Page:The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart.pdf/278



, unable to behold such sights or to bear the sorrows of my heart any longer, I fled, wishing to seek refuge in some desert, or rather, were it but possible, to escape from the world. But my guides pursued me, overtook me, and asked me whither I intended to go. Wishing to reprove them by silence, I answered naught. But when they, not wishing to leave me, continued mischievously to pursue me, I said: "I see now that matters will not become better in the world. All my hopes are ended. Woe on me!" Then they: "Wilt thou not think better of it, after having seen what is the fate of those who cavil?" Then I answered: "Thousandfold do I prefer to die, rather than to be where such things befall, and to behold vice, lies, corruption, cruelty. Therefore is death to me more desirable than life. I shall set out and see what is the fate of the dead whom I see carried forth."