Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia
discontent by degrees preyed upon him, and he began again to lose his
thoughts in sadness when the rainy season, which in these countries is
periodical, made it inconvenient to wander in the woods.
The rain continued longer and with more violence than had ever been
known; the clouds broke on the surrounding mountains, and the torrents
streamed into the plain on every side, till the cavern was too narrow to
discharge the water. The lake overflowed its banks, and all the level of
the valley was covered with the inundation. The eminence on which the
palace was built, and some other spots of rising ground, were all that
the eye could now discover. The herds and flocks left the pasture, and
both the wild beasts and the tame retreated to the mountains.
This inundation confined all the princes to domestic amusements, and the
attention of Rasselas was particularly seized by a poem (which Imlac
rehearsed) upon the various conditions of humanity. He commanded the
poet to attend him in his apartment, and recite his verses a second time;
then entering into familiar talk, he thought himself happy in having
found a man who knew the world so well, and could so skilfully paint the
scenes of life. He asked a thousand questions about things to which,
though common to all other mortals, his confinement from childhood had
kept him a stranger. The poet pitied his ignorance, and loved his
curiosity, and entertained him from day to day with novelty and
instruction so that the Prince regretted the necessity of sleep, and
longed till the morning should renew his pleasure.
As they were sitting together, the Prince commanded Imlac to relate his
history, and to tell by what accident he was forced, or by what motive
induced, to close his life in the Happy Valley. As he was going to begin
his narrative, Rasselas was called to a concert, and obliged to restrain
his curiosity till the evening.
CHAPTER VIII
THE HISTORY OF IMLAC.
THE close of the day is, in the regions of the torrid zone, the only
season of diversion and entertainment, and it was therefore midnight
before the music ceased and the princesses retired. Rasselas then called
for his companion, and required him to begin the story of his life.
“Sir,” said Imlac, “my history will not be long: the life that is devoted
to knowledge passes silently away, and is very little diversified by
events. To talk in public, to think in solitude, to read and to hear, to
inquire and answer inquiries, is the business of a scholar. He wanders
about the world without pomp or terror, and is neither known nor valued
but by men like himself.
“I was born in the kingdom of Goiama, at no great distance from the
fountain of the Nile. My father was a wealthy merchant, who traded
between the inland countries of Africa and the ports of the Red Sea. He
was honest, frugal, and diligent, but of mean sentiments and narrow
comprehension; he desired only to be rich, and to conceal his riches,
lest he should be spoiled by the governors of the province.”
“Surely,” said the Prince, “my father must be negligent of his charge if
any man in his dominions dares take that which belongs to another. Does
he not know that kings are accountable for injustice permitted as well as
done? If I were Emperor, not the meanest of my subjects should be
oppressed with impunity. 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 power. Name the governor who robbed the people that I may declare his
crimes to the Emperor!”
“Sir,” said Imlac, “your ardour is the natural effect of virtue animated
by youth. The time will come when you will acquit your father, and
perhaps hear with less impatience of the governor. Oppression is, in the
Abyssinian dominions, neither frequent nor tolerated; but no form of
government has been yet discovered by which cruelty can be wholly
prevented. Subordination supposes power on one part and subjection on
the other; and if power be in the hands of men it will sometimes be
abused. The vigilance of the supreme magistrate may do much, but much
will still remain undone. He can never know all the crimes that are
committed, and can seldom punish all that he knows.”
“This,” said the Prince, “I do not understand; but I had rather hear thee
than dispute. Continue thy narration.”
“My father,” proceeded Imlac, “originally intended that I should have no
other education than such as might qualify me for commerce; and
discovering in me great strength of memory and quickness of apprehension,
often declared his hope that I should be some time the richest man in
Abyssinia.”
“Why,” said the Prince, “did thy father desire the increase of his wealth
when it was already greater than he durst discover or enjoy? I am
unwilling to doubt thy veracity, yet inconsistencies cannot both be
true.”
“Inconsistencies,” answered Imlac, “cannot both be right; but, imputed to
man, they may both be true. Yet diversity is not inconsistency. My
father might expect a time of greater security. However, some desire is
necessary to keep life in motion; and he whose real wants are supplied
must admit those of fancy.”
“This,” said the Prince, “I can in some measure conceive. I repent that
I interrupted thee.”
“With this hope,” proceeded Imlac, “he sent me to school. But when I had
once found the delight of knowledge, and felt the pleasure of
intelligence and the pride of invention, I began silently to despise
riches, and determined to disappoint the purposes of my father, whose
grossness of conception raised my pity. I was twenty years old before
his tenderness would expose me to the fatigue of travel; in which time I
had been instructed, by successive masters, in all the literature of my
native country. As every hour taught me something new, I lived in a
continual course of gratification; but as I advanced towards manhood, I
lost much of the reverence with which I had been used to look on my
instructors; because when the lessons were ended I did not find them
wiser or better than common men.
“At length my father resolved to initiate me in commerce; and, opening
one of his subterranean treasuries, counted out ten thousand pieces of
gold. ‘This, young man,’ said he, ‘is the stock with which you must
negotiate. I began with less than a fifth part, and you see how
diligence and parsimony have increased it. This is your own, to waste or
improve. If you squander it by negligence or caprice, you must wait for
my death before you will be rich; if in four years you double your stock,
we will thenceforward let subordination cease, and live together as
friends and partners, for he shall be always equal with me who is equally
skilled in the art of growing rich.’
“We laid out our money upon camels, concealed in bales of cheap goods,
and travelled to the shore of the Red Sea. When I cast my eye on the
expanse of waters, my heart bounded like that of a prisoner escaped. I
felt an inextinguishable curiosity kindle in my mind, and resolved to
snatch this opportunity of seeing the manners of other nations, and of
learning sciences unknown in Abyssinia.
“I remembered that my father had obliged me to the improvement of my
stock, not by a promise, which I ought not to violate, but by a penalty,
which I was at liberty to incur; and therefore determined to gratify my
predominant desire, and, by drinking at the fountain of knowledge, to
quench the thirst of curiosity.
“As I was supposed to trade without connection with my father, it was
easy for me to become acquainted with the master of a ship, and procure a
passage to some other country. I had no motives of choice to regulate my
voyage. It was sufficient for me that, wherever I wandered, I should see
a country which I had not seen before. I therefore entered a ship bound
for Surat, having left a letter for my father declaring my intention.”
CHAPTER IX
THE HISTORY OF IMLAC (_continued_).
“WHEN I first entered upon the world of waters, and lost sight of land, I
looked round about me in pleasing terror, and thinking my soul enlarged
by the boundless prospect, imagined that I could gaze around me for ever
without satiety; but in a short time I grew weary of looking on barren
uniformity, where I could only see again what I had already seen. I then
descended into the ship, and doubted for awhile whether all my future
pleasures would not end, like this, in disgust and disappointment. ‘Yet
surely,’ said I, ‘the ocean and the land are very different. The only
variety of water is rest and motion. But the earth has mountains and
valleys, deserts and cities; it is inhabited by men of different customs
and contrary opinions; and I may hope to find variety in life, though I
should miss it in nature.’
“With this thought I quieted my mind, and amused myself during the
voyage, sometimes by learning from the sailors the art of navigation,
which I have never practised, and sometimes by forming schemes for my
conduct in different situations, in not one of which I have been ever
placed.
“I was almost weary of my naval amusements when we safely landed at
Surat. I secured my money and, purchasing some commodities for show,
joined myself to a caravan that was passing into the inland country. My
companions, for some reason or other, conjecturing that I was rich, and,
by my inquiries and admiration, finding that I was ignorant, considered
me as a novice whom they had a right to cheat, and who was to learn, at
the usual expense, the art of fraud. They exposed me to the theft of
servants and the exaction of officers, and saw me plundered upon false
pretences, without any advantage to themselves but that of rejoicing in
the superiority of their own knowledge.”
“Stop a moment,” said the Prince; “is there such depravity in man as that
he should injure another without benefit to himself? I can easily
conceive that all are pleased with superiority; but your ignorance was
merely accidental, which, being neither your crime nor your folly, could
afford them no reason to applaud themselves; and the knowledge which they
had, and which you wanted, they might as effectually have shown by
warning as betraying you.”
“Pride,” said Imlac, “is seldom delicate; it will please itself with very
mean advantages, and envy feels not its own happiness but when it may be
compared with the misery of others. They were my enemies because they
grieved to think me rich, and my oppressors because they delighted to
find me weak.”
“Proceed,” said the Prince; “I doubt not of the facts which you relate,
but imagine that you impute them to mistaken motives.”
“In this company,” said Imlac, “I arrived at Agra, the capital of
Hindostan, the city in which the Great Mogul commonly resides. I applied
myself to the language of the country, and in a few months was able to
converse with the learned men; some of whom I found morose and reserved,
and others easy and communicative; some were unwilling to teach another
what they had with difficulty learned themselves; and some showed that
the end of their studies was to gain the dignity of instructing.
“To the tutor of the young princes I recommended myself so much that I
was presented to the Emperor as a man of uncommon knowledge. The Emperor
asked me many questions concerning my country and my travels, and though
I cannot now recollect anything that he uttered above the power of a
common man, he dismissed me astonished at his wisdom and enamoured of his
goodness.
“My credit was now so high that the merchants with whom I had travelled
applied to me for recommendations to the ladies of the Court. I was
surprised at their confidence of solicitation and greatly reproached them