cause of this behaviour, was offended, and reproached him with the want of that friendship he had so often professed:  the vehemence, of his expression and demeanor, suited well with the appearance of Almoran; and Omar, as the best proof of that friendship which had been impeached, took this opportunity to repeat his admonitions in the behalf of Hamet:  ‘What ever evil,’ said he, ’thou canst bring upon Hamet, will be doubled to thyself:  to his virtues, the Power that fills infinitude is a friend, and he can be afflicted only till they are perfect; but thy sufferings will be the punishment of vice, and as long as thou are vicious they must increase.

Hamet, who instantly recollected for whom he was mistaken, and the anguish of whose mind was for a moment suspended by this testimony of esteem and kindness, which could not possibly be feigned, and which was paid him at the risque of life, when it could not be known that he received it; ran forward to embrace the hoary sage, who had been the guide of his youth, and cried out, in a voice that was broken by contending passions, ’The face is the face of Almoran, but the heart is the heart of Hamet.’

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.