"And since so much we ask, let us ask more, O Krishna. How know we the master died After the manner that thou toldst us of? That Kunda's kindly hospitable meal Was followed by that sickness to his guest; That his guest bore it with sweet fortitude, Not intermitting his serene discourse The while, yet weakening slowly till he died-- Thus much, I say, might be observed by those Who stood about the master so bestead; But who could tell that in his secret mind The dying Buddha accomplished all that strange Vicissitude and movement to and fro, Which thou in honey-flowing speech describedst, But which, pardon, I could not understand. Himself, the Buddha, uttered not one word Through all, made not a motion nor a sign. How, pray, did those disciples round him pierce The dark and silence of their master's mind, To know what passed therein?" "Ah," Krishna said, "The master had foretold those things would be To him, and they believed, and therefore knew." "Aye," Publius said, "they knew by faith, not proof; But we, we of the West, are fond of proof. Yet proof of Buddha's dying so as thou Describedst, proof likewise that he, so dying, Was cancelled quite from out the universe-- Proof of these things, conceded these things were, Would, I can see, be no wise possible; We may believe them, but we cannot prove. Now if thy master had taught otherwise, Contrariwise indeed, that life, not death-- Not death, but life victorious over death-- Was the chief good, and that this good the chief Might be attained by us, and how attained, That were a doctrine would have cheered one more, And been besides more capable of proof. At least good proof of it might be conceived. Buddha, supposed extinguished utterly Out of the world, he being nowhere at all, Could not come hither back and testify, 'Behold me, I am non-existent now.' But one who taught the opposite, who taught That death was not the end of life, if he Himself, having died, could conquer death and live, Could living hither come and speak to us, And say, 'I told you I would rise again!' Why, Krishna, that were proof and 'Path' indeed, Aye, path as solid as a Roman road. "It seems from this our Hebrew lady's tale, That Jesus, ere he suffered on the cross, Promised again and yet again that he Would rise the third day from the dead and live. I doubt not thou thyself, with all of us, Wouldst gladly farther hear from her at full Whether and how this promise was fulfilled."