d,

Far better death than sorrows sure and slow;
Some passing suffering from death may flow,
But poverty brings never-ending woe. 11

_Maitreya._ My dear friend, be not thus cast down. Your wealth has
been conveyed to them you love, and like the moon, after she has
yielded her nectar to the gods, your waning fortunes win an added
charm.

_Charudatta._ Comrade, I do not grieve for my ruined fortunes. But

This is my sorrow. They whom I
Would greet as guests, now pass me by.
"This is a poor man's house," they cry.

As flitting bees, the season o'er,
Desert the elephant, whose store
Of ichor[30] spent, attracts no more. 12

_Maitreya._ Oh, confound the money! It is a trifle not worth thinking
about. It is like a cattle-boy in the woods afraid of wasps; it
doesn't stay anywhere where it is used for food.

[8.5. S.

_Charud._ Believe me, friend. My sorrow does not spring

From simple loss of gold;
For fortune is a fickle, changing thing,
Whose favors do not hold;
But he whose sometime wealth has taken wing,
Finds bosom-friends grow cold. 13

Then too:

A poor man is a man ashamed; from shame
Springs want of dignity and worthy fame;
Such want gives rise to insults hard to bear;
Thence comes despondency; and thence, despair;
Despair breeds folly; death is folly's fruit--
Ah! the lack of money is all evils root! 14

_Maitreya._ But just remember what a trifle money is, after all, and
be more cheerful.

_Charudatta._ My friend, the poverty of a man is to him

A home of cares, a shame that haunts the mind,
Another form of warfare with mankind;
The abhorrence of his friends, a source of hate
From strangers, and from each once-loving mate;
But if his wife despise him, then 't were meet
In some lone wood to seek a safe retreat.
The flame of sorrow, torturing his soul,
Burns fiercely, yet contrives to leave him whole. 15

Comrade, I have made my offering to the divinities of the house.
Do you too go and offer sacrifice to the Divine Mothers at a place
where four roads meet.

_Maitreya._ No!

_Charudatta._ Why not?

_Maitreya._ Because the gods are not gracious to you even when
thus honored. So what is the use of worshiping?

P. 16.8]

_Charudatta._ Not so, my friend, not so! This