That thou art not happy, I know; and I now
know the cause. Let my lord pardon the presumption of his slave: he that
seeks to satisfy all his wishes, must be wretched; he only can be happy,
by whom some are suppressed.' At these words ALMORAN snatched his robe
from the hand of OMAR, and spurned him in a transport of rage and
indignation: 'The suppression of desire,' said he, 'is such happiness,
as that of the deaf who do not remember to have heard. If it is virtue,
know, that, as virtue, I despise it; for though it may secure the
obedience of the slave, it can only degrade the prerogative of a prince.
I cast off all restraint, as I do thee: begone, therefore, to HAMET, and
see me no more.'
OMAR obeyed without reply; and ALMORAN being again alone, the conflict
in his mind was renewed with greater violence than before. He felt all
that he had disguised to OMAR, with the keenest sensibility; and
anticipated the effects of his detection, with unutterable anguish and
regret. He walked backward and forward with a hasty but interrupted
pace; sometimes stopping short, and pressing his hand hard upon his
brow; and sometimes by violent gestures showing the agitation of his
mind: he sometimes stood silent with his eyes, fixed upon, the ground,
and his arms folded together; and sometimes a sudden agony of thought
forced him into loud and tumultuous exclamations: he cursed the
impotence of mind that had suffered his thoughts to escape from him
unawares; without reflecting that he was even then repeating the folly;
and while he felt himself the victim of vice, he could not suppress his
contempt of virtue: 'If I must perish,' said he, 'I will at least perish
unsubdued: I will quench no wish that nature kindles in my bosom; nor
shall my lips utter any prayer, but for new powers to feed the flame.
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