Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia

OF IMLAC (

nedictions of gratitude. I would choose my friends among the wise and my wife among the virtuous, and therefore should be in no danger from treachery or unkindness. My children should by my care be learned and pious, and would repay to my age what their childhood had received. What would dare to molest him who might call on eve

o long for my native country, that I might repose after my travels and fatigues in the places where I had spent my earliest years, and gladden my old companions with the recital of my adv

tion of its ancient magnificence and in inquiries after the remains of its ancient learning. I found in Cairo a mixture of all nations: some brought thither by the love of knowledge, some by the hope of gain; many by the desire of

the coast till I arrived at the port from which I had departed twenty years

ho was able to add to the felicity and honour of the nation. But I was soon convinced that my thoughts were vain. My father had been dead fourteen years, having divided his wealth among my brothers, who

the kingdom; they admitted me to their tables, heard my story, and dismissed me. I opened a school, and was prohibited to teach. I then resolved to

pinion or caprice of others. I waited for the time when the gate of the Happy Valley should open, that I might bid farewell to ho

thy condition, or dost thou wish to be again wandering and inquiring? All the inhabitants of this valley

vary and combine at pleasure. I can amuse my solitude by the renovation of the knowledge which begins to fade from my memory, and by recollection of the accidents of my past life. Yet all this ends in the sorrowful consideration that my ac

no rivals? We are in a place where impotence precludes malice

and still more envious and malevolent if he is condemned to live in the presence of those who despise him. The invitations by which they allure others to a state which they feel to be wretched, proceed from the natural malignit

my persuasion. I look with pity on the crowds who are annually soliciting admissi

I have examined the mountain on every side, but find myself insuperably barred-teach me the way to break my prison; thou shalt

the valley, you will find a sea foaming with tempests and boiling with whirlpools; you will be sometimes overwhelmed by the waves of violence, and sometimes dashed against the

elf weary of the valley, it is evident that thy former state was better than this. Whatever be the consequence of my experiment

han my persuasions; yet, if your determination is fixed, I do not cou