|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: midnight before the music ceased and the princesses retired.
Rasselas then called for his companion, and required him to begin
the story of his life.
"Sir," said Imlac, "my history will not be long: the life that is
devoted to knowledge passes silently away, and is very little
diversified by events. To talk in public, to think in solitude, to
read and to hear, to inquire and answer inquiries, is the business
of a scholar. He wanders about the world without pomp or terror,
and is neither known nor valued but by men like himself.
"I was born in the kingdom of Goiama, at no great distance from the
fountain of the Nile. My father was a wealthy merchant, who traded
|
