Patriarchal Palestine by Archibald Henry Sayce
page 169 of 245 (68%)
page 169 of 245 (68%)
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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 _façonné_ 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 _lanières_ upon it. "Thou goest quickly onward to fight on the battle-field, to do the deeds of a strong hand and of firm courage. "Before I wrote I sought me out a Mohar who knows his power and leads the _jeunesse_, a chief in the _armée_, [who travels] even to the end of the world. |
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