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ning and ignorance (which are the light and darkness of  thinking beings); the extinction and resuscitation of arts; and the  revolutions of the intellectual world。  If accounts of battles and  invasions are peculiarly the business of princes; the useful or  elegant arts are not to be neglected; those who have kingdoms to  govern have understandings to cultivate。
〃Example is always more efficacious than precept。  A soldier is  formed in war; and a painter must copy pictures。  In this;  contemplative life has the advantage。  Great actions are seldom  seen; but the labours of art are always at hand for those who  desire to know what art has been able to perform。
〃When the eye or the imagination is struck with any uncommon work;  the next transition of an active mind is to the means by which it  was performed。  Here begins the true use of such contemplation。  We  enlarge our comprehension by new ideas; and perhaps recover some  art lost to mankind; or learn what is less perfectly known in our  own country。  At least we compare our own with former times; and  either rejoice at our improvements; or; what is the first motion  towards good; discover our defects。〃
〃I am willing;〃 said the Prince; 〃to see all that can deserve my  search。〃
〃And I;〃 said the Princess; 〃shall rejoice to learn something of  the manners of antiquity。〃
〃The most pompous monument of Egyptian greatness; and one of the  most bulky works of manual industry;〃 said Imlac; 〃are the  Pyramids:  fabrics raised before the time of history; and of which  the earliest narratives afford us only uncertain traditions。  Of  these the greatest is still standing; very little injured by time。〃
〃Let us visit them to…morrow;〃 said Nekayah。  〃I have often heard  of the Pyramids; and shall not rest till I have seen them; within  and without; with my own eyes。〃

CHAPTER XXXI … THEY VISIT THE PYRAMIDS。

THE resolution being thus taken; they set out the next day。  They  laid tents upon their camels; being resolved to stay among the  Pyramids till their curiosity was fully satisfied。  They travelled  gently; turned aside to everything remarkable; stopped from time to  time and conversed with the inhabitants; and observed the various  appearances of towns ruined and inhabited; of wild and cultivated  nature。
When they came to the Great Pyramid they were astonished at the  extent of the base and the height of the top。  Imlac explained to  them the principles upon which the pyramidal form was chosen for a  fabric intended to co…extend its duration with that of the world:   he showed that its gradual diminution gave it such stability as  defeated all the common attacks of the elements; and could scarcely  be overthrown by earthquakes themselves; the least resistible of  natural violence。  A concussion that should shatter the pyramid  would threaten the dissolution of the continent。
They measured all its dimensions; and pitched their tents at its  foot。  Next day they prepared to enter its interior apartments; and  having hired the common guides; climbed up to the first passage;  when the favourite of the Princess; looking into the cavity;  stepped back and trembled。  〃Pekuah;〃 said the Princess; 〃of what  art thou afraid?〃
〃Of the narrow entrance;〃 answered the lady; 〃and of the dreadful  gloom。  I dare not enter a place which must surely be inhabited by  unquiet souls。  The original possessors of these dreadful vaults  will start up before us; and perhaps shut us in for ever。〃  She  spoke; and threw her arms round the neck of her mistress。
〃If all your fear be of apparitions;〃 said the Prince; 〃I will  promise you safety。  There is no danger from the dead:  he that is  once buried will be seen no more。〃
〃That the dead are seen no more;〃 said Imlac; 〃I will not undertake  to maintain against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all  ages and of all nations。  There is no people; rude or learned;  among whom apparitions of the dead are not related and believed。   This opinion; which perhaps prevails as far as human nature is  diffused; could become universal only by its truth:  those that  never heard of one another would not have agreed in a tale which  nothing but experience can make credible。  That it is doubted by  single cavillers can very little weaken the general evidence; and  some who deny it with their tongues confess it by their fears。
〃Yet I do not mean to add new terrors to those which have already  seized upon Pekuah。  There can be no reason why spectres should  haunt the Pyramid more than other places; or why they should have  power or will to hurt innocence and purity。  Our entrance is no  violation of their privileges:  we can take nothing from them; how;  then; can we offend them?〃
〃My dear Pekuah;〃 said the Princess; 〃I will always go before you;  and Imlac shall follow you。  Remember that you are the companion of  the Princess of Abyssinia。〃
〃If the Princess is pleased that her servant should die;〃 returned  the lady; 〃let her command some death less dreadful than enclosure  in this horrid cavern。  You know I dare not disobey you … I must go  if you command me; but if I once enter; I never shall come back。〃
The Princess saw that her fear was too strong for expostulation or  reproof; and; embracing her; told her that she should stay in the  tent till their return。  Pekuah was not yet satisfied; but  entreated the Princess not to pursue so dreadful a purpose as that  of entering the recesses of the Pyramids。  〃Though I cannot teach  courage;〃 said Nekayah; 〃I must not learn cowardice; nor leave at  last undone what I came hither only to do。〃

