that ,i was pleased with his courtesy1 and finding that his predominant passion was desire for money1 ,i began now to think my danger less1 for ,i knew that no sum would be thought too great for the release of ,pekuah4 ,i told him that he should have no reason to charge me with ingratitude if ,i was used with kindness1 and that any ransom which could be expected for a maid of common rank would be paid1 but that he must not persist to rate me as a princess4 ,he said he would consider what he should demand1 and then1 smiling1 bowed and retired4 8,soon after the women came about me1 each contending to be more officious than the other1 and my maids themselves were served with reverence4 ,we travelled onward by short journeys4 ,on the fourth day the chief told me that my ransom must be two hundred ounces of gold1 which ,i not only promised him1 but told him that ,i would add fifty more if ,i and my maids were honourably treated4 8,i never knew the power of gold before4 ,from that time ,i was the leader of the troop4 ,the march of every day was longer or shorter as ,i commanded1 and the tents were pitched where ,i chose to rest4 ,we now had camels and other conveniences for travel2 my own women were always at my side1 and ,i amused myself with observing the manners of the vagrant nations1 and with viewing remains of ancient edifices1 with which these deserted countries appear to have been in some distant age lavishly embellished4 8,the chief of the band was a man far from illiterate3 he was able to travel by the stars or the compass1 and had marked in his erratic expeditions such places as are most worthy the notice of a passenger4 ,he observed to me that buildings are always best preserved in places little frequented and difficult of access2 for when once a country declines from its primitive splendour1 the more inhabitants are left1 the quicker ruin will be made4 ,walls supply stones more easily than quarries2 and palaces and temples will be demolished to make stables of granite and cottages of porphyry4'0 ,,chapter ,,xxxix ,,the ,,adventures ,,of ,,pekuah 7continued74 8,,we wandered about in this manner for some weeks1 either1 as our chief pretended1 for my gratification1 or1 as ,i rather suspected1 for some convenience of his own4 ,i endeavoured to appear contented where sullenness and resentment would have been of no use1 and that endeavour conduced much to the calmness of my mind2 but my heart was always with ,nekayah1 and the troubles of the night much overbalanced the amusements of the day4 ,my women1 who threw all their cares upon their mistress1 set their minds at ease from the time when they saw me treated with respect1 and gave themselves up to the incidental alleviations of our fatigue without solicitude or sorrow4 ,i was pleased with their pleasure1 and animated with their confidence4 ,my condition had lost much of its terror1 since ,i found that the ,arab ranged the country merely to get riches4 ,avarice is a uniform and tractable vice3 other intellectual distempers are different in different constitutions of mind2 that which soothes the pride of one will offend the pride of another2 but to the favour of the covetous there is a ready way--bring money1 and nothing is denied4 8,at last we came to the dwelling of our chief2 a strong and spacious house1 built with stone in an island of the ,nile1 which lies1 as ,i was told1 under the tropic4 #8,lady1' said the ,arab1 #8you shall rest after your journey a few weeks in this place1 where you are to consider yourself as ,sovereign4 ,my occupation is war3 ,i have therefore chosen this obscure residence1 from which ,i can issue unexpected1 and to which ,i can retire unpursued4 ,you may now repose in security3 here are few pleasures1 but here is no danger4' ,he then led me into the inner apartments1 and seating me on the richest couch1 bowed to the ground4 8,his women1 who considered me as a rival1 looked on me with malignity2 but being soon informed that ,i was a great lady detained only for my ransom1 they began to vie with each other in obsequiousness and reverence4 8,being again comforted with new assurances of speedy liberty1 ,i was for some days diverted from impatience by the novelty of the place4 ,the turrets overlooked the country to a great distance1 and afforded a view of many windings of the stream4 ,in the day ,i wandered from one place to another1 as the course of the sun varied the splendour of the prospect1 and saw many things which ,i had never seen before4 ,the crocodiles and river-horses are common in this unpeopled region2 and ,i often looked upon them with terror1 though ,i knew they could not hurt me4 ,for some time ,i expected to see mermaids and tritons1 which1 as ,imlac has told me1 the ,european travellers have stationed in the ,nile2 but no such beings ever appeared1 and the ,arab1 when ,i inquired after them1 laughed at my credulity4 8,at night the ,arab always attended me to a tower set apart for celestial observations1 where he endeavoured to teach me the names and courses of the stars4 ,i had no great inclination to this study2 but an appearance of attention was necessary to please my instructor1 who valued himself for his skill1 and in a little while ,i found some employment requisite to beguile the tediousness of time1 which was to be passed always amidst the same objects4 ,i was weary of looking in the morning on things from which ,i had turned away weary in the evening3 ,i therefore was at last willing to observe the stars rather than do nothing1 but could not always compose my thoughts1 and was very often thinking on ,nekayah when others imagined me contemplating the sky4 ,soon after1 the ,arab went upon another expedition1 and then my only pleasure was to talk with my maids about the accident by which we were carried away1 and the happiness we should all enjoy at the end of our captivity40 8,there were women in your ,arab's fortress10 said the ,princess2 8why did you not make them your companions1 enjoy their conversation1 and partake their diversions8 ,in a place where they found business or amusement1 why should you alone sit corroded with idle melancholy8 or why could not you bear for a few months that condition to which they were condemned for life80 8,the diversions of the women10 answered ,pekuah1 8were only childish play1 by which the mind accustomed to stronger operations could not be kept busy4 ,i could do all which they delighted in doing by powers merely sensitive1 while my intellectual faculties were flown to ,cairo4 ,they ran from room to room1 as a bird hops from wire to wire in his cage4 ,they danced for the sake of motion1 as lambs frisk in a meadow4 ,one sometimes pretended to be hurt that the rest might be alarmed1 or hid herself that another might seek her4 ,part of their time passed in watching the progress of light bodies that floated on the river1 and part in marking the various forms into which clouds broke in the sky4 8,their business was only needlework1 in which ,i and my maids sometimes helped them2 but you know that the mind will