I was at first struck with surprize and regret; but surprize and regret quickly gave way to disdain..... "Shall not the Sultan Amurath," said I, "to whom a thousand kings pay tribute, and in whose hands is the life of nations, shall not Amurath strike a dog that offends him, without being reproached for having transgressed the rule of right?" My ring again pressed my finger, and the ruby became more pale: immediately the palace shook with a burst of thunder, and the genius Syndaric again stood before me. “Amurath,” said he, "thou hast offended against thy brother of the dust; a being who, like thee, has received from the Almighty a capacity of pleasure and pain; pleasure which caprice is not allowed to suspend, and pain which justice only has a right to inflict. If thou art justified by power, in afflicting inferior beings, I should be justified in afflicting thee: but my power yet spares thee, because it is directed by the laws of sovereign goodness, and because thou mayest yet be reclaimed by admonition. But yield not to the impulse of quick resentment, nor indulge in cruelty the forwardness of disgust, lest by the laws of goodness I be compelled to atlict thee; for he that scorns reproof, must be reformed by punishment, or lost for ever.” 66 At the presence of Syndarac I was troubled, and his words covered me with confusion. I fell prostrate at his feet, and heard him pronounce with a milder accent, Expect not henceforth that I should answer the demands of arrogance, or gratify the security of specu lation confide in my friendship, and trust implicitly to thy ring." : As the chace had produced so much infelicity, I did not repeat it, but invited my nobles to a banquet, and entertained them with dancing and music. I had given leave that all ceremony should be suspended, and that the company should treat me not as a sovereign but an equal, because the conversation would be otherwise encumbered or restrained; and I encouraged others to pleasantry, by indulging the luxuriancy of my own imagination. But though I affected to throw off the trappings of royalty, I had not sufficient magnanimity to despise them. I enjoyed the voluntary deference which was paid me, and was secretly offended at Alibeg, my visier, who endeavoured to prevail upon the assembly to enjoy the liberty that had been given them, and was himself an example of the conduct that he recommended. I singled out as the subject of my raillery, the man who alone deserved my approbation: he believed my condescension to be sincere, and imagined that he was securing my favour, by that behaviour which had incurred my displeasure; he was, therefore, grieved and confounded to perceive that I laboured to render him ridiculous and contemptible. I enjoyed his pain, and was elated at my success; but my attention was suddenly called to my ring, and I perceived the ruby change colour. I desisted for a moment; but some of my courtiers having discovered and seconded my intention, I felt my vanity and my resentment gratified. I endeavoured to wash away the remembrance of my ring with wine; my satire became more bitter, and Alibeg discovered yet greater distress. My ring again reproached me; but I still persevered. The visier was at length roused to his defence; probably he had discovered and despised my weakness; his replies were so poignant, that I became outrageous, and descended from raillery to invective. At length, disguising the anguish of his mind with a smile, Amurath," said he, "if the Sultan should know, that after having invited your friends to festivity and merriment, you had assumed his authority, and insulted those who were not aware that you disdained to be treated with the familiarity of friendship, you would certainly fall under his displeasure." The severity of this sarcasm, which was extorted by long provocation from a man warmed with wine, stung me with intolerable rage: I started up, and spurning him from the table, was about to 66 draw my poignard, when my attention was again called to my ring, and I perceived, with some degree of regret, that the ruby had faded almost to a perfect white. But instead of resolving to be more watchful against whatever might bring me under this silent reproof, I comforted myself that the Genius would no more alarm me with his presence. The irregularities of my conduct increased almost imperceptibly, and the intimations of my ring became proportionably more frequent though less forcible, till at last they were so familiar, that I scarce remarked when they were given, and when they were suspended. It was soon discovered that I was pleased with servility; servility therefore was practised, and I rewarded it sometimes with a pension, and sometimes with a place. Thus the government of my kingdoms was left to petty tyrants, who oppressed the people to enrich themselves. In the mean time I filled my seraglio with women, among whom I abandoned myself to sensuality, without enjoying the pure delight of that love which arises from esteem. But I had not yet stained my hands with blood, nor dared to ridicule the laws which I neglected to fulfil. My resentment against Alibeg, however unjust, was inflexible, and terminated in the most perfect hatred. I degraded him from his office; but I still kept him at court, that I might embitter his life by perpetual indignities, and practise against him new schemes of malevolence. Selima, the daughter of this prince, had been intended by my father for my wife; and the marriage had been delayed only by his death; but the pleasure and the dignity that Alibeg would derive from this alliance, had now changed my purpose. Yet such was the beauty of Selima, that I gazed with desire; and such was her wit, that I listened with delight. I therefore resolved, that I would, if possible, seduce her to volun tary prostitution; and that when her beauty should yield to the charm of variety, I would dismiss her with marks of disgrace. But in this attempt I could not succeed; my solicitations were rejected, sometimes with tears, and sometimes with reproach. I became every day more wretched, by seeking to bring calamity upon others: I considered my disappointment as the triumph of a slave, whom I wished, but did not dare to destroy, and I regarded his daughter as the instrument of my dishonour. Thus the tenderness, which before had often shaken my purpose, was weakened; my desire of beauty became as selfish and as sordid an appetite as my desire of food; and as I had no hope of obtaining the complete gratification of my lust and my revenge, I determined to enjoy Selima by force, as the only expedient to alleviate my torment. She resided by my command in an apartment of the seraglio; and I entered her chamber at midnight by a private door, of which I had a key; but with inexpressible vexation I found it empty. To be thus disappointed in my last attempt, at the very moment in which I thought I had insured success, distracted me with rage; and instead of returning to my chamber and concealing my design, I called for her women. They ran in, pale and trembling: I demanded the lady; they gazed at me astonished and terrified, and then looking upon each other, stood silent. I repeated my demand with fury and execration; and to enforce it, called aloud for the ministers of death. They then fell prostrate at my feet, and declared with one voice that they knew not where she was; that they had left her, when they were dismissed for the night, sitting on a sofa pensive and alone; and that no person had since, to their knowledge, passed in or out of her apartment. No. XXI. TUESDAY, JANUARY 16. Si genus humanum et mortalia temnitis arma; VIRG. Of mortal justice if thou scorn the rod.... IN this account, however incredible, they persisted without variation; and having filled the palace with alarm and confusion, I was obliged to retire without gaining any intelligence by what means I had been baffled, or on whom to turn my resentment. I reviewed the transactions of the night with anguish and regret, and bewildered myself among the innumerable possibilities that might have produced my disappointment. I remembered that the windows of Selima's apartment were open, and I imagined that she might that way have escaped into the gardens of the seraglio. But why should she escape, who had never been confined? If she had designed to depart, she might have departed by day. Had she an assignation? and did she intend to return, without being known to have been absent? This supposition encreased my torment; because, if it was true, Selima had granted to my slave that which she had refused to me. But as all these conjectures were uncertain, I determined to make her absence a pretence to destroy her father. In the morning I gave orders that he should be seized, and brought before me; but while I was yet speaking, he entered, and prostrating himself, thus anticipated my accusation: "May the Sultan, Amurath, in whose wrath the angel of death goes forth, rejoice for ever in the smile of Heaven! Let the wretched Alibeg perish; but let my lord remember Selima. |