[546] "What do you think, great king — am I dear to you?"
"So it is, Mallikā: you are dear to me."
"What do you think, great king — if change and alteration were to come upon me, would sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair (soka, parideva, dukkha, domanassa, upāyāsa) arise in you?"
"Mallikā, if change and alteration were to come upon you, even my very life would be altered — how could sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair not arise in me?"
"It was with reference to this, great king, that the Blessed One — who knows, who sees, the Accomplished One (arahant), the Perfectly Enlightened One — spoke thus: 'Sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are born from the beloved, arisen from the beloved.'"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.