easily straggle from the fingers1 nor will you suspect that captivity and absence from ,nekayah could receive solace from silken flowers4 8,nor was much satisfaction to be hoped from their conversation3 for of what could they be expected to talk8 ,they had seen nothing1 for they had lived from early youth in that narrow spot3 of what they had not seen they could have no knowledge1 for they could not read4 ,they had no idea but of the few things that were within their view1 and had hardly names for anything but their clothes and their food4 ,as ,i bore a superior character1 ,i was often called to terminate their quarrels1 which ,i decided as equitably as ,i could4 ,if it could have amused me to hear the complaints of each against the rest1 ,i might have been often detained by long stories2 but the motives of their animosity were so small that ,i could not listen without interrupting the tale40 8,how10 said ,rasselas1 8can the ,arab1 whom you represented as a man of more than common accomplishments1 take any pleasure in his seraglio1 when it is filled only with women like these8 ,are they exquisitely beautiful80 8,they do not10 said ,pekuah1 8want that unaffecting and ignoble beauty which may subsist without sprightliness or sublimity1 without energy of thought or dignity of virtue4 ,but to a man like the ,arab such beauty was only a flower casually plucked and carelessly thrown away4 ,whatever pleasures he might find among them1 they were not those of friendship or society4 ,when they were playing about him he looked on them with inattentive superiority2 when they vied for his regard he sometimes turned away disgusted4 ,as they had no knowledge1 their talk could take nothing from the tediousness of life2 as they had no choice1 their fondness1 or appearance of fondness1 excited in him neither pride nor gratitude4 ,he was not exalted in his own esteem by the smiles of a woman who saw no other man1 nor was much obliged by that regard of which he could never know the sincerity1 and which he might often perceive to be exerted not so much to delight him as to pain a rival4 ,that which he gave1 and they received1 as love1 was only a careless distribution of superfluous time1 such love as man can bestow upon that which he despises1 such as has neither hope nor fear1 neither joy nor sorrow40 8,you have reason1 lady1 to think yourself happy10 said ,imlac1 8that you have been thus easily dismissed4 ,how could a mind1 hungry for knowledge1 be willing1 in an intellectual famine1 to lose such a banquet as ,pekuah's conversation80 8,i am inclined to believe10 answered ,pekuah1 8that he was for some time in suspense2 for1 notwithstanding his promise1 whenever ,i proposed to despatch a messenger to ,cairo he found some excuse for delay4 ,while ,i was detained in his house he made many incursions into the neighbouring countries1 and perhaps he would have refused to discharge me had his plunder been equal to his wishes4 ,he returned always courteous1 related his adventures1 delighted to hear my observations1 and endeavoured to advance my acquaintance with the stars4 ,when ,i importuned him to send away my letters1 he soothed me with professions of honour and sincerity2 and when ,i could be no longer decently denied1 put his troop again in motion1 and left me to govern in his absence4 ,i was much afflicted by this studied procrastination1 and was sometimes afraid that ,i should be forgotten2 that you would leave ,cairo1 and ,i must end my days in an island of the ,nile4 8,i grew at last hopeless and dejected1 and cared so little to entertain him1 that he for a while more frequently talked with my maids4 ,that he should fall in love with them or with me1 might have been equally fatal1 and ,i was not much pleased with the growing friendship4 ,my anxiety was not long1 for1 as ,i recovered some degree of cheerfulness1 he returned to me1 and ,i could not forbear to despise my former uneasiness4 8,he still delayed to send for my ransom1 and would perhaps never have determined had not your agent found his way to him4 ,the gold1 which he would not fetch1 he could not reject when it was offered4 ,he hastened to prepare for our journey hither1 like a man delivered from the pain of an intestine conflict4 ,i took leave of my companions in the house1 who dismissed me with cold indifference40 ,nekayah having heard her favourite's relation1 rose and embraced her1 and ,rasselas gave her a hundred ounces of gold1 which she presented to the ,arab for the fifty that were promised4 ,,chapter ,,xl ,,the ,,history ,,of ,a ,,man ,,of ,,learning4 ,,they returned to ,cairo1 and were so well pleased at finding themselves together that none of them went much abroad4 ,the ,prince began to love learning1 and one day declared to ,imlac that he intended to devote himself to science and pass the rest of his days in literary solitude4 8,before you make your final choice10 answered ,imlac1 8you ought to examine its hazards1 and converse with some of those who are grown old in the company of themselves4 ,i have just left the observatory of one of the most learned astronomers in the world1 who has spent forty years in unwearied attention to the motion and appearances of the celestial bodies1 and has drawn out his soul in endless calculations4 ,he admits a few friends once a month to hear his deductions and enjoy his discoveries4 ,i was introduced as a man of knowledge worthy of his notice4 ,men of various ideas and fluent conversation are commonly welcome to those whose thoughts have been long fixed upon a single point1 and who find the images of other things stealing away4 ,i delighted him with my remarks4 ,he smiled at the narrative of my travels1 and was glad to forget the constellations and descend for a moment into the lower world4 8,on the next day of vacation ,i renewed my visit1 and was so fortunate as to please him again4 ,he relaxed from that time the severity of his rule1 and permitted me to enter at my own choice4 ,i found him always busy1 and always glad to be relieved4 ,as each knew much which the other was desirous of learning1 we exchanged our notions with great delight4 ,i perceived that ,i had every day more of his confidence1 and always found new cause of admiration in the profundity of his mind4 ,his comprehension is vast1 his memory capacious and retentive1 his discourse is methodical1 and his expression clear4 8,his integrity and benevolence are equal to his learning4 ,his deepest researches and most favourite studies are willingly interrupted for any opportunity of doing good by his counsel or his riches4 ,to his closest retreat1 at his most busy moments1 all are admitted that want his assistance2 #8,for though ,i exclude idleness and pleasure1 ,i will never1' says he1 #8bar my doors against charity4 ,to man is permitted the contemplation of the skies1 but the practice of virtue is commanded4'0 8,surely10 said the ,princess1 8this man is happy40 8,i visited him10 said ,imlac1 8with more and more frequency1 and was every time more enamoured of his conversation2 he was sublime