37.
Man is an actor who plays various parts:
First comes a boy, then out a lover starts;
His garb is changed for, lo! a beggar’s rags;
Then he’s a merchant with full money-bags;
Anon, an aged sire, wrinkled and lean;
At last Death drops the curtain on the scene.*
Bhartrihari.
* Cf. Shakspeare:
“All the world’s a stage,” etc.—As You Like It, Act II, sc. 7.