due thought.  He whose habit is to ponder deeply will not be light-minded.  Apply thy heart earnestly and thou shalt know the truth.  Pursue diligently the course which thou hast chosen, and let him that heareth the plaintiff act rightly.  He who followeth a right course of action will not treat a plaintiff wrongly.  When the arm is brought, and when the two eyes see, and when the heart is of good courage, boast not loudly in proportion to thy strength, in order that calamity may not come unto thee.  He who passeth by [his] fate halteth between two opinions.  The man who eateth tasteth [his food], the man who is spoken to answereth, the man who sleepeth seeth visions, but nothing can resist the presiding judge when he is the pilot of the doer [of evil].  Observe, O stupid man, thou art apprehended.  Observe, O ignorant man, thou art freely discussed.  Observe, too, that men intrude upon thy most private moments.  Steersman, let not thy boat run aground.  Nourisher [of men], let not men die.  Destroyer [of men], let not men perish.  Shadow, let not men perish through the burning heat.  Place of refuge, let not the crocodile commit ravages.  It is now four times that I have laid my complaint before thee.  How much more time shall I spend in doing this?”

This peasant came a fifth time to make his complaint, and said, “O my lord steward, the fisherman with a khut instrument ..., the fisherman with a ... killeth i-fish, the fisherman with a harpoon speareth the aubbu fish, the fisherman with a tchabhu instrument catcheth the paqru fish, and the common fishermen are always drawing fish from the river.  Observe!  Thou art even as they.  Wrest not the goods of the poor man from him.  The helpless man thou knowest him.  The goods of the poor man are the breath of his life; to seize them and carry them off from him is to block up his nostrils.  Thou art committed to the hearing of a case and to the judging between two parties at law, so that thou mayest suppress the robber; but, verily, what thou doest is to support the thief.  The people love thee, and yet thou art a law-breaker.  Thou hast been set as a dam before the man of misery, take heed that he is not drowned.  Verily, thou art like a lake to him, O thou who flowest quickly.”

This peasant came the sixth time to lay his complaint [before Rensi], and said, “O my lord steward ... who makest truth to be, who makest happiness (or, what is good) to be, who destroyest [all evil]; thou art like unto the satiety that cometh to put an end to hunger, thou art like unto the raiment that cometh to do away nakedness; thou art like unto the heavens that become calm after a violent storm and refresh with warmth those who are cold; thou art like unto the fire that cooketh that which is raw, and thou art like unto the water that quencheth the thirst.  Yet look round about thee!  He who ought to make a division fairly is a robber.  He who ought to make everyone to be satisfied hath been the cause