The more one may apply his skill, The harder is the matter still; Plain are indeed the law's demands, Yet judgment insecurely stands As some poor cow on shifting sands. 25 _Chārudatta._ [_Aside._] As bees, when flowers begin to blow, Gather to sip the honey, so When man is marked by adverse fate, Misfortunes enter every gate. 26 _Judge._ Noble Chārudatta, speak truth! _Chārudatta._ A mean and jealous creature, passion-blind, Sets all his soul, some fatal means to find To slay the man he envies; shall his lies By evil nature prompted, win the prize? No! he is unregarded by the wise. 27 And more than this: The creeper's beauty would I never blight, Nor pluck its flowers; should I not be afraid To seize her hair so lovely-long, and bright As wings of bees, and slay a weeping maid? 28 [149.15. S. _Sansthānaka._ Hello, magishtrates! How can you inveshtigate the cashe with such partiality? Why, even now you let thish shcoundrel Chārudatta shtay on his sheat. _Judge._ My good beadle, so be it [_The beadle follows Sansthānaka's suggestion._] _Chārudatta._ Consider, magistrates, consider what you are doing! [_He leaves his seat, and sits on the floor._] _Sansthānaka._ [_Dancing about gleefully. Aside._] Fine! The shin that I did falls on another man's head. Sho I 'll sit where Chārudatta was. [_He does so._] Look at me, Chārudatta, and confessh that you murdered her. _Chārudatta._ Magistrates! A mean and jealous creature, passion-blind, Sets all his soul, some fatal means to find To slay the man he envies; shall his lies, By evil nature prompted, win the prize? No! he is unregarded by the wise. (27) [_Sighing. Aside._] My friend Maitreya! Oh, this cruel blow! My wife, thou issue of a spotless strain! My Rohasena! Here am I, laid low By sternest fate; and thou, thou dost not know That all thy childish games are played in vain. Thou playest, heedless of another's pain! 29 But Maitreya I sent to Vasantasenā, that he might bring me tidings of her, and might restore the jewels which she gave my child, to buy him a toy cart. Why then does he linger? * * * * * [_Enter Maitreya with the gems._] P. 246.19]