Note 39 — Chapter VI
Reading edition
Cf. Virgil, Æneid, vi. 719-721:
"O pater, anne aliquas ad caelum hinc ire putandumst Sublimes animas iterumque ad tarda reverti Corpora? Quae lucis miseris tam dira cupido?"
The whole passage from 703 to 751 is of great interest to those who like to trace Buddhistic thought in non-Buddhistic literature. Lines 66-68 of the Third Georgic are equally striking in this respect:
"Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi Prima fugit, subeunt morbi tristisque senectus Et labor et durae rapit inclementia mortis."
It was just such reflections as this that filled the heart of the Sakya prince with pity and love for mankind. Sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalium tangunt, the beautiful utterance of "the chastest and royalest" of poets, expresses the feeling that prompted the Great Renunciation and gave to the world a Buddha.