CHAPTER XXXVI
THE PILGRIM DESIRES TO FLEE FROM THE WORLD
(The Pilgrim flees the World.)
Then, 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."
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