Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/187

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
COMPANIONS IN CAPTIVITY.
159

wretched prison, he was attacked by terrible fits of epilepsy. Being separated from him only by a wall, at a time when I least expected, I heard him all at once uttering dreadful cries, rolling on the floor, and struggling with his illness, without being able to assist him. It was the most cruel sensation I ever felt. Kapostas’ health was soon so much shaken by those fits, that the physician, at last fearing for his life, remonstrated with Samoilow; but all he could obtain for the prisoner was permission to walk upon the draw-bridge for half an hour every day during fine weather, accompanied by his guard. This relief, however insignificant it appeared, did him a great deal of good, and his fits became less frequent. Man, abandoned to solitary life, and having for his companion his imagination alone, has more than one danger to fear; for this


    This political creed, professed by all despots, ought to be engraven upon marble and brass, for the benefit of nations—(Note of the Author.)