Omar was struck dumb with astonishment; and Hamet, who was impatient to be longer mistaken, related all the circumstances of his transformation, and reminded him of some particulars which could be known only to themselves: 'Canst thou not yet believe,' said he, 'that I am Hamet? when thou hast this day seen me banished from my kingdom; when thou hast now met me a fugitive
returning from the desert; and when I learnt from thee, since the sun was risen which is not yet set, that more than mortal powers were combined against me.' 'I now believe,' said Omar, 'that thou, indeed, art Hamet.' 'Stay me not then,' said Hamet; 'but come with me to revenge.' 'Beware,' said Omar, 'lest thou endanger the loss of more than empire and Almeida.' 'If not to revenge,' said Hamet,' I may at least be permitted to punish.' 'Thy mind,' says Omar, 'is now in such a state, that to punish the crimes by which thou hast been wronged, will dip thee in the guilt of blood. Why else are we forbidden to take vengeance for ourselves? and why is it reserved as the prerogative of the
Most High? In Him, and in Him alone, it is goodness guided by wisdom: He approves the means, only as necessary to the end; He wounds only to heal, and destroys only to save; He has complacence, not in the evil, but in the good only which it is appointed to produce. Remember, therefore, that he, to whom the punishment of another is sweet; though his act may be just with respect to others, with respect to himself it is a deed of darkness, and abhorred by the Almighty.' Hamet, who had stood abstracted in the contemplation of the new injury he had suffered, while Omar was persuading him not to revenge it, started from his posture in all the wildness of distraction;
and bursting away from Omar, with an ardent and furious look hasted toward the palace, and was soon out of sight.
CHAP. XV.
In the mean time, Almoran, after having effected the transformation, was met, as he was going to the apartment of Almeida, by Osmyn. Osmyn had already experienced the misery of dependent greatness, that kept him continually under the eye of a capricious tyrant, whose temper was various as the gales of summer, and whose anger was sudden as the bolt of heaven; whose purpose and passions were dark and impetuous as the midnight storm, and at whose command death was inevitable as the approach of time. When
he saw Almoran, therefore, in the likeness of Hamet, he felt a secret desire to apprize him of his situation, and offer him his friendship.
Almoran, who with the form assumed the manners of Hamet, addressed Osmyn with a mild though mournful countenance: 'At length,' said he, 'the will of Almoran alone is law; does it permit me to hold a private rank in this place, without molestation?' 'It permits,' said Osmyn, 'yet more; he has commanded, that you should have admittance to Almeida.' Almoran, whose vanity betrayed him to flatter his own power in the person of Hamet, replied with a smile: 'I know, that Almoran, who presides like a God in silent
and distant state, reveals the secrets of his will to thee; I know that thou art'—'I am,' said Osmyn, 'of all thou seest, most wretched.' At this declaration, Almoran turned short, and fixed his eyes upon Osmyn with a look of surprize and anger: 'Does not the favour of Almoran,' said he, 'whose smile is power, and wealth, and honour, shine upon thee?' 'My lord,' said Osmyn, 'I know so well the severity of thy virtue, that if I should, even for thy sake, become perfidious to thy brother'—Almoran, who was unable to preserve the character of Hamet with propriety, interrupted him with a fierce and haughty tone: 'How!' said he, 'perfidious to