without haughtiness1 courteous without formality1 and communicative without ostentation4 ,i was at first1 great ,princess1 of your opinion1 thought him the happiest of mankind1 and often congratulated him on the blessing that he enjoyed4 ,he seemed to hear nothing with indifference but the praises of his condition1 to which he always returned a general answer1 and diverted the conversation to some other topic4 8,amidst this willingness to be pleased and labour to please1 ,i had quickly reason to imagine that some painful sentiment pressed upon his mind4 ,he often looked up earnestly towards the sun1 and let his voice fall in the midst of his discourse4 ,he would sometimes1 when we were alone1 gaze upon me in silence with the air of a man who longed to speak what he was yet resolved to suppress4 ,he would often send for me with vehement injunction of haste1 though when ,i came to him he had nothing extraordinary to say2 and sometimes1 when ,i was leaving him1 would call me back1 pause a few moments1 and then dismiss me40 ,,chapter ,,xli ,,the ,,astronomer ,,discovers ,,the ,,cause ,,of ,,his ,,uneasiness4 8,,at last the time came when the secret burst his reserve4 ,we were sitting together last night in the turret of his house watching the immersion of a satellite of ,jupiter4 ,a sudden tempest clouded the sky and disappointed our observation4 ,we sat awhile silent in the dark1 and then he addressed himself to me in these words3 #8,imlac1 ,i have long considered thy friendship as the greatest blessing of my life4 ,integrity without knowledge is weak and useless1 and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful4 ,i have found in thee all the qualities requisite for trust--benevolence1 experience1 and fortitude4 ,i have long discharged an office which ,i must soon quit at the call of ,nature1 and shall rejoice in the hour of imbecility and pain to devolve it upon thee4' 8,i thought myself honoured by this testimony1 and protested that whatever could conduce to his happiness would add likewise to mine4 8#8,hear1 ,imlac1 what thou wilt not without difficulty credit4 ,i have possessed for five years the regulation of the weather and the distribution of the seasons4 ,the sun has listened to my dictates1 and passed from tropic to tropic by my direction2 the clouds at my call have poured their waters1 and the ,nile has overflowed at my command4 ,i have restrained the rage of the dog-star1 and mitigated the fervours of the crab4 ,the winds alone1 of all the elemental powers1 have hitherto refused my authority1 and multitudes have perished by equinoctial tempests which ,i found myself unable to prohibit or restrain4 ,i have administered this great office with exact justice1 and made to the different nations of the earth an impartial dividend of rain and sunshine4 ,what must have been the misery of half the globe if ,i had limited the clouds to particular regions1 or confined the sun to either side of the equator8'0 ,,chapter ,,xlii ,,the ,,opinion ,,of ,,the ,,astronomer ,,is ,,explained ,,and ,,justified4 8,i ,,suppose he discovered in me1 through the obscurity of the room1 some tokens of amazement and doubt1 for after a short pause he proceeded thus3-- 8#8,not to be easily credited will neither surprise nor offend me1 for ,i am probably the first of human beings to whom this trust has been imparted4 ,nor do ,i know whether to deem this distinction a reward or punishment4 ,since ,i have possessed it ,i have been far less happy than before1 and nothing but the consciousness of good intention could have enabled me to support the weariness of unremitted vigilance4' 8#8,how long1 sir1' said ,i1 #8has this great office been in your hands8' 8#8,about ten years ago1' said he1 #8my daily observations of the changes of the sky led me to consider whether1 if ,i had the power of the seasons1 ,i could confer greater plenty upon the inhabitants of the earth4 ,this contemplation fastened on my mind1 and ,i sat days and nights in imaginary dominion1 pouring upon this country and that the showers of fertility1 and seconding every fall of rain with a due proportion of sunshine4 ,i had yet only the will to do good1 and did not imagine that ,i should ever have the power4 8#8,one day as ,i was looking on the fields withering with heat1 ,i felt in my mind a sudden wish that ,i could send rain on the southern mountains1 and raise the ,nile to an inundation4 ,in the hurry of my imagination ,i commanded rain to fall2 and by comparing the time of my command with that of the inundation1 ,i found that the clouds had listened to my lips4' 8#8,might not some other cause1' said ,i1 #8produce this concurrence8 ,the ,nile does not always rise on the same day4' 8#8,do not believe1' said he1 with impatience1 #8that such objections could escape me4 ,i reasoned long against my own conviction1 and laboured against truth with the utmost obstinacy4 ,i sometimes suspected myself of madness1 and should not have dared to impart this secret but to a man like you1 capable of distinguishing the wonderful from the impossible1 and the incredible from the false4' 8#8,why1 sir1' said ,i1 #8do you call that incredible which you know1 or think you know1 to be true8' 8#8,because1' said he1 #8,i cannot prove it by any external evidence2 and ,i know too well the laws of demonstration to think that my conviction ought to influence another1 who cannot1 like me1 be conscious of its force4 ,i therefore shall not attempt to gain credit by disputation4 ,it is sufficient that ,i feel this power that ,i have long possessed1 and every day exerted it4 ,but the life of man is short2 the infirmities of age increase upon me1 and the time will soon come when the regulator of the year must mingle with the dust4 ,the care of appointing a successor has long disturbed me2 the night and the day have been spent in comparisons of all the characters which have come to my knowledge1 and ,i have yet found none so worthy as thyself4'0 ,,chapter ,,xliii ,,the ,,astronomer ,,leaves ,,imlac ,,his ,,directions4 8#8,,hear1 therefore1 what ,i shall impart with attention1 such as the welfare of a world requires4 ,if the task of a king be considered as difficult1 who has the care only of a few millions1 to whom he cannot do much good or harm1 what must be the anxiety of him on whom depends the action of the elements and the great gifts of light and heat8 ,hear me1 therefore1 with attention4 8#8,i have diligently considered the position of the earth and sun1 and formed innumerable schemes1 in which ,i changed their situation4 ,i have sometimes turned aside the axis of the earth1 and sometimes varied the ecliptic of the sun1 but ,i have found it impossible to make a disposition by which the world may be advantaged2 what one region gains another loses by an imaginable alteration1 even without considering the distant parts of the solar system with which we are acquainted4 ,do not1 therefore1 in thy administration of the year1 indulge thy pride by innovation2 do not please thyself with thinking that thou canst make thyself renowned