"Who is this," said the prince, "rapt, gentle, peaceful in mien? He looks as if his mind were far away elsewhere. He carries a bowl in his hand." "Prince, this is the New Life," said the charioteer. "That man is of those whose thoughts are fixed on the eternal Brahma [Brahmacharin]. He seeks the divine voice. He seeks the divine vision. He carries the alms-bowl of the holy beggar [bhikshu]. His mind is calm, because the gross lures of the lower life can vex it no more." "Such a life I covet," said the prince. "The lusts of man are like the sea-water--they mock man's thirst instead of quenching it. I will seek the divine vision, and give immortality to man!" King Suddhodana was beside himself. He placed five hundred corseleted Sakyas at every gate of the Palace of Summer. Chains of sentries were round the walls, which were raised and strengthened. A phalanx of loving wives, armed with javelins, was posted round the prince's bed to "narrowly watch" him. The king ordered also all the allurements of sense to be constantly presented to the prince. "Let the women of the zenana cease not for an instant their concerts and mirth and sports. Let them shine in silks and sparkle in diamonds and emeralds." The allegory is in reality a great battle between two camps--the denizens of the Kâmaloca, or the Domains of Appetite, and the denizens of the Brahmaloca, the Domains of Pure Spirit. The latter are unseen, but not unfelt. For one day, when the prince reclined on a silken couch listening to the sweet crooning of four or five brown-skinned, large-eyed Indian girls, his eyes suddenly assumed a dazed and absorbed look, and the rich hangings and garlands and intricate trellis-work of the golden apartment were still present, but dim to his mind. And music and voices, more sweet than he had ever listened to, seemed faintly to reach him. I will write down some of the verses. "Mighty prop of humanity March in the pathway of the Rishis of old, Go forth from this city! Upon this desolate earth, When thou hast acquired the priceless knowledge of the Jinas, When thou hast become a perfect Buddha, Give to all flesh the baptism (river) of the kingdom of Righteousness, Thou who once didst sacrifice thy feet, thy hands, thy precious body, and all thy riches for the world, Thou whose life is pure, save flesh from its miseries! In the presence of reviling be patient, O conqueror of self! Lord of those who possess two feet, go forth on thy mission! Conquer the evil one and his army." In the end the Buddhas of the Past triumph. They persuade Buddha to flee away from his cloying pleasures and become a Yogi. "THEN WAS JESUS LED UP BY THE SPIRIT INTO THE WILDERNESS, TO BE TEMPTED OF THE DEVIL."