f pleasure; and not
perceiving that the day declined. And now the waiting women all, with
music and their various attractions, seeing that all were useless for
the end, with shame began to flock back to the city; the prince
beholding all the gardens, bereft of their gaudy ornaments, the women
all returning home, the place becoming silent and deserted, felt with
twofold strength the thought of impermanence. With saddened mien going
back, he entered his palace.

The king, his father, hearing of the prince, his heart estranged from
thoughts of pleasure, was greatly overcome with sorrow, and like a sword
it pierced his heart. Forthwith assembling all his council, he sought of
them some means to gain his end; they all replied, "These sources of
desire are not enough to hold and captivate his heart."

Leaving the City

And so the king increased the means for gratifying the appetite for
pleasure; both night and day the joys of music wore out the prince,
opposed to pleasure; disgusted with them, he desired their absence, his
mind was weaned from all such thoughts, he only thought of age, disease,
and death; as the lion wounded by an arrow.

The king then sent his chief ministers, and the most distinguished of
his family, young in years and eminent for beauty, as well as for wisdom
and dignity of manners, to accompany and rest with him, both night and
day, in order to influence the prince's mind. And now within a little
interval, the prince again requested the king that he might go abroad.

Once more the chariot and the well-paced horses were prepared, adorned
with precious substances and every gem; and then with all the nobles,
his associates, surrounding him, he left the city gates. Just as the
four kinds of flower, when the sun shines, open out their leaves, so was
the prince in all his spiritual splendor; effulgent in the beauty of his
youth-time. As he proceeded to the gardens from the city, the road was
well prepared, smooth, and wide, the trees were bright with flowers and
fruit, his heart was joyous, and forgetful of its care.

Now by the roadside, as he beheld the ploughmen, plodding along the
furrows, and the writhing worms, his heart again was moved with piteous
feeling, and anguish pierced his soul afresh; to see those laborers at
their toil, struggling with painful work, their bodies bent, their hair
dishevelled, the dripping sweat upon their faces, their persons fouled
with mud and dust; the ploughing oxen, t