Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia

could gaze around me for ever without satiety; but in a short time I grew weary of looking on barren uniformity, where I could only see again what I had already seen. I then descended int

ys, deserts and cities; it is inhabited by men of different customs and contrary op

ng from the sailors the art of navigation, which I have never practised, and sometimes by form

ome reason or other, conjecturing that I was rich, and, by my inquiries and admiration, finding that I was ignorant, considered me as a novice whom they had a right to cheat, and who was to learn, at the usual expense, the art

hat all are pleased with superiority; but your ignorance was merely accidental, which, being neither your crime nor your folly, could afford them no r

feels not its own happiness but when it may be compared with the misery of others. They were my enem

f the facts which you relate, but imagine

f the country, and in a few months was able to converse with the learned men; some of whom I found morose and reserved, and others easy and communicative; some wer

owledge. The Emperor asked me many questions concerning my country and my travels, and though I cannot now recollect anythi

the ladies of the Court. I was surprised at their confidence of solicitation and greatly reproached them wi

t do for money, and refused them, not because they had injured me, but because I would not enable them to

magnificence and observed many new accommodations of life. The Persians are a nation eminently social, and their assemblies

settled habitation, whose wealth is their flocks and herds, and who have carried on through ages a