Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 5.djvu/5

to be ty’d as well as the reſt, without ſpeaking one Word: For to what Purpoſe ſhould I have ſpoke, or make any Reſiſtance? That had been the way to have been ill treated by the Guards, who would not have liſten’d to me, for they are brutiſh Fellows that will hear no Reaſon; I was with the Robbers, and that was enough to make them believe me to be one.

When we came before the Califf, he order’d the ten Highway-mens Heads to be cut off immediately, The Executioner drew us up in a File within reach of his Arm, and by good Fortune I was the laſt. He cut off the Heads of the ten Highway-men, beginning at the firſt; and when he came to me he ſtopt. The Calif perceiving that the Executioner did not meddle with me, he grew angry: Did not I command thee, ſays he, to cut off the Heads of ten Highway-men, and why haſt thou cut off but nine? Commander of the Faithful, ſays he, Heaven preſerve me from diſobeying your Majeſty’s Orders: there are ten Corps upon the Ground, and as many Heads which I cutoff, your Majeſty may count them. When the Califf ſaw himſelf that what the Executioner ſaid was true, he look’d upon me with Amazement, and perceiving that I had not the Face of a Highway-man, ſays to me, Good old Man, how came you to be among thoſe Wretches, who have deſerv’d a thouſand Deaths. I anſwered, Commander of the Faithful, I ſhall make a true Confeſſion, This Morning I ſaw thoſe ten Perſons, whoſe Chaſtiſement is a Proof of your Majeſty’s Juſtice, take Boat: I embark’d with them, thinking they were Men going to a Treat to celebrate this Day, which is the moſt remarkable in our Religion.

The Califf could not Seven Hobo my Adventure and inſtead of treating me as a prattling Fellow, as the lame young Man did, he admired my Diſcretion and conſtant Silence. Commander of the Faithful, ſaid I, your Majeſty need not wonder at my keeping Silence, on ſuch an Occaſion, as would have made another apt to ſpeak: I make a particular Profeſſion of holding my Peace, and upon that Account, I have acquired the glorious Title of Silent. Thus I am called, to diſtinguiſh me from my ſix Brothers, This is the Effect of my Philoſophy; and in a Word, in this Virtue conſiſts my Glory and Happineſs. I