[494] That king lamented greatly, in words fraught with pathos:
"I lived as one unaging and undying — today I know this; before, I knew it not.
Now that I have seen Sāma dead, I know there is no such thing as Death's (maccu) not coming.
He who, though transfixed by the poisoned shaft, still spoke with me in answer —
today, now that it has come to this, he speaks not a word to me.
Surely I shall go to hell (niraya); of this I have no doubt,
for the evil done then is a wrong (kibbisa) for many a long night.
When a man does wrong in a village, there are those who will speak of him;
but in a forest empty of human beings, who is there fit to speak against me?
For men, coming together in a village, remind a man of his deeds (kamma);
but in a forest empty of human beings, who indeed will remind me?"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.