Читать книгу The Epistle of Forgiveness - Abu l-'Ala al-Ma'arri - Страница 4

On Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy in Humans and Animals

21.1

فهمتُ قوله: جعلني الله فِداءه، لا يذهبُ به إلى النِّفاق، وبعُد ابن آدمَ من الوِفاق، وهذه غريزةٌ خُصَّ بها الشيخُ دون غيره، وتَعايش العالَمُ بخِداع، وأضْحَوا من الكذب في إبداع. لو قالت شِيرِين الملكةُ لكِسْرى: جعلني الله فداءك في إقامة أو سُرى، لخالبتْه في ذلك ونافقتْه، وإن راقتْه بالعَطل ووافقتْه، على أنه أخذها من حالٍ دنيّة، فجعلها في النُّعْمى السَّنيّة، وعتبه في ذلك الأحبّاءُ، وجرتْ لهم في ذلك قِصصٌ وأنباء، وقيل له فيما ذُكر، والله العالم بمن جُدِب أو شُكر: كيف تطيب نفسُ الملك لهذه المُومِس، وهي الوالجة في المغمَّس؟ فضرب لهم المَثَل بالقَدَح، وإذا حَظِيَت الغانيةُ فليست بالمفتقرة إلى الصَّدَح، جعل في الإناء الشَّعر والدم، وقال للحاضر ولا ندم: أتجيب نفسُك لشُرب ما فيه؟ وإنما يُجنَح إلى تَلافيه.فقال: إنها لا تطيب، وهي بالأنجاس قطيب.

فأراق ذلك الشيءَ وغَسَله، وهذَّب وِعاءه ثمَّ عَسَله، وجعل فيه من بعدُ مُداما، وعرضها على النَّدامى، فكلّهم بَهَش أن يشرب، ومن يَعاف العاتقةَ والغَرَب؟ فقال: هذا مَثَل شيرين، فلا تكونوا في السَّفَه مُسيرين.

I have understood the Sheikh’s words, “may God make me his ransom”;¹ he does not intend to be a hypocrite in saying this. Mankind is far from being in agreement; yet this² is a natural trait by which the Sheikh is distinguished from others. People coexist by means of deceit; they have come to invent novel ways of lying. If Queen Shīrīn had said to Kisrā, “May God make me your ransom, whether you are staying here or traveling,” she would be merely have been beguiling him and dissembling, no matter how much she pleased him with her unadorned beauty and appealed to him. He had taken her from a lowly state and brought her to resplendent luxury, while his close friends rebuked him for it. There are several stories and reports about them concerning this.³ It is mentioned that they said to him—but only God knows who is to be blamed or blessed—“How can the King bring himself to approve of this prostitute, who has crept into the sewer?”⁴ Thereupon the king gave them a parable of a wine cup (if a beautiful woman finds favor, she does not need magic beads⁵). He put some hair and blood in the cup and said to the person with him, unrepentingly, “Are you willing to drink the contents?” To correct him was his sole intention. “It is not nice,” replied the man, “for it is mixed with filth!” Then the king emptied the cup and rinsed it. He cleaned the vessel, sweetened it with honey, and filled it with wine. He offered it to his drinking companions. All now were happy to drink from it—who would loathe a vintage wine? “It is thus,” he then said, “with Shīrīn. So do not rush into impudence!”⁶

21.2

كم من شِبل نافَق أَسَدا، وأضمر له غِلاًّ وحسَدا! ولَبُوءةٍ تُداجي هِرْماسا، تنبِذ إليه المِقةَ وتُبغض له لِماسا! وضيغمٍ نقم على فُرْهود، وودَّ لو دفنه بالوهود! والفرهود ولدُ الأسد بِلُغة أسدِ شَنوءةَ، وهو، آنس الله الإقليمَ بقُربه، أجلُّ من أن يُشرح له مثلُ ذلك، وإنما أفرَقُ من وقوع هذه الرسالة في يد غلامٍ مترعرعٍ، ليس إلى الفهم بمتسرِّع، فتستعجم عليه اللفظة، فيظلُّ معها في مثل القيْد، لا يقدر على العَجَل ولا الرُّويد.

