Buddhacarita by Ven Asvaghosa - Ancient Buddhist Texts

Buddha-carita, or Life of Buddha - 160
Book XIII [Defeat of Māra]
1. When the great sage, sprung from a line of royal sages, sat down
there with his soul fully resolved to obtain the highest knowledge, the
whole world rejoiced; but Māra, the enemy of the good law, was
afraid.
2. He whom they call in the world Kāmadeva, the owner of the
various weapons, the flower-arrowed, the lord of the course of desire,
– it is he whom they also style Māra the enemy of liberation.
3. His three sons, Confusion, Gaiety, and Pride, and his three
daughters, Lust, Delight, and Thirst, asked of him the reason of his
despondency, and he thus made answer unto them:
4. ‘This sage, wearing the armour of resolution, and having drawn the
arrow of wisdom with the barb of truth, sits yonder intending to
conquer my realms, – hence is this despondency of my mind.
5. ‘If he succeeds in overcoming me and proclaims to the world the
path of final bliss, all this my realm will to-day become empty, as did
that of the disembodied lord when he violated the rules of his station.
6. ‘While, therefore, he stands within my reach and while his spiritual
eyesight is not yet attained, I will assail him to break his vow as the
swollen might of a river assails a dam.’