 neighbouring countries, and, perhaps, he
would have refused to discharge me, had his plunder been equal to his wishes. He
returned always courteous, related his adventures, delighted to hear my
observations, and endeavoured to advance my acquaintance with the stars. When I
importuned him to send away my letters, he soothed me with professions of honour
and sincerity; and, when I could be no longer decently denied, put his troop
again in motion, and left me to govern in his absence. I was much afflicted by
this studied procrastination, and was sometimes afraid that I should be
forgotten; that you would leave Cairo, and I must end my days in an island of
the Nile.
    I grew at last hopeless and dejected, and cared so little to entertain him,
that he for a while more frequently talked with my maids. That he should fall in
love with them, or with me, might have been equally fatal, and I was not much
pleased with the growing friendship. My anxiety was not long; for, as I
recovered some degree of cheerfulness, he returned to me, and I could not
forbear to despise my former uneasiness.
    He still delayed to send for my ransome, and would, perhaps, never have
determined, had not your agent found his way to him. The gold, which he would
not fetch, he could not reject when it was offered. He hastened to prepare for
our journey hither, like a man delivered from the pain of an intestine conflict.
I took leave of my companions in the house, who dismissed me with cold
indifference.«
    Nekayah, having heard her favourite's relation, rose and embraced her, and
Rasselas gave her an hundred ounces of gold, which she presented to the Arab for
the fifty that were promised.
 

                                   Chapter XL

                        The history of a man of learning

They returned to Cairo, and were so well pleased at finding themselves together,
that none of them went much abroad. The prince began to love learning, and one
day declared to Imlac, that he intended to devote himself to science, and pass
the rest of his days in literary solitude.
    »Before you make your final choice, answered Imlac, you ought to examine its
hazards, and converse with some of those who are grown old in the company of
themselves. I have just left the observatory of one of the most learned
astronomers in the world, who has spent forty years in unwearied attention to
the motions and appearances of the celestial bodies, and has drawn out his soul
in endless calculations. He admits a few friends once a month
