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.”