 for
fear of losing them by the rapacity of power. Name the governor who robbed the
people, that I may declare his crimes to the emperour.«
    »Sir, said Imlac, your ardour is the natural effect of virtue animated by
youth: the time will come when you will acquit your father, and perhaps hear
with less impatience of the governor. Oppression is, in the Abissinian
dominions, neither frequent nor tolerated; but no form of government has been
yet discovered, by which cruelty can be wholly prevented. Subordination supposes
power on one part and subjection on the other; and if power be in the hands of
men, it will sometimes be abused. The vigilance of the supreme magistrate may do
much, but much will still remain undone. He can never know all the crimes that
are committed, and can seldom punish all that he knows.«
    »This, said the prince, I do not understand, but I had rather hear thee than
dispute. Continue thy narration.«
    »My father, proceeded Imlac, originally intended that I should have no other
education, than such as might qualify me for commerce; and discovering in me
great strength of memory, and quickness of apprehension, often declared his hope
that I should be some time the richest man in Abissinia.«
    »Why, said the prince, did thy father desire the increase of his wealth,
when it was already greater than he durst discover or enjoy? I am unwilling to
doubt thy veracity, yet inconsistencies cannot both be true.«
    »Inconsistencies, answered Imlac, cannot both be right, but, imputed to man,
they may both be true. Yet diversity is not inconsistency. My father might
expect a time of greater security. However, some desire is necessary to keep
life in motion, and he, whose real wants are supplied, must admit those of
fancy.«
    »This, said the prince, I can in some measure conceive. I repent that I
interrupted thee.«
    »With this hope, proceeded Imlac, he sent me to school; but when I had once
found the delight of knowledge, and felt the pleasure of intelligence and the
pride of invention, I began silently to despise riches, and determined to
disappoint the purpose of my father, whose grossness of conception raised my
pity. I was twenty years old before his tenderness would expose me to the
fatigue of travel, in which time I had been instructed, by successive masters,
in all the literature of my native country. As every hour taught me something
new, I lived in a continual course of gratifications;
