[33] Bhikkhus, then King Bandhumā had the charioteer summoned and said this: 'My dear charioteer, did the prince enjoy himself in the pleasure garden? My dear charioteer, was the prince pleased with the pleasure garden?' 'Sire, the prince did not enjoy himself in the pleasure garden; sire, the prince was not pleased with the pleasure garden.' 'But, my dear charioteer, what did the prince see as he was driving out to the pleasure garden?'
The charioteer said: 'Sire, as the prince was driving out to the pleasure garden, he saw an aged man, crooked as a roof-bracket, bent, leaning on a staff, trembling as he walked, ailing, his youth gone. Having seen him, he said this to me: "My dear charioteer, what has been done to this man? For his hair is not like that of other men, nor is his body like that of other men." When I said, "Sire, that is what is called an aged man," he asked, "But, my dear charioteer, why is he called an aged man?" When I said, "Sire, he is called aged; now he will not have long to live," the prince asked, "But, my dear charioteer, am I too subject to aging? Have I not passed beyond aging?" When I said, "Sire, both you and I—all of us are subject to aging; we have not passed beyond aging," he commanded, "Well then, my dear charioteer, enough of the pleasure garden for today. Turn back from here to the inner palace." "Yes, sire," I replied to Prince Vipassī, and I turned back from there to the inner palace. Sire, that prince, having gone to the inner palace, pained and dejected, broods: "Shame, indeed, sirs, upon this thing called birth (jāti), in that for one who is born, aging will appear."'
Bhikkhus, then this occurred to King Bandhumā: 'Let it not be that Prince Vipassī does not reign! Let it not be that Prince Vipassī goes forth from home into homelessness! Let not the word of the brahmin soothsayers come true!'
Bhikkhus, then King Bandhumā provided Prince Vipassī with the five cords of sensual pleasure (kāmaguṇa) even more than before, in such a way that Prince Vipassī might reign, in such a way that Prince Vipassī might not go forth from home into homelessness, in such a way that the word of the brahmin soothsayers might prove false. And there, bhikkhus, Prince Vipassī, supplied and endowed with the five cords of sensual pleasure, amused himself.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.