THE STORY OF IMLAC CONTINUED
"I am not yet willing," said the prince, "to suppose that happiness is
so parsimoniously distributed to mortals; nor can believe but that, if I
had the choice of life, I should be able to fill every day with
pleasure. I would injure no man, and should provoke no resentment; I
would relieve every distress, and should enjoy the benedictions 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 every side to thousands enriched by his
bounty, or assisted by his power? And why should not life glide quietly
away in the soft reciprocation of protection and reverence? All this may
be done without the help of European refinements, which appear by their
effects to be rather specious than useful. Let us leave them, and pursue
our journey."
"From Palestine," said Imlac, "I passed through many regions of Asia; in
the more civilized kingdoms as a trader, and among the barbarians of the
mountains as a pilgrim. At last I began to 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 adventures. Often did I figure to myself those with whom I
had sported away the gay hours of dawning life, sitting round me in its
evening, wondering at my tales, and listening to my counsels.
"When this thought had taken possession of my mind, I considered every
moment as wasted which did not bring me nearer to Abyssinia. I hastened
into Egypt, and, notwithstanding my impatience, was detained ten months
in the contemplation 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, and many by the desire of living after their own manner without
observation, and of lying hid in the obscurity of multitudes: for in a
city, populous as Cairo, it is possible to obtain at the same time the
gratifications of society, and the secrecy of solitude.
"From Cairo I travelled to Suez, and embarked on the Red Sea, passing
along the coast till I arrived at the port from which I had departed
twenty years before. Here I joined myself to a caravan, and re-entered
my native country.
"I now expected the caresses of my kinsmen, and the congratulations of
my friends, and was not without hope that my father, whatever value he
had set upon riches, would own with gladness and pride a son who 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 were removed to
some other provinces. Of my companions, the greater part was in the
grave; of the rest, some could with difficulty remember me, and some
considered me as one corrupted by foreign manners.
"A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected. I forgot, after a
time, my disappointment, and endeavoured to recommend myself to the
nobles of 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 sit down in the quiet of domestic life, and addressed a lady
that was fond of my conversation, but rejected my suit because my father
was a merchant.
"Wearied at last with solicitation and repulses, I resolved to hide
myself for ever from the world, and depend no longer on the opinion or
caprice of others. I waited for the time when the gate of the Happy
Valley should open, that I might bid farewell to hope and fear: the day
came; my performance was distinguished with favour; and I resigned
myself with joy to perpetual confinement."
"Hast thou here found happiness at last?" said Rasselas. "Tell me
without reserve; art thou content with thy condition? or, dost thou wish
to be again wandering and inquiring? All the inhabitants of this valley
celebrate their lot, and, at the annual visit of the emperor, invite
others to partake of their felicity."
"Great prince," said Imlac, "I shall speak the truth; I know not one of
all your attendants who does not lament the hour when he entered this
retreat. I am less unhappy than the rest, because I have a mind replete
with images, which I can 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 acquirements are now
useless, and that none of my pleasures can be again enjoyed. The rest,
whose minds have no impression but of the present moment, are either
corroded by malignant passions, or sit stupid in the gloom of perpetual
vacancy."
"What passions can infest those," said the prince, "who have no rivals?
We are in a place where impotence precludes malice, and where all envy
is repressed by community of enjoyments."
"There may be community," said Imlac, "of material possessions, but
there can never be community of love or of esteem. It must happen that
one will please more than another; he that knows himself despised will
always be envious; 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 malignity of hopeless misery. They
are weary of themselves and of each other, and expect to find relief in
new companions. They envy the liberty which their folly has forfeited,
and would gladly see all mankind imprisoned like themselves.
"From this crime, however, I am wholly free. No man can say that he is
wretched by my persuasion. I look with pity on the crowds who are
annually soliciting admission to captivity, and wish that it were lawful
for me to warn them of their danger."
"My dear Imlac," said the prince, "I will open to thee my whole heart. I
have long meditated an escape from the Happy Valley. I have examined the
mountains on every side, but find myself insuperably barred: teach me
the way to break my prison; thou shalt be the companion of my flight,
the guide of my rambles, the partner of my fortune, and my sole director
in the _choice of life_."
"Sir," answered the poet, "your escape will be difficult, and, perhaps,
you may soon repent your curiosity. The world, which you figure smooth
and quiet as the lake in 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 rocks of
treachery. Amidst wrongs and frauds, competitions and anxieties, you
will wish a thousand times for these seats of quiet, and willingly quit
hope to be free from fear."
"Do not seek to deter me from my purpose," said the prince; "I am
impatient to see what thou hast seen; and, since thou art thyself weary
of the valley, it is evident that thy former state was better than this.
Whatever be the consequence of my experiment, I am resolved to judge
with mine own eyes of the various conditions of men, and then to make
deliberately my _choice of life_."
"I am afraid," said Imlac, "you are hindered by stronger restraints than
my persuasions; yet, if your determination is fixed, I do not counsel
you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill."