Buddhacarita by Ven Asvaghosa - Ancient Buddhist Texts

Buddha-carita, or Life of Buddha - 174
16. ‘Others having many arms are split like timber with axes, but even
in that agony they do not die, being supported in their vital powers by
their previous actions.
17. ‘Whatever deed was done only to hinder pain with the hope that it
might bring pleasure, its result is now experienced by these helpless
victims as simple pain.
18. These who did something evil for the sake of pleasure and are
now grievously pained, – does that old taste produce even an atom of
pleasure to them now
19. ‘The wicked deed which was done by the wicked-hearted in glee, –
its consequences are reaped by them in the fulness of time with cries.
20. ‘If only evil doers could see the fruits of their actions, they would
vomit hot blood as if they were smitten in a vital part.
21. ‘And worse still than all these bodily tortures in hell seems to me
the association of an intelligent man with the base.
22. ‘Others also, through various actions arising from the spasmodic
violence of their minds, are born miserable in the wombs of various
beasts.
23. ‘There the poor wretches are killed even in the sight of their
kindred, for the sake of their flesh, their skin, their hair, or their
teeth, or through hatred or for mere pleasure.