وكم خالبت الذِّئابَ السِّلَقُ، وفي الضمائر تُكَنُّ الفِلَقُ، أي الدواهي، ومنه قول خَلَفٍ:

موتُ الإمام فِلْقةٌ من الِفلَقْ

والسِّلَق: جمع سِلْقةٍ، وهي أُنثى الذئب.

وملكٍ سانى ملكةً، ثمَّ صنعتْ له مَهلكةً! يقول القائل: بأبي أنت، جادَ عملُك وأتقنتَ! ولو قدر لبتَّ الوَدَج، وإنما جامَل وسَدَج.

ولعل بعض العتارف يلفِظ إلى البائضة حَبّة البُرِّ، ويأنس بها في حَرٍّ وقُرّ، وفي فؤاده من الضِّغْن أعاجيبُ، وتكثر وتقِلّ المناجيب، والمناجيب هاهنا تحتمل أمرين: أحدهما من النَّجابة، والآخر من قولهم: مناجيب أي ضِعافٌ، من قول الهُذَليّ:

بعثتُه في سواد اللَّيل يرقُبني

إذ آثَر النَّومَ والدِّفْءَ المناجيبُ

والمعنى: أنّ المناجيب من النَّجابة تقِلُّ، والمناجيب من الوَهن تكثُر.

ولعلّ ذلك الصّاقع يرقُب لأُمّ الكيْكة حِماما، ولا يرقب لها ذِماما. يقول في النفس المتحدِّثة: ليت الذابح بَكّر على المُنْقِضة، فإنها عين المُبْغِضة. أو يقول: لو أني جُعلت في قِدْر، أو بعضِ الوُطُس فلحقتُ بالهِدْر، لتزوَّجتْ هذه من الدِّيَكة شابًّا مقتبَلا، يُحسن لها حبًّا قَبَلا.

Many a lion cub dissimulates towards a lion, secretly harboring rancor and envy. Many a lioness flatters the male, liberally displaying her affection but loath to touch him. Many a lion has vented his rage on a whelp, wishing he could bury it in a deep place (“whelp” is a lion’s cub in the language of the tribe of Asad Shanūʾah).⁷ But the Sheikh—may God cheer this region with his vicinity!—is above being in need of such explanations. However, I fear that this letter may fall into the hands of a young servant boy, who is not very quick of understanding, so some expressions may be like a foreign tongue to him and he will be as if fettered by it, unable to proceed swiftly or slowly.

Many wolves have been beguiled by she-wolves, while calamities were hidden in their hearts!

“Calamities” (filaq) means misfortunes; compare the verse by Khalaf:⁸

The death of the imam is a calamity (filqatun mina l-filaq).

The word silaq (“she-wolves”) is the plural of silqah, meaning a female wolf.

Many a king has treated his queen with a gentle disposition, after which she prepared his perdition. Someone may say, “I would give my own father to ransom you, you have done well, you acted perfectly!” But if he could he would cut his jugular vein, for all he did was flatter and feign. A cockerel will sometimes spit out for a hen a grain of wheat, being friendly to her in the cold or the heat, while extraordinary rancor rankles his heart. Manājīb are many and few.

The word manājīb can here be interpreted in two different ways: firstly, it means “those who have noble sons,” from najābah (“nobility”), and secondly it means “weaklings,” as in the verse by the poet of the tribe of Hudhayl:⁹

I sent him off into the blackness of the night, while he was watching me;

for only weaklings would prefer to sleep and to keep warm.

What I mean is therefore: manājīb meaning “those who have noble sons” are few and manājīb meaning “weaklings” are many.

Perhaps that deceitful fowl wishes the mother-of-eggs to die, rather than wanting to protect her. He says to himself with his inner voice, “I wish the slaughterer would come in the morning to this cackling hen, for she is utterly hateful!” Or he will say, “If I were put into a cauldron or into an oven, so that I would meet my end for nothing,¹⁰ then this hen would marry a cockerel in the prime of youth who would properly love her henceforth.”