to all future ages by disordering the seasons4 ,the memory of mischief is no desirable fame4 ,much less will it become thee to let kindness or interest prevail4 ,never rob other countries of rain to pour it on thine own4 ,for us the ,nile is sufficient4' 8,i promised that when ,i possessed the power ,i would use it with inflexible integrity2 and he dismissed me1 pressing my hand4 #8,my heart1' said he1 #8will be now at rest1 and my benevolence will no more destroy my quiet2 ,i have found a man of wisdom and virtue1 to whom ,i can cheerfully bequeath the inheritance of the sun4'0 ,the ,prince heard this narration with very serious regard2 but the ,princess smiled1 and ,pekuah convulsed herself with laughter4 8,ladies10 said ,imlac1 8to mock the heaviest of human afflictions is neither charitable nor wise4 ,few can attain this man's knowledge and few practise his virtues1 but all may suffer his calamity4 ,of the uncertainties of our present state1 the most dreadful and alarming is the uncertain continuance of reason40 ,the ,princess was recollected1 and the favourite was abashed4 ,rasselas1 more deeply affected1 inquired of ,imlac whether he thought such maladies of the mind frequent1 and how they were contracted4 ,,chapter ,,xliv ,,the ,,dangerous ,,prevalence ,,of ,,imagination4 8,,disorders of intellect10 answered ,imlac1 8happen much more often than superficial observers will easily believe4 ,perhaps if we speak with rigorous exactness1 no human mind is in its right state4 ,there is no man whose imagination does not sometimes predominate over his reason who can regulate his attention wholly by his will1 and whose ideas will come and go at his command4 ,no man will be found in whose mind airy notions do not sometimes tyrannise1 and force him to hope or fear beyond the limits of sober probability4 ,all power of fancy over reason is a degree of insanity1 but while this power is such as we can control and repress it is not visible to others1 nor considered as any deprivation of the mental faculties2 it is not pronounced madness but when it becomes ungovernable1 and apparently influences speech or action4 8,to indulge the power of fiction and send imagination out upon the wing is often the sport of those who delight too much in silent speculation4 ,when we are alone we are not always busy2 the labour of excogitation is too violent to last long2 the ardour of inquiry will sometimes give way to idleness or satiety4 ,he who has nothing external that can divert him must find pleasure in his own thoughts1 and must conceive himself what he is not2 for who is pleased with what he is8 ,he then expatiates in boundless futurity1 and culls from all imaginable conditions that which for the present moment he should most desire1 amuses his desires with impossible enjoyments1 and confers upon his pride unattainable dominion4 ,the mind dances from scene to scene1 unites all pleasures in all combinations1 and riots in delights which ,nature and fortune1 with all their bounty1 cannot bestow4 8,in time some particular train of ideas fixes the attention2 all other intellectual gratifications are rejected2 the mind1 in weariness or leisure1 recurs constantly to the favourite conception1 and feasts on the luscious falsehood whenever she is offended with the bitterness of truth4 ,by degrees the reign of fancy is confirmed2 she grows first imperious and in time despotic4 ,then fictions begin to operate as realities1 false opinions fasten upon the mind1 and life passes in dreams of rapture or of anguish4 8,this1 sir1 is one of the dangers of solitude1 which the hermit has confessed not always to promote goodness1 and the astronomer's misery has proved to be not always propitious to wisdom40 8,i will no more10 said the favourite1 8imagine myself the ,queen of ,abyssinia4 ,i have often spent the hours which the ,princess gave to my own disposal in adjusting ceremonies and regulating the ,court2 ,i have repressed the pride of the powerful and granted the petitions of the poor2 ,i have built new palaces in more happy situations1 planted groves upon the tops of mountains1 and have exulted in the beneficence of royalty1 till1 when the ,princess entered1 ,i had almost forgotten to bow down before her40 8,and ,i10 said the ,princess1 8will not allow myself any more to play the shepherdess in my waking dreams4 ,i have often soothed my thoughts with the quiet and innocence of pastoral employments1 till ,i have in my chamber heard the winds whistle and the sheep bleat2 sometimes freed the lamb entangled in the thicket1 and sometimes with my crook encountered the wolf4 ,i have a dress like that of the village maids1 which ,i put on to help my imagination1 and a pipe on which ,i play softly1 and suppose myself followed by my flocks40 8,i will confess10 said the ,prince1 8an indulgence of fantastic delight more dangerous than yours4 ,i have frequently endeavoured to imagine the possibility of a perfect government1 by which all wrong should be restrained1 all vice reformed1 and all the subjects preserved in tranquillity and innocence4 ,this thought produced innumerable schemes of reformation1 and dictated many useful regulations and salutary effects4 ,this has been the sport and sometimes the labour of my solitude1 and ,i start when ,i think with how little anguish ,i once supposed the death of my father and my brothers40 8,such10 said ,imlac1 8are the effects of visionary schemes4 ,when we first form them1 we know them to be absurd1 but familiarise them by degrees1 and in time lose sight of their folly40 ,,chapter ,,xlv ,,they ,,discourse ,,with ,,an ,,old ,,man4 ,,the evening was now far past1 and they rose to return home4 ,as they walked along the banks of the ,nile1 delighted with the beams of the moon quivering on the water1 they saw at a small distance an old man whom the ,prince had often heard in the assembly of the sages4 8,yonder10 said he1 8is one whose years have calmed his passions1 but not clouded his reason4 ,let us close the disquisitions of the night by inquiring what are his sentiments of his own state1 that we may know whether youth alone is to struggle with vexation1 and whether any better hope remains for the latter part of life40 ,here the sage approached and saluted them4 ,they invited him to join their walk1 and prattled awhile as acquaintance that had unexpectedly met one another4 ,the old man was cheerful and talkative1 and the way seemed short in his company4 ,he was pleased to find himself not disregarded1 accompanied them to their house1 and1 at the ,prince's request1 entered with them4 ,they placed him in the seat of honour1 and set wine and conserves before him4 8,sir10 said the ,princess1 8an evening walk must give to a man of learning like you pleasures which ignorance and youth can hardly conceive4 ,you know the qualities and the causes of all that you behold--the laws by which the river flows1 the periods in which the planets perform their revolutions4 ,everything must supply you with contemplation1 and renew the consciousness of your own dignity40 