THE HISTORY OF RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA. 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 half the world the harvest 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. DE RASSELAS, PRINCE D'ABYSSINIE. CHAPITRE Ier. DESCRIPTION D'UN PALAIS DANS UNE VALLÉE. Vous qui prêtez complaisamment l'oreille aux murmures flatteurs de l'imagination, et qui poursuivez avec ardeur le fantôme de l'espérance; vous qui croyez que la vieillesse accomplira les promesses du jeune âge, et qui comptez sur le lendemain pour remplir l'attente de la veille, écoutez l'histoire de Rasselas, prince d'Abyssinie. Rasselas était le quatrième fils du puissant empereur qui possède dans ses états la source du Nil, de ce Père des ondes dont la bonté verse l'abondance avec ses flots et répand les moissons de l'Égypte sur la moitié du monde. Suivant une coutume observée d'âge en âge parmi les monarques de la zone torride, Rasselas fut, ainsi que les autres enfans de la famille royale, confiné dans un palais particulier, où il devait demeurer jusqu'au jour où l'ordre de la succession l'appellerait au trône. The place which the wisdom or policy of antiquity had destined for the residence of the Abyssinian princes, was a spacious valley in the kingdom of Amhara, surrounded on every side by mountains, of which the summits hang over 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 massy that no man could without the help of engines 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 had 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. |