"The causes of good and evil," answered Imlac, "are so various and
uncertain, so often entangled with each other, so diversified by
various relations, and so much subject to accidents which cannot be
foreseen, that he who would fix his condition upon incontestable
reasons of preference must live and die inquiring and
deliberating."

"But, surely," said Rasselas, "the wise men, to whom we listen with
reverence and wonder, chose that mode of life for themselves which
they thought most likely to make them happy."

"Very few," said the poet, "live by choice. Every man is placed in
the present condition by causes which acted without his foresight,
and with which he did not always willingly co-operate, and
therefore you will rarely meet one who does not think the lot of
his neighbour better than his own."

"I am pleased to think," said the Prince, "that my birth has given
me at least one advantage over others by enabling me to determine
for myself. I have here the world before me. I will review it at
leisure: surely happiness is somewhere to be found."



CHAPTER XVII--THE PRINCE ASSOCIATES WITH YOUNG MEN OF SPIRIT AND
GAIETY.