8,lady10 answered he1 8let the gay and the vigorous expect pleasure in their excursions3 it is enough that age can attain ease4 ,to me the world has lost its novelty4 ,i look round1 and see what ,i remember to have seen in happier days4 ,i rest against a tree1 and consider that in the same shade ,i once disputed upon the annual overflow of the ,nile with a friend who is now silent in the grave4 ,i cast my eyes upwards1 fix them on the changing moon1 and think with pain on the vicissitudes of life4 ,i have ceased to take much delight in physical truth2 for what have ,i to do with those things which ,i am soon to leave80 8,you may at least recreate yourself10 said ,imlac1 8with the recollection of an honourable and useful life1 and enjoy the praise which all agree to give you40 8,praise10 said the sage with a sigh1 8is to an old man an empty sound4 ,i have neither mother to be delighted with the reputation of her son1 nor wife to partake the honours of her husband4 ,i have outlived my friends and my rivals4 ,nothing is now of much importance2 for ,i cannot extend my interest beyond myself4 ,youth is delighted with applause1 because it is considered as the earnest of some future good1 and because the prospect of life is far extended2 but to me1 who am now declining to decrepitude1 there is little to be feared from the malevolence of men1 and yet less to be hoped from their affection or esteem4 ,something they may yet take away1 but they can give me nothing4 ,riches would now be useless1 and high employment would be pain4 ,my retrospect of life recalls to my view many opportunities of good neglected1 much time squandered upon trifles1 and more lost in idleness and vacancy4 ,i leave many great designs unattempted1 and many great attempts unfinished4 ,my mind is burdened with no heavy crime1 and therefore ,i compose myself to tranquillity2 endeavour to abstract my thoughts from hopes and cares which1 though reason knows them to be vain1 still try to keep their old possession of the heart2 expect1 with serene humility1 that hour which nature cannot long delay1 and hope to possess in a better state that happiness which here ,i could not find1 and that virtue which here ,i have not attained40 ,he arose and went away1 leaving his audience not much elated with the hope of long life4 ,the ,prince consoled himself with remarking that it was not reasonable to be disappointed by this account2 for age had never been considered as the season of felicity1 and if it was possible to be easy in decline and weakness1 it was likely that the days of vigour and alacrity might be happy2 that the noon of life might be bright1 if the evening could be calm4 ,the ,princess suspected that age was querulous and malignant1 and delighted to repress the expectations of those who had newly entered the world4 ,she had seen the possessors of estates look with envy on their heirs1 and known many who enjoyed pleasures no longer than they could confine it to themselves4 ,pekuah conjectured that the man was older than he appeared1 and was willing to impute his complaints to delirious dejection2 or else supposed that he had been unfortunate1 and was therefore discontented4 8,for nothing10 said she1 8is more common than to call our own condition the condition of life40 ,imlac1 who had no desire to see them depressed1 smiled at the comforts which they could so readily procure to themselves2 and remembered that at the same age he was equally confident of unmingled prosperity1 and equally fertile of consolatory expedients4 ,he forbore to force upon them unwelcome knowledge1 which time itself would too soon impress4 ,the ,princess and her lady retired2 the madness of the astronomer hung upon their minds2 and they desired ,imlac to enter upon his office1 and delay next morning the rising of the sun4 ,,chapter ,,xlvi ,,the ,,princess ,,and ,,pekuah ,,visit ,,the ,,astronomer4 ,,the ,princess and ,pekuah1 having talked in private of ,imlac's astronomer1 thought his character at once so amiable and so strange that they could not be satisfied without a nearer knowledge1 and ,imlac was requested to find the means of bringing them together4 ,this was somewhat difficult4 ,the philosopher had never received any visits from women1 though he lived in a city that had in it many ,europeans1 who followed the manners of their own countries1 and many from other parts of the world1 that lived there with ,european liberty4 ,the ladies would not be refused1 and several schemes were proposed for the accomplishment of their design4 ,it was proposed to introduce them as strangers in distress1 to whom the sage was always accessible2 but after some deliberation it appeared that by this artifice no acquaintance could be formed1 for their conversation would be short1 and they could not decently importune him often4 8,this10 said ,rasselas1 8is true2 but ,i have yet a stronger objection against the misrepresentation of your state4 ,i have always considered it as treason against the great republic of human nature to make any man's virtues the means of deceiving him1 whether on great or little occasions4 ,all imposture weakens confidence and chills benevolence4 ,when the sage finds that you are not what you seemed1 he will feel the resentment natural to a man who1 conscious of great abilities1 discovers that he has been tricked by understandings meaner than his own1 and perhaps the distrust which he can never afterwards wholly lay aside may stop the voice of counsel and close the hand of charity2 and where will you find the power of restoring his benefactions to mankind1 or his peace to himself80 ,to this no reply was attempted1 and ,imlac began to hope that their curiosity would subside2 but next day ,pekuah told him she had now found an honest pretence for a visit to the astronomer1 for she would solicit permission to continue under him the studies in which she had been initiated by the ,arab1 and the ,princess might go with her1 either as a fellow-student1 or because a woman could not decently come alone4 8,i am afraid10 said ,imlac1 8that he will soon be weary of your company4 ,men advanced far in knowledge do not love to repeat the elements of their art1 and ,i am not certain that even of the elements1 as he will deliver them1 connected with inferences and mingled with reflections1 you are a very capable auditress40 8,that10 said ,pekuah1 8must be my care4 ,i ask of you only to take me thither4 ,my knowledge is perhaps more than you imagine it1 and by concurring always with his opinions ,i shall make him think it greater than it is40 ,the astronomer1 in pursuance of this resolution1 was told that a foreign lady1 travelling in search of knowledge1 had heard of his reputation1 and was desirous to become his scholar4 ,the uncommonness of the proposal raised at once his surprise and curiosity1 and when after a short deliberation he consented to admit her1 he could not stay without impatience till the next day4 ,the ladies dressed themselves magnificently1 and were attended by ,imlac to the astronomer1 who was pleased