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Letter XV1
The first Eunuch to Jaron, the black Eunuch, at Erzeroum
May Heaven restore you to this country, and deliver you from all danger!
Although friendship is a bond almost unknown to
me, and although I am wrapped up in myself, yet you have made me feel that
I have a heart; and while I was as a bronze statue to the rest of the slaves
who lived under my rule, it was with pleasure that I watched your growth
from infancy.
The time came when my master threw his eyes on you.
Nature had not yet whispered her secrets, when the knife separated you
from her for ever. I will not say whether I pitied you, or whether
I was glad to see you brought into my own condition. I dried your
tears and stilled your cries. I imagined that I saw you born again,
issuing from a state of thraldom in which you would always have had to
obey, to enter into a service in which you would exercise authority.
I charged myself with your education. That severity, without which
instruction is impossible, kept you long in ignorance of my love.
You were dear to me, however; and I assure you that I loved you as a father
loves his son, if the names of father and son can be applied to such as
you and I.
Since you are to travel in countries inhabited by
unbelieving Christians, it is impossible that you should escape defilement.
How shall the prophet look on you with favour in the midst of so many millions
of his enemies? I hope my master, on his return, will perform the
pilgrimage to Mecca: you would be purified in that blessed place.
The Seraglio at Ispahan, the 10th of the second moon of Gemmadi, 1711.
Forward
1Letter XV. is the
first of those added in the edition of 1754.