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RENUNCIATION FOR EVER
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with everything in this world,—therefore, no man is invariably happy on the earth nor invariably wretched.
“When I see how the nature of pleasure and pain are mixed, I consider royalty and slavery as the same; a king does not always smile, nor is a slave always in pain.
“Since to be a king involves a wider range of responsibility, therefore, the sorrows of a king are great; for a king is like a peg,—he endures trouble for the sake of the world.
“A king is unfortunate, if he places his trust in his royalty which is apt to desert and loves crooked turns ; and, on the other hand, if he does not trust in it, then what can be the happiness of a timid king ?
“And since after even conquering the whole earth, one city only can serve as a dwelling place and even there only one house can be inhabited, is not royalty mere labour for others ?
“And even in royalty nothing more than one pair of garments is all he needs, and just enough food to keep off hunger ; so only one bed, and only one seat is all that a king needs; other distinctions are only for pride.
“And if all these fruits are desired for the sake of satisfaction, I can be satisfied without a kingdom ; and if a man is once satisfied in this world, are not all distinctions unnecessary ?
“He then who has attained the auspicious road to happiness is not to be deceived in regard to pleasures. Remembering thy professed friendship, I ask, tell me again and again, are the pleasures worth anything ?
“I have not left home through anger, nor because my diadem has been dashed down by an enemy’s arrow ; nor have I set my desires on loftier objects, that I thus refuse thy proposal.
“Only he who, having once let go a malignant incensed serpent, or a blazing hay-torch all on fire, would strive again to seize it, would ever seek pleasures
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