21.3

وأنا أذاكره بالكلمة العارضة، إذ كان قد بدأ بالإيناس، وترك مَكايد الناس: ألا يعجب من قول العرب: فِداءٍ لك، بالكسر والتنوين كما قال الراجز:

ويْهًا فداءٍ لك يا فَضالَهْ

أَجِرَّه الرُّمحَ ولا تُبالهْ

ويروى تهالَه. وذكر أحمد بن عُبيد بن ناصحٍ، وهو المعروف بأبي عَصيدة، أنّ قولهم فداءٍ لك بالكسر، إذا كان لها مُرافعٌ لم يجُزْ فيها الكسرُ والتنوين. ولا ريب أنه يحكي ذلك عن العلماء الكوفيّين. وعيَّنه في قول النابغة:

مهْلاً فداء لك الأقوامُ كلُّهُمُ

وما أُثمِّر من مالٍ ومن وَلَدِ

فأمّا البصريّون فقد روَوْا في هذا البيت: فداءٍ لك.

I shall remind the Sheikh of that expression that occurred (in his letter),¹¹ since he began with such friendly words, and distanced himself from the malicious wiles of mankind.

Is it not strange that the expression of the Bedouin Arabs fidāʾin laka (“may I be your ransom!”) has the ending -in?¹² The rajaz poet said:¹³

Woe! May I be your ransom (fidāʾin laka), Faḍālah!

Stab him with your lance and take no heed of him (lā tubālah).

Another version that is transmitted has “do not fear him” (lā tuhālah).¹⁴ Aḥmad ibn ʿUbayd ibn Nāṣiḥ, who is known as Abū ʿAṣīdah, mentions that in the expression fidāʾin laka, with -in, this ending is not allowed if there is something that requires a nominative.¹⁵ No doubt he adopted this view from the Kufan scholars. His specific evidence for this was the verse by al-Nābighah:¹⁶

Gently—may all men be your ransom (fidāʾun laka)

and whatever wealth and children I may produce.

The Basran scholars, however, transmit this verse with the reading fidāʾin laka.

21.4

وكيف يقول الخليل المُخْلص، وهو عن الهِجران متقلِّص: إنّ حنينه حنين والهٍ من النُّوق، وهي الذاهلة إن حُمل عليها بعضُ الوسوق، وإنما تسجَع ثلاثًا أو أربعا، ثمَّ يكون سُلوُّها مُتْبعا؟ فأمّا الحمامة الهاتفة فقد رزقها البارئُ صِيتًا شائعا، وظلَّ وصفُها بالأسف ذائعا، تنهض إلى التقاط حَبٍّ، وتعود إلى جَوْزَلها ذات أَبّ، فإنْ هي صادفتْه أكيلَ سُوذانق، ليس مَن أبصر أثره بالآنق، غدا به ظُفر شاهِين، وهي البائسة من اللاهين، فما هي إلا مثلُ الحيوان، تمَلُّ حالَها في أقصر أوان.

وقد زعم زاعمٌ، لا يصدَّق، أنّ الحمائم في هذا العصر يبكين مُقْعَدًا هلك في عهد نوحٍ، أبرح له البارح أم رُمي بالسُّنوح، وإنّ دوامها على ذلك لدليلُ الوفاء، وما العِوَض عن خليل الصّفاء؟ لا عِوَض ولا نائب إلا فيه، وكيف يُعْتَب الزَّمن على تجافيه؟ وإنما حُشي بشَرٍّ وغدْر، وكُتِب له العزُّ في القَدْر.

وأمّا الظَّبْية فإنها لا توصَف بحنين، ولكن تبتقل بلبٍّ مَنين. ومن لها باليانع من الأَراك، ولا تقول لفارس الخيل الشازبة: دَراكِ! ومن كان وجْدُه يعدِل عن الخَلَد، فإنه إذا جنب إلى الولد، فسوف تَذَره المُدَد ناسيا، كأنه ما جزع آسيا.

وما أقلَّ صِدقَ الأُلّاف، ولو بِيعوا من الذَّهب لا الوَرِق بآلاف:

وليس خليلي بالمَلول ولا الذي

إذا غِبتُ عنه باعني بخليلِ

وأحسب كُثيِّراً تفوَّه بهذه المقالة على غِرَّة، وما عرف مكانَ الشِّرّة، فكيف يُقْدَر على إخاء المَلَك، أم كيف يُرتفع إلى الفَلَك؟

