Buddhacarita by Ven Asvaghosa - Ancient Buddhist Texts

Buddha-carita, or Life of Buddha - 116
45. For what man of resolution and good family, having once gone to
the forest in the desire for dharma, would cast off the robe and, dead
to shame, proceed to the city even of Puraṁdara
46. For only the man, who from greed, delusion or fear, would take
again the food he has vomited up, would from greed, delusion or fear,
abondon the lusts of the flesh and then return to them.
47. And the man who, after escaping with difficulty from a burning
house, would enter that very house again, only he, after giving up the
state of a householder, because he sees its dangers, would desire out of
delusion to assume it again.
48. As for the tradition that kings obtained final emancipation while
remaining in their homes, this is not the case. How can the dharma of
salvation in which quietude predominates be reconciled with the
dharma of kings in which severity of action predominates
49. If a king delights in quietude, his kingdom collapses; if his mind
turns to his kingdom, his quietude is ruined. For quietude and severity
are incompatible, like the union of water which is cold and fire which
is hot.
50. Either therefore these lords of the earth resolutely cast aside their
kingdoms and obtained quietude, or stained by kingship, the claimed to
have attained liberation on the ground that their senses were under
control, but in fact only reached a state that was not final.