“Thou art alone, no strong one is with thee, no armee is behind thee, no Ariel who prepares the way for thee, and gives thee information of the road before thee.  Thou knowest not the road.  The hair on thy head stands on end; it bristles up.  Thy soul is given into thy hands.  Thy path is full of rocks and boulders, there is no outlet near, it is overgrown with creepers and wolf’s-bane.  The precipice is on one side of thee, the mountain and the wall of rock on the other.  Thou drivest in against it.  The chariot jumps on which thou art.  Thou art troubled to hold up thy horses.  If it falls down the precipice, the pole drags thee down too.  Thy ceintures are pulled away.  They fall down.  Thou shacklest the horse, because the pole is broken on the path of the defile.  Not knowing how to tie it up, thou understandest not how it is to be repaired.  The essieu is left on the spot, as the load is too heavy for the horses.  Thy courage has evaporated.  Thou beginnest to run.  The heaven is cloudless.  Thou art thirsty; the enemy is behind thee; a trembling seizes thee; a twig of thorny acacia worries thee; thou thrustest it aside; the horse is scratched till at length thou findest rest.

“Explain to me thy liking for [the life of] a Mohar!

“Thou comest into Joppa; thou findest the date-palm in full bloom in its time.  Thou openest wide thy mouth in order to eat.  Thou findest that the maid who keeps the garden is fair.  She does whatever thou wantest of her....  Thou art recognized, thou art brought to trial, and owest thy preservation to being a Mohar.  Thy girdle of the finest stuff thou payest as the price of a worthless rag.  Thou sleepest every evening with a rug of fur over thee.  Thou sleepest a deep sleep, for thou art weary.  A thief steals thy bow and thy sword from thy side; thy quiver and thy armour are cut to pieces in the darkness; thy pair of horses run away.  The groom takes his course over a slippery path which rises before him.  He breaks thy chariot in pieces; he follows thy foot-steps. [He finds] thy equipments which had fallen on the ground and had sunk into the sand, leaving only an empty space.

“Prayer does not avail thee, even when thy mouth says, ’Give food in addition to water, that I may reach my goal in safety,’ they are deaf and will not hear.  They say not yes to thy words.  The iron-workers enter into the smithy; they rummage in the workshops of the carpenters; the handicraftsmen and saddlers are at hand; they do whatever thou requirest.  They put together thy chariot; they put aside the parts of it that are made useless; thy spokes are faconne quite new; thy wheels are put on; they put the courroies on the axles and on the hinder part; they splice thy yoke, they put on the box of thy chariot; the [workmen] in iron forge the ...; they put the ring that is wanting on thy whip, they replace the lanieres upon it.

“Thou goest quickly onward to fight on the battle-field, to do the deeds of a strong hand and of firm courage.