the woman after him, although she caught at the ground, the grass, or whatever she could; sometimes the man had to follow the woman, and the others laughed at this. But this seemed to me a matter worthy rather of pity than of laughter; particularly when I saw that during this torment some shed tears, groaned, wrung their hands heavenward, declaring that they wished by means of gold and silver to redeem themselves from this bond. And I said to my interpreter: "Can no help, then, be granted them? Can they not be untied and set free from one another, they who cannot be reconciled?" "That cannot be," he said; "as long as they live they must continue thus." "Oh, this cruel bondage and slavery! This is indeed worse than death!" And he again: "Why, then, did they not previously reflect more wisely? They deserve their fate; let them continue in their dissensions."
(Voluntary Slavery.)
7. Then I gaze, and lo! Death, with her arrows, strikes down some and overthrows them, and immediately the fetters of each of them were loosened. And I wished them joy of this, thinking that they also would wish themselves joy, and be heartily glad of this relief. But behold, almost every one of them began to cry and lament in a fashion that hardly ever I had heard in the world, wringing their hands and complaining of their misfortunes. Of those whom I had before seen living peaceably together, I understood that one really
