had brought
nothing to light. He determined to inflict that severe punishment
which justice seemed to require, and ordered the criminal to be
brought before him, accompanied by the officers of justice and the
executioner.

Achib stood blindfolded at the foot of the throne. The executioner,
with the sword in his hand, waited the King's command. At that instant
a confused noise was heard; a stranger pierced through the crowd, and
hastened to the feet of the King. It was the unfortunate Illage.

"Mercy, sire! mercy!" exclaimed he: "pardon the only child that Heaven
has restored to me! My son could not intend an attack upon your life:
he was incapable of designing so unnatural a murder; your life is
dearer to him than his own. I have letters of his which made me fly to
your Majesty, that I might admire more nearly those virtues which I
adored. But, O monarch, whose illustrious virtues are renowned through
the most distant corners of the world, justify the public admiration
by a new display of wisdom, in overcoming a resentment with which
false appearances have inspired you! Consider with horror the
melancholy consequences of a too rash judgment! Behold in me a
dreadful example of the consequence of being led away by passion, and
of yielding, without reflection, to its imprudent follies. Heaven
blessed me with children; but having been separated from them from
their earliest infancy, the day at length came when we were to be
reunited. Not knowing them, and being blinded by passion, I abused the
power with which I was invested. I had them bound upon planks and
thrown into the sea. The man whom you threaten with death alone
escaped from perishing in the waves, and must I this day be the
witness of his death? Behold the reward of my guilty rashness! My
heart is filled with bitterness, and tears will flow from mine eyes
till they are closed in death."

During this discourse, the King stood motionless through astonishment.
It was his own history he had just heard. The man who spoke was his
father, and the supposed criminal his brother!

Having happily acquired, in the exercise of power, the habit of
self-command, he knew how to shun the dangers of too sudden a
discovery. Nature, however, yielded at length to his eagerness, and he
affectionately embraced the author of his life. He ordered his brother
to be set free from those shameful chains with which envy had bound
him. He made himself known to him; and after mutual consol