CHAPTER XXXII … THEY ENTER THE PYRAMID。

PEKUAH descended to the tents; and the rest entered the Pyramid。   They passed through the galleries; surveyed the vaults of marble;  and examined the chest in which the body of the founder is supposed  to have been deposited。  They then sat down in one of the most  spacious chambers to rest awhile before they attempted to return。
〃We have now;〃 said Imlac; 〃gratified our minds with an exact view  of the greatest work of man; except the wall of China。
〃Of the wall it is very easy to assign the motive。  It secured a  wealthy and timorous nation from the incursions of barbarians;  whose unskilfulness in the arts made it easier for them to supply  their wants by rapine than by industry; and who from time to time  poured in upon the inhabitants of peaceful commerce as vultures  descend upon domestic fowl。  Their celerity and fierceness made the  wall necessary; and their ignorance made it efficacious。
〃But for the Pyramids; no reason has ever been given adequate to  the cost and labour of the work。  The narrowness of the chambers  proves that it could afford no retreat from enemies; and treasures  might have been reposited at far less expense with equal security。   It seems to have been erected only in compliance with that hunger  of imagination which preys incessantly upon life; and must be  always appeased by some employment。  Those who have already all  that they can enjoy must enlarge their desires。  He that has built  for use till use is supplied must begin to build for vanity; and  extend his plan to the utmost power of human performance that he  may not be soon reduced to form another wish。
〃I consider this mighty structure as a monument of the  insufficiency of human enjoyments。  A king whose power is  unlimited; and whose treasures surmount all real and imaginary  wants; is compelled to solace; by the erection of a pyramid; the  satiety of dominion and tastelessness of pleasures; and to amuse  the tediousness of declining life by seeing thousands labouring  without end; and one stone; for no purpose; laid upon another。   Whoever thou art that; not content with a moderate condition;  imaginest happiness in royal magnificence; and dreamest that  command or riches can feed the appetite of novelty with perpetual  gratifications; survey the Pyramids; and confess thy folly!〃

CHAPTER XXXIII … THE PRINCESS MEETS WITH AN UNEXPECTED MISFORTUNE。

THEY rose up; and returned through the cavity at which they had  entered; and the Princess prepared for her favourite a long  narrative of dark labyrinths and costly rooms; and of the different  impressions which the varieties of the way had made upon her。  But  when they came to their train; they found every one silent and  dejected:  the men discovered shame and fear in their countenances;  and the women were weeping in their tents。
What had happened they did not try to conjecture; but immediately  inquired。  〃You had scarcely entered into the Pyramid;〃 said one of  the attendants; 〃when a troop of Arabs rushed upon us:  we were too  few to resist them; and too slow to escape。  They were about to  search the tents; set us on our camels; and drive us along before  them; when the approach of some Turkish horsemen put them to  flight:  but they seized the Lady Pekuah with her two maids; and  carried them away:  the Turks are now pursuing them by our  instigation; but I fear they will not be able to overtake them。〃
The Princess was overpowered with surprise and grief。  Rasselas; in  the first heat of his resentment; ordered his servants to follow  him; and prepared to pursue the robbers with his sabre in his hand。   〃Sir;〃 said Imlac; 

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