to see himself approached with respect by persons of so splendid an appearance4 ,in the exchange of the first civilities he was timorous and bashful2 but when the talk became regular1 he recollected his powers1 and justified the character which ,imlac had given4 ,inquiring of ,pekuah what could have turned her inclination towards astronomy1 he received from her a history of her adventure at the ,pyramid1 and of the time passed in the ,arab's island4 ,she told her tale with ease and elegance1 and her conversation took possession of his heart4 ,the discourse was then turned to astronomy4 ,pekuah displayed what she knew4 ,he looked upon her as a prodigy of genius1 and entreated her not to desist from a study which she had so happily begun4 ,they came again and again1 and were every time more welcome than before4 ,the sage endeavoured to amuse them1 that they might prolong their visits1 for he found his thoughts grow brighter in their company2 the clouds of solitude vanished by degrees as he forced himself to entertain them1 and he grieved when he was left1 at their departure1 to his old employment of regulating the seasons4 ,the ,princess and her favourite had now watched his lips for several months1 and could not catch a single word from which they could judge whether he continued or not in the opinion of his preternatural commission4 ,they often contrived to bring him to an open declaration2 but he easily eluded all their attacks1 and1 on which side soever they pressed him1 escaped from them to some other topic4 ,as their familiarity increased1 they invited him often to the house of ,imlac1 where they distinguished him by extraordinary respect4 ,he began gradually to delight in sublunary pleasures4 ,he came early and departed late2 laboured to recommend himself by assiduity and compliance2 excited their curiosity after new arts1 that they might still want his assistance2 and when they made any excursion of pleasure or inquiry1 entreated to attend them4 ,by long experience of his integrity and wisdom1 the ,prince and his sister were convinced that he might be trusted without danger2 and lest he should draw any false hopes from the civilities which he received1 discovered to him their condition1 with the motives of their journey1 and required his opinion on the choice of life4 8,of the various conditions which the world spreads before you which you shall prefer10 said the sage1 8,i am not able to instruct you4 ,i can only tell that ,i have chosen wrong4 ,i have passed my time in study without experience--in the attainment of sciences which can for the most part be but remotely useful to mankind4 ,i have purchased knowledge at the expense of all the common comforts of life2 ,i have missed the endearing elegance of female friendship1 and the happy commerce of domestic tenderness4 ,if ,i have obtained any prerogatives above other students1 they have been accompanied with fear1 disquiet1 and scrupulosity2 but even of these prerogatives1 whatever they were1 ,i have1 since my thoughts have been diversified by more intercourse with the world1 begun to question the reality4 ,when ,i have been for a few days lost in pleasing dissipation1 ,i am always tempted to think that my inquiries have ended in error1 and that ,i have suffered much1 and suffered it in vain40 ,imlac was delighted to find that the sage's understanding was breaking through its mists1 and resolved to detain him from the planets till he should forget his task of ruling them1 and reason should recover its original influence4 ,from this time the astronomer was received into familiar friendship1 and partook of all their projects and pleasures2 his respect kept him attentive1 and the activity of ,rasselas did not leave much time unengaged4 ,something was always to be done2 the day was spent in making observations1 which furnished talk for the evening1 and the evening was closed with a scheme for the morrow4 ,the sage confessed to ,imlac that since he had mingled in the gay tumults of life1 and divided his hours by a succession of amusements1 he found the conviction of his authority over the skies fade gradually from his mind1 and began to trust less to an opinion which he never could prove to others1 and which he now found subject to variation1 from causes in which reason had no part4 8,if ,i am accidentally left alone for a few hours10 said he1 8my inveterate persuasion rushes upon my soul1 and my thoughts are chained down by some irresistible violence2 but they are soon disentangled by the ,prince's conversation1 and instantaneously released at the entrance of ,pekuah4 ,i am like a man habitually afraid of spectres1 who is set at ease by a lamp1 and wonders at the dread which harassed him in the dark2 yet1 if his lamp be extinguished1 feels again the terrors which he knows that when it is light he shall feel no more4 ,but ,i am sometimes afraid1 lest ,i indulge my quiet by criminal negligence1 and voluntarily forget the great charge with which ,i am entrusted4 ,if ,i favour myself in a known error1 or am determined by my own ease in a doubtful question of this importance1 how dreadful is my crime60 8,no disease of the imagination10 answered ,imlac1 8is so difficult of cure as that which is complicated with the dread of guilt2 fancy and conscience then act interchangeably upon us1 and so often shift their places1 that the illusions of one are not distinguished from the dictates of the other4 ,if fancy presents images not moral or religious1 the mind drives them away when they give it pain2 but when melancholy notions take the form of duty1 they lay hold on the faculties without opposition1 because we are afraid to exclude or banish them4 ,for this reason the superstitious are often melancholy1 and the melancholy almost always superstitious4 8,but do not let the suggestions of timidity overpower your better reason2 the danger of neglect can be but as the probability of the obligation1 which1 when you consider it with freedom1 you find very little1 and that little growing every day less4 ,open your heart to the influence of the light1 which from time to time breaks in upon you2 when scruples importune you1 which you in your lucid moments know to be vain1 do not stand to parley1 but fly to business or to ,pekuah2 and keep this thought always prevalent1 that you are only one atom of the mass of humanity1 and have neither such virtue nor vice as that you should be singled out for supernatural favours or afflictions40 ,,chapter ,,xlvii ,,the ,,prince ,,enters1 ,,and ,,brings ,a ,,new ,,topic4 8,,all this10 said the astronomer1 8,i have often thought2 but my reason has been so long subjugated by an uncontrollable and overwhelming idea1 that it durst not confide in its own decisions4 ,i now see how fatally ,i betrayed my quiet1 by suffering chimeras to prey upon me in secret2 but melancholy shrinks from communication1 and ,i never found a man before to whom ,i could impart my troubles1 though ,i had been certain of relief4 ,i rejoice to find my own sentiments confirmed by yours1 who are not easily