it were to fix him to the spot;. then putting off the disguise of a hunter, by his power he rose and poised himself in the air, all blazing as it appeared, and said: "O great king, I am Sakka king of the gods! Seeing that the world was about to be destroyed, I came hither. Now indeed men as they die are filling the states of suffering, because their deeds are evil, and heaven is become empty. From henceforth I will know how to deal with the wicked, but do you be vigilant." Then having in four stanzas well worth remembering declared the Law, and established the people in the virtues of liberality, he strengthened the waning power of religion so that it lasted for yet another thousand years, and then with Matali returned to his own place.

When the Master had ended this discourse, he added: "Thus, Brethren, in former times as now I have lived for the good of the world;" and then he identified the Birth: "At that time Ananda was Matali, and I was Sakka."

Footnotes

^111:1 The five who accompanied Buddha when he began his life as an ascetic: Annakondanna, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Assaji, Mahanama. See Hardy, Manual, p. 165.

^111:2 Hardy, p. 188. He there preached to the fire-worshippers.

^111:3 Now Brahmayoni, a mountain near Gaya. See Hardy, p. 191.

^112:1 See J. P. T. S. 1888, p. 67.

^112:2 Hardy, p. 249.

^112:3 This was a tree-demon, who claimed sacrifice of one victim every day. The King's own son was to be eaten, when Buddha saved him. Hardy, p. 261.

^112:4 Hardy, p. 298.

^112:5 The beings who dwelt in the three worlds of Brahma were called "brahma." The story alluded to here is given in No. 405 (iii. 219 of this translation); Hardy, Manual, p. 336.

^112:6 Cp. ii. p. 57 of this translation.

^113:1 His charioteer.

^113:2 No such title occurs in this collection.

^113:3 No. 543 (vi. 157).

^113:4 Four sounds are given as proverbial by Hardy, Manual, p. 263; two of which are the first and third of these.

^114:1 Thus far the two verses occur in Sutta-Nipata, 98 and 124.