Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia

by Samuel Johnson
CHAPTER I - DESCRIPTION OF A PALACE IN A VALLEY.

YE who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue
with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will

perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the
present day will be supplied by the morrow, attend to the history

of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia.
Rasselas was the fourth son of the mighty Emperor in whose

dominions the father of waters begins his course - whose bounty
pours down the streams of plenty, and scatters over the world the

harvests of Egypt.
According to the custom which has descended from age to age among

the monarchs of the torrid zone, Rasselas was confined in a private
palace, with the other sons and daughters of Abyssinian royalty,

till the order of succession should call him to the throne.
The place which the wisdom or policy of antiquity had destined for

the residence of the Abyssinian princes was a spaciousvalley in
the kingdom of Amhara, surrounded on every side by mountains, of

which the summits overhang the middle part. The only passage by
which it could be entered was a cavern that passed under a rock, of

which it had long been disputed whether it was the work of nature
or of human industry. The outlet of the cavern was concealed by a

thick wood, and the mouth which opened into the valley was closed
with gates of iron, forged by the artificers of ancient days, so

massive that no man, without the help of engines, could open or
shut them.

From the mountains on every side rivulets descended that filled all
the valley with verdure and fertility, and formed a lake in the

middle, inhabited by fish of every species, and frequented by every
fowl whom nature has taught to dip the wing in water. This lake

discharged its superfluities by a stream, which entered a dark
cleft of the mountain on the northern side, and fell with dreadful

noise from precipice to precipice till it was heard no more.
The sides of the mountains were covered with trees, the banks of

the brooks were diversified with flowers; every blast shook spices
from the rocks, and every month dropped fruits upon the ground.

All animals that bite the grass or browse the shrubs, whether wild
or tame, wandered in this extensivecircuit, secured from beasts of

prey by the mountains which confined them. On one part were flocks
and herds feeding in the pastures, on another all the beasts of

chase frisking in the lawns, the sprightly kid was bounding on the
rocks, the subtle monkey frolicking in the trees, and the solemn

elephant reposing in the shade. All the diversities of the world
were brought together, the blessings of nature were collected, and

its evils extracted and excluded.
The valley, wide and fruitful, supplied its inhabitants with all

the necessaries of life, and all delights and superfluities were
added at the annual visit which the Emperor paid his children, when

the iron gate was opened to the sound of music, and during eight
days every one that resided in the valley was required to propose

whatever might contribute to make seclusion pleasant, to fill up
the vacancies of attention, and lessen the tediousness of time.

Every desire was immediately granted. All the artificers of
pleasure were called to gladden the festivity; the musicians

exerted the power of harmony, and the dancers showed their activity
before the princes, in hopes that they should pass their lives in

blissful captivity, to which those only were admitted whose
performance was thought able to add novelty to luxury. Such was

the appearance of security and delight which this retirement
afforded, that they to whom it was new always desired that it might

be perpetual; and as those on whom the iron gate had once closed
were never suffered to return, the effect of longer experience

could not be known. Thus every year produced new scenes of
delight, and new competitors for imprisonment.

The palace stood on an eminence, raised about thirty paces above
the surface of the lake. It was divided into many squares or

courts, built with greater or less magnificence according to the
rank of those for whom they were designed. The roofs were turned

into arches of massive stone, joined by a cement that grew harder
by time, and the building stood from century to century, deriding

the solstitial rains and equinoctial hurricanes, without need of
reparation.

This house, which was so large as to be fully known to none but
some ancient officers, who successively inherited the secrets of

the place, was built as if Suspicion herself had dictated the plan.
To every room there was an open and secret passage; every square

had a communication with the rest, either from the upper storeys by
private galleries, or by subterraneous passages from the lower

apartments. Many of the columns had unsuspected cavities, in which
a long race of monarchs had deposited their treasures. They then

closed up the opening with marble, which was never to be removed
but in the utmost exigences of the kingdom, and recorded their

accumulations in a book, which was itself concealed in a tower, not
entered but by the Emperor, attended by the prince who stood next

in succession.
CHAPTER II - THE DISCONTENT OF RASSELAS IN THE HAPPY VALLEY.

HERE the sons and daughters of Abyssinia lived only to know the
soft vicissitudes of pleasure and repose, attended by all that were

skilful to delight, and gratified with whatever the senses can
enjoy. They wandered in gardens of fragrance, and slept in the

fortresses of security. Every art was practised to make them
pleased with their own condition. The sages who instructed them

told them of nothing but the miseries of public life, and described
all beyond the mountains as regions of calamity, where discord was

always racing, and where man preyed upon man. To heighten their
opinion of their own felicity, they were daily entertained with

songs, the subject of which was the Happy Valley. Their appetites
were excited by frequent enumerations of different enjoyments, and

revelry and merriment were the business of every hour, from the
dawn of morning to the close of the evening.

These methods were generally successful; few of the princes had
ever wished to enlarge their bounds, but passed their lives in full

conviction that they had all within their reach that art or nature
could bestow, and pitied those whom nature had excluded from this

seat of tranquillity as the sport of chance and the slaves of
misery.

Thus they rose in the morning and lay down at night, pleased with
each other and with themselves, all but Rasselas, who, in the

twenty-sixth year of his age, began to withdraw himself from the
pastimes and assemblies, and to delight in solitary walks and

silent meditation. He often sat before tables covered with luxury,
and forgot to taste the dainties that were placed before him; he

rose abruptly in the midst of the song, and hastilyretired beyond
the sound of music. His attendants observed the change, and

endeavoured to renew his love of pleasure. He neglected their
officiousness, repulsed their invitations, and spent day after day

on the banks of rivulets sheltered with trees, where he sometimes
listened to the birds in the branches, sometimes observed the fish

playing in the streams, and anon cast his eyes upon the pastures
and mountains filled with animals, of which some were biting the

herbage, and some sleeping among the bushes. The singularity of
his humour made him much observed. One of the sages, in whose

conversation he had formerlydelighted, followed him secretly, in
hope of discovering the cause of his disquiet. Rasselas, who knew

not that any one was near him, having for some time fixed his eyes
upon the goats that were browsing among the rocks, began to compare

their condition with his own.
"What," said he, "makes the difference between man and all the rest

of the animal creation? Every beast that strays beside me has the
same corporal necessities with myself: he is hungry, and crops the

grass; he is thirsty, and drinks the stream; his thirst and hunger
are appeased; he is satisfied, and sleeps; he rises again, and is

hungry; he is again fed, and is at rest. I am hungry and thirsty,
like him, but when thirst and hunger cease, I am not at rest. I

am, like him, pained with want, but am not, like him, satisfied
with fulness. The intermediate hours are tedious and gloomy; I

long again to be hungry that I may again quicken the attention.
The birds peck the berries or the corn, and fly away to the groves,

where they sit in seeming happiness on the branches, and waste