deceived1 and can have no motive or purpose to deceive4 ,i hope that time and variety will dissipate the gloom that has so long surrounded me1 and the latter part of my days will be spent in peace40 8,your learning and virtue10 said ,imlac1 8may justly give you hopes40 ,rasselas then entered1 with the ,princess and ,pekuah1 and inquired whether they had contrived any new diversion for the next day4 8,such10 said ,nekayah1 8is the state of life1 that none are happy but by the anticipation of change2 the change itself is nothing2 when we have made it the next wish is to change again4 ,the world is not yet exhausted3 let me see something to-morrow which ,i never saw before40 8,variety10 said ,rasselas1 8is so necessary to content1 that even the ,happy ,valley disgusted me by the recurrence of its luxuries2 yet ,i could not forbear to reproach myself with impatience when ,i saw the monks of ,st4 ,anthony support1 without complaint1 a life1 not of uniform delight1 but uniform hardship40 8,those men10 answered ,imlac1 8are less wretched in their silent convent than the ,abyssinian princes in their prison of pleasure4 ,whatever is done by the monks is incited by an adequate and reasonable motive4 ,their labour supplies them with necessaries2 it therefore cannot be omitted1 and is certainly rewarded4 ,their devotion prepares them for another state1 and reminds them of its approach while it fits them for it4 ,their time is regularly distributed2 one duty succeeds another1 so that they are not left open to the distraction of unguided choice1 nor lost in the shades of listless inactivity4 ,there is a certain task to be performed at an appropriated hour1 and their toils are cheerful1 because they consider them as acts of piety by which they are always advancing towards endless felicity40 8,do you think10 said ,nekayah1 8that the monastic rule is a more holy and less imperfect state than any other8 ,may not he equally hope for future happiness who converses openly with mankind1 who succours the distressed by his charity1 instructs the ignorant by his learning1 and contributes by his industry to the general system of life1 even though he should omit some of the mortifications which are practised in the cloister1 and allow himself such harmless delights as his condition may place within his reach80 8,this10 said ,imlac1 8is a question which has long divided the wise and perplexed the good4 ,i am afraid to decide on either part4 ,he that lives well in the world is better than he that lives well in a monastery4 ,but perhaps everyone is not able to stem the temptations of public life1 and if he cannot conquer he may properly retreat4 ,some have little power to do good1 and have likewise little strength to resist evil4 ,many are weary of the conflicts with adversity1 and are willing to eject those passions which have long busied them in vain4 ,and many are dismissed by age and diseases from the more laborious duties of society4 ,in monasteries the weak and timorous may be happily sheltered1 the weary may repose1 and the penitent may meditate4 ,those retreats of prayer and contemplation have something so congenial to the mind of man1 that perhaps there is scarcely one that does not purpose to close his life in pious abstraction1 with a few associates serious as himself40 8,such10 said ,pekuah1 8has often been my wish1 and ,i have heard the ,princess declare that she should not willingly die in a crowd40 8,the liberty of using harmless pleasures10 proceeded ,imlac1 8will not be disputed1 but it is still to be examined what pleasures are harmless4 ,the evil of any pleasure that ,nekayah can image is not in the act itself but in its consequences4 ,pleasure in itself harmless may become mischievous by endearing to us a state which we know to be transient and probatory1 and withdrawing our thoughts from that of which every hour brings us nearer to the beginning1 and of which no length of time will bring us to the end4 ,mortification is not virtuous in itself1 nor has any other use but that it disengages us from the allurements of sense4 ,in the state of future perfection to which we all aspire there will be pleasure without danger and security without restraint40 ,the ,princess was silent1 and ,rasselas1 turning to the astronomer1 asked him whether he could not delay her retreat by showing her something which she had not seen before4 8,your curiosity10 said the sage1 8has been so general1 and your pursuit of knowledge so vigorous1 that novelties are not now very easily to be found2 but what you can no longer procure from the living may be given by the dead4 ,among the wonders of this country are the catacombs1 or the ancient repositories in which the bodies of the earliest generations were lodged1 and where1 by the virtue of the gums which embalmed them1 they yet remain without corruption40 8,i know not10 said ,rasselas1 8what pleasure the sight of the catacombs can afford2 but1 since nothing else is offered1 ,i am resolved to view them1 and shall place this with my other things which ,i have done because ,i would do something40 ,they hired a guard of horsemen1 and the next day visited the catacombs4 ,when they were about to descend into the sepulchral caves1 8,pekuah10 said the ,princess1 8we are now again invading the habitations of the dead2 ,i know that you will stay behind4 ,let me find you safe when ,i return40 8,no1 ,i will not be left10 answered ,pekuah1 8,i will go down between you and the ,prince40 ,they then all descended1 and roved with wonder through the labyrinth of subterraneous passages1 where the bodies were laid in rows on either side4 ,,chapter ,,xlviii ,,imlac ,,discourses ,,on ,,the ,,nature ,,of ,,the ,,soul4 8,,what reason10 said the ,prince1 8can be given why the ,egyptians should thus expensively preserve those carcases which some nations consume with fire1 others lay to mingle with the earth1 and all agree to remove from their sight as soon as decent rites can be performed80 8,the original of ancient customs10 said ,imlac1 8is commonly unknown1 for the practice often continues when the cause has ceased2 and concerning superstitious ceremonies it is vain to conjecture2 for what reason did not dictate1 reason cannot explain4 ,i have long believed that the practice of embalming arose only from tenderness to the remains of relations or friends2 and to this opinion ,i am more inclined because it seems impossible that this care should have been general2 had all the dead been embalmed1 their repositories must in time have been more spacious than the dwellings of the living4 ,i suppose only the rich or honourable were secured from corruption1 and the rest left to the course of nature4 8,but it is commonly supposed that the ,egyptians believed the soul to live as long as the body continued undissolved1 and therefore tried this method of eluding death40 8,could the wise ,egyptians10 said ,nekayah1 8think so grossly of the soul8 ,if the soul could once survive its separation1 what could it afterwards receive or suffer from the body80 8,the ,egyptians would