How can my sincere friend, who is so reluctant to stay away, say that he yearns to meet me as a bereft she-camel yearns for her calf,¹⁷ whereas she forgets it as soon as she is made to carry a load? She may moan three or four times,¹⁸ after which she thinks of it no more! As for the bewailing dove, the Creator has given her widespread fame. She is widely characterized as grieving. She gets up to peck a grain and returns to her young with some food—but if she finds that it has been devoured by a peregrine (whoever sees its traces is not pleased!); the talons of a falcon have taken it away! Yet she, the wretch, will soon forget about it. She is but an animal, which is bored in the shortest time with being in the same state. Somebody has asserted—he should not be believed—that pigeons in the present time weep for an unfledged chick that perished in the time of Noah;¹⁹ either the event was inauspicious or the strike was propitious. The fact that they are still doing it proves their loyalty. What can compensate for a sincere friend? Compensation and proper substitute can only be found in such a person. But how can one reproach Time for its cruel behavior? It is replete with evil and perfidy; it is predestined to be mighty in the divine decree.

The gazelle doe should not be described as yearning. She merely grazes with an unconscious mind. Who will give her a tender twig of the arāk tree? She will not say to the rider of the emaciated horses: “Reach!”²⁰ If someone’s passion leaves his mind, then, when he longs for a (deceased) child,²¹ the passage of time will make him forget, as if he never grieved. How scarce is the sincerity of intimate friends, even if they could be bought for thousands of gold, let alone silver coins!

My friend is never tired of me, nor will he,

if I’m absent, sell me for another friend.²²

I think that Kuthayyir was inexperienced when he uttered this, unaware of how much evil exists. How could one aspire to the friendship of angels, or be raised to the celestial sphere?

On Ibn al-Qāriḥ’s Excessive Praise of Abū l-ʿAlāʾ

22.1

وأمّا ما ذكره من حالى، غُطِّيَ شخصه أن يُلحَظ بنواظر الغِيَر، ومُتِّع من مالٍ بِحِيَر، أي كثير، قال الراجز:

يا ربَّنا مَن سرَّه أن يَكبرا

فسُقْ له ياربِّ مالًا حِيَرا

فطالما أُعطيَ الوثنُ سعودا، فصار حضوره للجَهَلة موعودا! فإن سُررتُ بالباطل، فشُهرتُ باتِّخاذ النياطل، وإنّ الصابر مأجورٌ محمود، ولا ريبَ أن سيُقدَر لمن ظعن شِربٌ مثمود. وأحلف كيَمينِ امرئ القيس لمّا رغب في مُقامه عند الموموقة، ولم يفْرَق من الرامقة ولا المرموقة، فقال:

فقلتُ: يمينَ الله، أبرحُ قاعدًا

ولو قطعوا رأسي لديْكِ وأوصالي

والأخرى التي أَقسم بها زُهيرٌ، إذ عصفَت بالحرب القائمة هَيْر، أعني قوله:

فأقسمتُ بالبيت الذي طاف حوله	رجالٌ بَنَوْه من قُريشٍ وجُرْهُمِ
يمينًا لَنِعْمَ السَّيّدانِ وُجدتما	على كلِّ حالٍ من سَحيلٍ ومُبْرَمِ

وبالحَذَّاء التي نطق بها ساعدةُ، والمُهجة إلى مَلِكها صاعدة، فقال:

حَلِف امرئٍ بَرٍّ سرفتِ يمينَه

ولَكلُّ مَن ساس الأمورَ مجرَّبُ

وأُولي مع ذلك أَلِيّةَ الفرزدق لمّا رهِب وقوعَ انتقام، فاغتنم ما بين الكعبة والمَقام، ووصف ما صنع فقال:

ألم ترني عاهدتُ ربّي وإنني	لَبينَ رِتاجٍ قائمًا ومَقامِ
على حلفةٍ لا أشتمُ الدّهرَ مُسْلِمًا	ولا خارجًا من فِيَّ زُورُ كلامِ

إنّي لَمكذوب عليه كما كذبت العربُ على الغُول، وإنها عمّا يؤْثَر لفي شغول، وكما تقوَّلت الأمثالُ السائرة على الضَّبّ، وله بالكَلَدة إرباب الصَّبّ. وكما تكلَّمتْ على لسان الضَّبُع وهي خرْساء، ما أطلق لسانَها الوَضَحُ ولا المساء.

As for what the Sheikh says about my situation (may his person be protected against Time’s evil eye and be given prodigious wealth to enjoy!)—“prodigious” (ḥiyar) means “much.” A rajaz poet says:²³

O Lord of ours, if one is happy for him to grow old,

Then send to him, O Lord, prodigious (ḥiyar) wealth!

