gold is as a little sand; at whose splendour the sun and moon are
dark to look upon; compared with whose marvellous sweetness honey
and manna are bitter to the taste. O value of wisdom that fadeth
not away with time, virtue ever flourishing, that cleanseth its
possessor from all venom! O heavenly gift of the divine bounty,
descending from the Father of lights, that thou mayest exalt the
rational soul to the very heavens! Thou art the celestial
nourishment of the intellect, which those who eat shall still
hunger and those who drink shall still thirst, and the gladdening
harmony of the languishing soul which he that hears shall never
be confounded. Thou art the moderator and rule of morals, which
he who follows shall not sin. By thee kings reign and princes
decree justice. By thee, rid of their native rudeness, their
minds and tongues being polished, the thorns of vice being torn
up by the roots, those men attain high places of honour, and
become fathers of their country, and companions of princes, who
without thee would have melted their spears into pruning-hooks
and ploughshares, or would perhaps be feeding swine with the
prodigal.

Where dost thou chiefly lie hidden, O most elect treasure! and
where shall thirsting souls discover thee?

Certes, thou hast placed thy tabernacle in books, where the Most
High, the Light of lights, the Book of Life, has established
thee. There everyone who asks receiveth thee, and everyone who
seeks finds thee, and to everyone that knocketh boldly it is
speedily opened. Therein the cherubim spread out their wings,
that the intellect of the students may ascend and look from pole
to pole, from the east and west, from the north and from the