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Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia-Part11_Samuel Johnson(1709-1784)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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some who deny it with their tongues confess it by their fears.

"Yet I do not mean to add new terrors to those which have already



seized upon Pekuah. There can be no reason why spectres should

haunt the Pyramid more than other places, or why they should have



power or will to hurt innocence and purity. Our entrance is no

violation of their privileges: we can take nothing from them; how,



then, can we offend them?"

"My dear Pekuah," said the Princess, "I will always go before you,



and Imlac shall follow you. Remember that you are the companion of

the Princess of Abyssinia."



"If the Princess is pleased that her servant should die," returned

the lady, "let her command some death less dreadful than enclosure



in this horridcavern. You know I dare not disobey you - I must go

if you command me; but if I once enter, I never shall come back."



The Princess saw that her fear was too strong for expostulation or

reproof, and, embracing her, told her that she should stay in the



tent till their return. Pekuah was not yet satisfied, but

entreated the Princess not to pursue so dreadful a purpose as that



of entering the recesses of the Pyramids. "Though I cannot teach

courage," said Nekayah, "I must not learn cowardice, nor leave at



last undone what I came hither only to do."

CHAPTER XXXII - THEY ENTER THE PYRAMID.



PEKUAH descended to the tents, and the rest entered the Pyramid.

They passed through the galleries, surveyed the vaults of marble,



and examined the chest in which the body of the founder is supposed

to have been deposited. They then sat down in one of the most



spacious chambers to rest awhile before they attempted to return.

"We have now," said Imlac, "gratified our minds with an exact view



of the greatest work of man, except the wall of China.

"Of the wall it is very easy to assign the motive. It secured a



wealthy and timorous nation from the incursions of barbarians,

whose unskilfulness in the arts made it easier for them to supply



their wants by rapine than by industry, and who from time to time

poured in upon the inhabitants of peacefulcommerce as vultures



descend upon domestic fowl. Their celerity and fierceness made the

wall necessary, and their ignorance made it efficacious.



"But for the Pyramids, no reason has ever been given adequate to

the cost and labour of the work. The narrowness of the chambers



proves that it could afford no retreat from enemies, and treasures

might have been reposited at far less expense with equal security.



It seems to have been erected only in compliance with that hunger

of imagination which preys incessantly upon life, and must be



always appeased by some employment. Those who have already all

that they can enjoy must enlarge their desires. He that has built



for use till use is supplied must begin to build for vanity, and

extend his plan to the utmost power of human performance that he



may not be soon reduced to form another wish.

"I consider this mightystructure as a monument of the



insufficiency of human enjoyments. A king whose power is

unlimited, and whose treasures surmount all real and imaginary



wants, is compelled to solace, by the erection of a pyramid, the

satiety of dominion and tastelessness of pleasures, and to amuse



the tediousness of declining life by seeing thousands labouring

without end, and one stone, for no purpose, laid upon another.



Whoever thou art that, not content with a moderate condition,

imaginest happiness in royal magnificence, and dreamest that



command or riches can feed the appetite of novelty with perpetual

gratifications, survey the Pyramids, and confess thy folly!"



CHAPTER XXXIII - THE PRINCESS MEETS WITH AN UNEXPECTED MISFORTUNE.

THEY rose up, and returned through the cavity at which they had






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