[157.19. S.
[He gazes intently before him.] Alas for human differences!
[Mournfully.]
For when they see the fate that I must brave,
With tears for death's poor victim freely given,
The citizens cry "shame," yet cannot save,—
Can only pray that I attain to heaven.6
Headsmen. Out of the way, gentlemen, out of the way! Why do you gaze upon him?
God Indra moving through the sky,[85]
The calving cow, the falling star,
The good man when he needs must die,—
These four behold not from afar.7
Goha. Look, Ahīnta! Look, man!
While he, of citizens the best,
Goes to his death at fate's behest,
Does heaven thus weep that he must die?
Does lightning paint the cloudless sky?8
Ahīnta. Goha, man,
The heaven weeps not that he must die,
Nor lightning paints the cloudless sky;
Yet streams are falling constantly
From many a woman's clouded eye.9
And again: