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第27章

rasselas, prince of abyssinia-第27章

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 has parts may be destroyed。〃
〃Consider your own conceptions;〃 replied Imlac; 〃and the difficulty  will be less。  You will find substance without extension。  An ideal  form is no less real than material bulk; yet an ideal form has no  extension。  It is no less certain; when you think on a pyramid;  that your mind possesses the idea of a pyramid; than that the  pyramid itself is standing。  What space does the idea of a pyramid  occupy more than the idea of a grain of corn? or how can either  idea suffer laceration?  As is the effect; such is the cause; as  thought; such is the power that thinks; a power impassive and  indiscerptible。〃
〃But the Being;〃 said Nekayah; 〃whom I fear to name; the Being  which made the soul; can destroy it。〃
〃He surely can destroy it;〃 answered Imlac; 〃since; however  imperishable; it receives from a superior nature its power of  duration。  That it will not perish by any inherent cause of decay  or principle of corruption; may be shown by philosophy; but  philosophy can tell no more。  That it will not be annihilated by  Him that made it; we must humbly learn from higher authority。〃
The whole assembly stood awhile silent and collected。  〃Let us  return;〃 said Rasselas; 〃from this scene of mortality。  How gloomy  would be these mansions of the dead to him who did not know that he  should never die; that what now acts shall continue its agency; and  what now thinks shall think on for ever。  Those that lie here  stretched before us; the wise and the powerful of ancient times;  warn us to remember the shortness of our present state; they were  perhaps snatched away while they were busy; like us; in the CHOICE  OF LIFE。〃
〃To me;〃 said the Princess; 〃the choice of life is become less  important; I hope hereafter to think only on the choice of  eternity。〃
They then hastened out of the caverns; and under the protection of  their guard returned to Cairo。

CHAPTER XLIX … THE CONCLUSION; IN WHICH NOTHING IS CONCLUDED。

IT was now the time of the inundation of the Nile。  A few days  after their visit to the catacombs the river began to rise。
They were confined to their house。  The whole region being under  water; gave them no invitation to any excursions; and being well  supplied with materials for talk; they diverted themselves with  comparisons of the different forms of life which they had observed;  and with various schemes of happiness which each of them had  formed。
Pekuah was never so much charmed with any place as the Convent of  St。 Anthony; where the Arab restored her to the Princess; and  wished only to fill it with pious maidens and to be made prioress  of the order。  She was weary of expectation and disgust; and would  gladly be fixed in some unvariable state。
The Princess thought that; of all sublunary things; knowledge was  the best。  She desired first to learn all sciences; and then  proposed to found a college of learned women; in which she would  preside; that; by conversing with the old and educating the young;  she might divide her time between the acquisition and communication  of wisdom; and raise up for the next age models of prudence and  patterns of piety。
The Prince desired a little kingdom in which he might administer  justice in his own person and see all the parts of government with  his own eyes; but he could never fix the limits of his dominion;  and was always adding to the number of his subjects。
Imlac and the astronomer were contented to be driven along the  stream of life without directing their course to any particular  port。
Of those wishes that they had formed they well knew that none could  be obtained。  They deliberated awhile what was to be done; and  resolved; when the inundation should cease; to return to Abyssinia。




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