doubtless think erroneously10 said the astronomer1 8in the darkness of heathenism and the first dawn of philosophy4 ,the nature of the soul is still disputed amidst all our opportunities of clearer knowledge2 some yet say that it may be material1 who1 nevertheless1 believe it to be immortal40 8,some10 answered ,imlac1 8have indeed said that the soul is material1 but ,i can scarcely believe that any man has thought it who knew how to think2 for all the conclusions of reason enforce the immateriality of mind1 and all the notices of sense and investigations of science concur to prove the unconsciousness of matter4 8,it was never supposed that cogitation is inherent in matter1 or that every particle is a thinking being4 ,yet if any part of matter be devoid of thought1 what part can we suppose to think8 ,matter can differ from matter only in form1 density1 bulk1 motion1 and direction of motion4 ,to which of these1 however varied or combined1 can consciousness be annexed8 ,to be round or square1 to be solid or fluid1 to be great or little1 to be moved slowly or swiftly1 one way or another1 are modes of material existence all equally alien from the nature of cogitation4 ,if matter be once without thought1 it can only be made to think by some new modification2 but all the modifications which it can admit are equally unconnected with cogitative powers40 8,but the materialists10 said the astronomer1 8urge that matter may have qualities with which we are unacquainted40 8,he who will determine10 returned ,imlac1 8against that which he knows because there may be something which he knows not2 he that can set hypothetical possibility against acknowledged certainty1 is not to be admitted among reasonable beings4 ,all that we know of matter is1 that matter is inert1 senseless1 and lifeless2 and if this conviction cannot he opposed but by referring us to something that we know not1 we have all the evidence that human intellect can admit4 ,if that which is known may be overruled by that which is unknown1 no being1 not omniscient1 can arrive at certainty40 8,yet let us not10 said the astronomer1 8too arrogantly limit the ,creator's power40 8,it is no limitation of ,omnipotence10 replied the poet1 8to suppose that one thing is not consistent with another1 that the same proposition cannot be at once true and false1 that the same number cannot be even and odd1 that cogitation cannot be conferred on that which is created incapable of cogitation40 8,i know not10 said ,nekayah1 8any great use of this question4 ,does that immateriality1 which in my opinion you have sufficiently proved1 necessarily include eternal duration80 8,of immateriality10 said ,imlac1 8our ideas are negative1 and therefore obscure4 ,immateriality seems to imply a natural power of perpetual duration as a consequence of exemption from all causes of decay3 whatever perishes is destroyed by the solution of its contexture and separation of its parts2 nor can we conceive how that which has no parts1 and therefore admits no solution1 can be naturally corrupted or impaired40 8,i know not10 said ,rasselas1 8how to conceive anything without extension3 what is extended must have parts1 and you allow that whatever has parts may be destroyed40 8,consider your own conceptions10 replied ,imlac1 8and the difficulty will be less4 ,you will find substance without extension4 ,an ideal form is no less real than material bulk2 yet an ideal form has no extension4 ,it is no less certain1 when you think on a pyramid1 that your mind possesses the idea of a pyramid1 than that the pyramid itself is standing4 ,what space does the idea of a pyramid occupy more than the idea of a grain of corn8 or how can either idea suffer laceration8 ,as is the effect1 such is the cause2 as thought1 such is the power that thinks1 a power impassive and indiscerptible40 8,but the ,being10 said ,nekayah1 8whom ,i fear to name1 the ,being which made the soul1 can destroy it40 8,he surely can destroy it10 answered ,imlac1 8since1 however imperishable1 it receives from a superior nature its power of duration4 ,that it will not perish by any inherent cause of decay or principle of corruption1 may be shown by philosophy2 but philosophy can tell no more4 ,that it will not be annihilated by ,him that made it1 we must humbly learn from higher authority40 ,the whole assembly stood awhile silent and collected4 8,let us return10 said ,rasselas1 8from this scene of mortality4 ,how gloomy would be these mansions of the dead to him who did not know that he should never die2 that what now acts shall continue its agency1 and what now thinks shall think on for ever4 ,those that lie here stretched before us1 the wise and the powerful of ancient times1 warn us to remember the shortness of our present state2 they were perhaps snatched away while they were busy1 like us1 in the choice of life40 8,to me10 said the ,princess1 8the choice of life is become less important2 ,i hope hereafter to think only on the choice of eternity40 ,they then hastened out of the caverns1 and under the protection of their guard returned to ,cairo4 ,,chapter ,,xlix ,,the ,,conclusion1 ,,in ,,which ,,nothing ,,is ,,concluded4 ,,it was now the time of the inundation of the ,nile4 ,a few days after their visit to the catacombs the river began to rise4 ,they were confined to their house4 ,the whole region being under water1 gave them no invitation to any excursions2 and being well supplied with materials for talk1 they diverted themselves with comparisons of the different forms of life which they had observed1 and with various schemes of happiness which each of them had formed4 ,pekuah was never so much charmed with any place as the ,convent of ,st4 ,anthony1 where the ,arab restored her to the ,princess1 and wished only to fill it with pious maidens and to be made prioress of the order4 ,she was weary of expectation and disgust1 and would gladly be fixed in some unvariable state4 ,the ,princess thought that1 of all sublunary things1 knowledge was the best4 ,she desired first to learn all sciences1 and then proposed to found a college of learned women1 in which she would preside1 that1 by conversing with the old and educating the young1 she might divide her time between the acquisition and communication of wisdom1 and raise up for the next age models of prudence and patterns of piety4 ,the ,prince desired a little kingdom in which he might administer justice in his own person and see all the parts of government with his own eyes2 but he could never fix the limits of his dominion1 and was always adding to the number of his subjects4 ,imlac and the astronomer were contented to be driven along the stream of life without directing their course to any particular port4 ,of those wishes that they had formed they well knew that none could be obtained4 ,they deliberated awhile what was to be done1 and resolved1 when the inundation should cease1 to return to ,abyssinia4 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 ,printed by ,cassell ,company1 ,limited1 ,la ,belle ,sauvage1 ,london1 ,e4,c4