Part 53 (1/2)

_Maitreya._ My good men, let my dear friend Charudatta go free, and kill me instead.

_Charudatta._ Heaven forbid! [_He looks about. Aside._] Now I understand.

for men with Fortune biding; But friends prove faithless when good fortune ends. (16)

[_Aloud._]

These women, in their palaces who stay, From half-shut windows peering, thus lament, ”Alas for Charudatta! Woe the day!”

And pity-streaming eyes on me are bent. (11)

_Goha._ Out of the way, gentlemen, out of the way!

Why gaze upon the good man so, When shame his living hope lays low?

The cord was broken at the well, And down the golden pitcher fell. 24

_Charudatta._ [_Mournfully._]

From thy dear lips, that vied with coral's red, Betraying teeth more bright than moonbeams fair, My soul with heaven's nectar once was fed.

How can I, helpless, taste that poison dread, To drink shame's poisoned cup how can I bear? (13)

_Ahinta._ Proclaim the sentence again, man. [_Goha does so._]

_Charud._

So lowly fallen! till shame my virtues blur, Till such an ending seem not loss, but gain!

Yet o'er my heart there creeps a saddening pain, To hear them cry abroad ”_You_ murdered _her_!” 25

[162.18. S.

[_Enter Sthavaraka, fettered, in the palace tower._]

_Sthavaraka._ [_After listening to the proclamation. In distress._]

What! the innocent Charudatta is being put to death? And my master has thrown me into chains! Well, I must shout to them.--Listen, good gentlemen, listen! It was I, wretch that I am, who carried Vasantasena to the old garden Pushpakaranda, because she mistook my bullock-cart for another. And then my master, Sansthanaka, found that she would not love him, and it was he, not this gentleman, who murdered her by strangling.--But they are so far away that no one hears me. What shall I do? Shall I cast myself down? [_He reflects._] If I do, then the n.o.ble Charudatta will not be put to death. Yes, through this broken window I will throw myself down from the palace tower. Better that I should meet my end, than that the n.o.ble Charudatta should perish, this tree of life for n.o.ble youths. And if I die in such a cause, I have attained heaven. [_He throws himself down._] Wonderful! I did not meet my end, and my fetters are broken. So I will follow the sound of the headsmen's voices. [_He discovers the headsmen, and hastens forward._] Headsmen, headsmen, make way!

_Headsmen._ For whom shall we make way?

_Sthavaraka._ Listen, good gentlemen, listen! It was I, wretch that I am, who carried Vasantasena to the old garden Pushpakaranda, because she mistook my bullock-cart for another. And then my master, Sansthanaka, found that she would not love him, and it was he, not this gentleman, who murdered her by strangling.

_Charudatta._ Thank heaven!

But who thus gladdens this my latest morn, When in Time's snare I struggle all forlorn, A streaming cloud above the rainless corn? 26

Listen! do you hear what I say?

Death have I never feared, but blackened fame; My death were welcome, coming free from shame, As were a son, new-born to bear my name. 27

And again: