They answered, "Naught but death will relieve him." "But," said
he, "is this the appointed doom of all mankind? Or doth it
happen only to some?" They answered, "Unless death come before
hand to remove him, no dweller on earth, but, as life advanceth,
must make trial of this lot." Then the young prince asked in how
many years this overtook a man, and whether the doom of death was
without reprieve, and whether there was no way to escape it, and
avoid coming to such misery. They answered him, "In eighty or an
hundred years men arrive at this old age, and then they die,
since there is none other way; for death is a debt due to nature,
laid on man from the beginning, and its approach is inexorable."

When our wise and sagacious young prince saw and heard all this,
he sighed from the bottom of his heart. "Bitter is this life,"
cried he, "and fulfilled of all pain and anguish, if this be so.
And how can a body be careless in the expectation of an unknown
death, whose approach (ye say) is as uncertain as it is
inexorable?" So he went away, restlessly turning over all these
things in his mind, pondering without end, and ever calling up
remembrances of death. Wherefore trouble and despondency were
his companions, and his grief knew no ease; for he said to
himself, "And is it true that death shall one day overtake me?
And who is he that shall make mention of me after death, when
time delivereth all things to forgetfulness? When dead, shall I
dissolve into nothingness? Or is there life beyond, and another
world?" Ever fretting over these and the like considerations, he
waxed pale and wasted away, but in the presence of his father,
whenever he chanced to come to him, he made as though he were
cheerful and without trouble, unwilling that his cares should
come to his father's knowledge. But he longed with an