. Observe!
Thou art all of a piece with the pair of scales. If they weigh
incorrectly, thou also shalt act falsely. Let not the boat run aground
when thou art working the steering pole ... the look-out place. When
thou hast to proceed against one who hath carried off something, take
thou nothing, for behold, the great man ceaseth to be a great man when
he is avaricious. Thy tongue is the pointer of the scales; thy heart is
the weight; thy lips are the two arms of the scales. If thou coverest
thy face so as not to see the doer of violent deeds, who is there [left]
to repress lawless deeds? Observe! Thou art like a poor man for the man
who washeth clothes, who is avaricious and destroyeth kindly feeling
(?). He who forsaketh the friend who endoweth him for the sake of his
client is his brother, who hath come and brought him a gift. Observe!
Thou art a ferryman who ferriest over the stream only the man who
possesseth the proper fare, whose integrity is well attested (?).
Observe! Thou art like the overseer of a granary who doth not at once
permit to pass him that cometh empty. Observe! Thou art among men like a
bird of prey that liveth upon weak little birds. Observe! Thou art like
the cook whose sole joy is to kill, whom no creature escapeth. Observe!
Thou art like a shepherd who is careless about the loss of his sheep
through the rapacious crocodile; thou never countest [thy sheep]. Would
that thou wouldst make evil and rapacious men to be fewer! Safety hath
departed from [every] town throughout the land. Thou shouldst hear, but
most assuredly thou hearest not! Why hast thou not heard that I have
this day driven back the rapacious man? When the crocodile pursueth....
How long is this condition of thine to last? Truth which is concealed
shall be found, and falsehood shall perish. Do not imagine that thou art
master of to-morrow, which hath not yet come, for the evils which it may
bring with it are unknown."

And behold, when this peasant had said these things to Rensi, the son
of Meru, the steward, at the entrance to the hall of the palace, Rensi
caused two men with leather whips to seize him, and they beat him in
every member of his body. Then this peasant said: "The son of Meru hath
made a mistake. His face is blind in respect of what he seeth, he is
deaf in respect of what he heareth, and he is forgetting that which he
ought to remember. Observe! Thou art like unto a town that hath no
governor, and a community that hat