'ALMORAN,' said he, 'to the last sounds which thou shalt hear, let
thine ear be attentive! Of the spirits that rejoice to fulfill the
purpose of the Almighty, I am one. To HAMET, and to ALMORAN, I have been
commissioned from above: I have been appointed to perfect virtue, by
adversity; and in the folly of her own projects, to entangle vice. The
charm, which could be formed only by guilt, has power only to produce
misery: of every good, which thou, ALMORAN, wouldst have secured by
disobedience, the opposite evil is thy portion; and of every evil, which
thou, HAMET, wast, by Obedience, willing to incur, the opposite good is
bestowed upon thee. To thee, HAMET, are now given the throne of thy
father, and ALMEIDA. And thou, ALMORAN, who, while I speak, art
incorporating with the earth, shalt remain, through all generations, a
memorial of the truths which thy life has taught!'
At the words of the Genius, the earth trembled beneath, and above the
walls of the prison disappeared: the figure of ALMORAN, which was
hardened into stone, expanded by degrees; and a rock, by which his form
and attitude are still rudely expressed, became at once a monument of
his punishment and his guilt.
Such are the events recorded by ACMET, the descendant of the Prophet,
and the preacher of righteousness! for, to ACMET, that which passed in
secret was revealed by the Angel of instruction, that the world might
know, that, to the wicked, increase of power is increase of
wretchedness; and that those who condemn the folly of an attempt to
defeat the purpose of a Genius, might no longer hope to elude the
appointment of the Most High.
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