The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia · Chapter
The History of Imlac explained
Imlac begins his life story, describing his birth in Goiama, his father's wealth and narrow ambitions, his own love of learning, and his decision to abandon commerce for travel and knowledge.
What happens
Imlac begins his life story, describing his birth in Goiama, his father's wealth and narrow ambitions, his own love of learning, and his decision to abandon commerce for travel and knowledge. He recounts receiving ten thousand gold pieces from his father, setting out on a trading journey, and ultimately choosing to sail to Surat to satisfy his curiosity about the world.
Themes in this chapter
The Choice of Life
Imlac chooses the life of a scholar and traveler over the mercantile path his father intended.
The Limits of Reason and Imagination
Rasselas's youthful idealism about justice is tempered by Imlac's pragmatic view of human governance.
The Vanity of Human Wishes
Imlac's father desires wealth beyond what he can safely enjoy, illustrating the futility of unchecked ambition.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“The life that is devoted to knowledge passes silently away, and is very little diversified by events.”
A scholarly life is quiet and uneventful.
Imlac describes the scholar's existence as calm and lacking in dramatic incidents.
“Oppression is, in the Abyssinian dominions, neither frequent nor tolerated; but no form of government has been yet discovered by which cruelty can be wholly prevented.”
While oppression is rare in Abyssinia, no government can completely eliminate cruelty.
Imlac explains to Rasselas the inherent limitations of any political system.
“Some desire is necessary to keep life in motion; and he whose real wants are supplied must admit those of fancy.”
Desire is essential to keep life going; when basic needs are met, we must indulge imaginative wants.
Imlac justifies his father's continued pursuit of wealth despite already being rich.