Such troubled thoughts
Crowd through my mind, and fill me with misgiving.
WARDER.--If you ask my opinion, Sire, I think the hermits merely wish to
take an opportunity of testifying their loyalty, and are therefore come
to offer homage to your Majesty.
_Enter the Hermits, leading Sakoontala, attended by Gautami; and, in
advance of them, the Chamberlain and the domestic Priest._
CHAMBERLAIN.--This way, reverend sirs, this way.
SARNGARAVA.--O Saradwata,
'Tis true the monarch lacks no royal grace,
Nor ever swerves from justice; true, his people,
Yea such as in life's humblest walks are found,
Refrain from evil courses; still to me,
A lonely hermit reared in solitude,
This throng appears bewildering, and methinks
I look upon a burning house, whose inmates
Are running to and fro in wild dismay.
SARADWATA.--It is natural that the first sight of the King's capital
should affect you in this manner; my own sensations are very similar.
As one just bathed beholds the man polluted;
As one late purified, the yet impure:--
As one awake looks on the yet unwakened;
Or as the freeman gazes on the thrall,
So I regard this crowd of pleasure-seekers.
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