THE ASTRONOMER LEAVES IMLAC HIS DIRECTIONS.
“‘HEAR, therefore, what I shall impart with attention, such as the
welfare of a world requires. If the task of a king be considered as
difficult, who has the care only of a few millions, to whom he cannot do
much good or harm, what must be the anxiety of him on whom depends the
action of the elements and the great gifts of light and heat? Hear me,
therefore, with attention.
“‘I have diligently considered the position of the earth and sun, and
formed innumerable schemes, in which I changed their situation. I have
sometimes turned aside the axis of the earth, and sometimes varied the
ecliptic of the sun, but I have found it impossible to make a disposition
by which the world may be advantaged; what one region gains another loses
by an imaginable alteration, even without considering the distant parts
of the solar system with which we are acquainted. Do not, therefore, in
thy administration of the year, indulge thy pride by innovation; do not
please thyself with thinking that thou canst make thyself renowned to all
future ages by disordering the seasons. The memory of mischief is no
desirable fame. Much less will it become thee to let kindness or
interest prevail. Never rob other countries of rain to pour it on thine
own. For us the Nile is sufficient.’
“I promised that when I possessed the power I would use it with
inflexible integrity; and he dismissed me, pressing my hand. ‘My heart,’
said he, ‘will be now at rest, and my benevolence will no more destroy my
quiet; I have found a man of wisdom and virtue, to whom I can cheerfully
bequeath the inheritance of the sun.’”
The Prince heard this narration with very serious regard; but the
Princess smiled, and Pekuah convulsed herself with laughter. “Ladies,”
said Imlac, “to mock the heaviest of human afflictions is neither
charitable nor wise. Few can attain this man’s knowledge and few
practise his virtues, but all may suffer his calamity. Of the
uncertainties of our present state, the most dreadful and alarming is the
uncertain continuance of reason.”
The Princess was recollected, and the favourite was abashed. Rasselas,
more deeply affected, inquired of Imlac whether he thought such maladies
of the mind frequent, and how they were contracted.