—how often has an idol been thought to bring good luck,²⁴ so that, when it actually happened, the ignorant thought it was what was promised!²⁵ If I should enjoy vain praise, then I might as well be publicly exposed as drinking wine in gulps! The steadfast will be rewarded and praised; he who changes his abode will surely be destined to drink from a nearly dry waterhole.

I swear an oath like that of Imruʾ al-Qays, when he wished to stay with his beloved, unafraid of a woman spying or spied upon, and said,

I said, I swear an oath by God: I shall not leave but stay,

though they may cut my head off in your presence, and my limbs!

or another such as was sworn by Zuhayr,²⁶ when the north wind blew away the war that had risen; I mean his verses:

So I swore upon the Building²⁷ circumambulated by

the men who built it, of Quraysh and Jurhum,

An oath: How excellent you are, two chiefs, in every situation,

whether unraveled or entangled!

or the binding oath uttered by Sāʿidah,²⁸ who said, when his soul was ascending to its Lord:

(I swear) an oath of an honest man, whose pledge you’re not familiar with;

anyone who governs is a man of experience.²⁹

Further, I swear the pledge of al-Farazdaq,³⁰ when he was afraid of (God’s) vengeance, and took the opportunity, standing between the Kaaba and the Standing Place,³¹ to say, describing what he had done:

Have you not seen that to my Lord I’ve made a pledge, and that I stand

between the Kaaba’s bolted door and the Standing Place,

Swearing an oath that I shall never vilify a Muslim,

and that false speech will never come out of my mouth.

(With these oaths I swear) that I am lied against, just as the Bedouin Arabs lie about the ghoul,³² unconcerned with what is transmitted about her; just as what those slanderous proverbs say about the lizard,³³ who cleaves to the rough, hard ground like a lover to his beloved; and just as they put words into the mouth of the hyena though it is dumb,³⁴ its tongue never loosened, in broad daylight or the evening.

22.2.1

يُظَنُّ أنني من أهل العلم، وما أنا له بالصاحب ولا الخِلم. وتلك لَعَمري بليّةٌ، تُفتقد معها الجليّة. والعلوم تفتقر إلى مِراس، ودارسٍ للكتب أخي دِراس. ويقال إنني من أهل الدين، ولو ظهر ما وراء السَّدين، ما اقتنع لي الواصفُ بسبٍّ، وودَّ أن يسقيني جوْزلًا بشَبّ، وكيف يُدّعى للعِلج الوحشيّ، وإنما أبَدَ في الرّوض الحَبَشيّ، أنّ تغريده في السَّحَر أشعار موزونةٌ، تأذَن لنظيرها المخزونة^١؟ وهل يصوَّر لعاقلٍ لبيب، أنَّ الغُراب النّاعب صدح بتشبيب، وأنّ العصافير الطائرة بأجنحة، كعصافير المُنْذِر الكائنة للتَّمْنِحة؟ وكيف يظنُّ الظانُّ أن للطائر أساجيعَ حمامة، وإنه لأخرسُ مع الدَّمامة؟ فبعُد مَن زعم أنّ الحَجَر متكلِّم، وأنه عند الضَّرب متألم. ومَن التمس من اللُّغام كُسْوة، فإنه لا يجد إسْوة.

١ في كل الطبعات: (المحزونة)، ولعل الصواب (المخزونة) بالخاء المعجمة.

I am supposed to be a man of learning; but I am neither its master nor its fellow. It is, upon my life, an affliction in which one misses, despite one’s learning, certain truth. The various kinds of learning require application and someone who “threshes” books assiduously.³⁵ It is also said that I am a man of religion; but if what lies behind the veil were to be revealed, those who describe my character could never find enough to their satisfaction to revile me and would be eager to make me drink poison mixed with vitriol. When a wild ass, which roams in lush, dark³⁶ pastures, brays at dawn, how could one claim that it produces metered verses like those that are heard by a damsel kept in her chamber?³⁷ And would any intelligent and astute person imagine that when a crow croaks he utters amatory poetry? Or that birds that fly with wings are like the “birds” of al-Mundhir that existed for the sake of being given away?³⁸ How could one think that any bird can produce the cooing of the dove even when it is in fact deaf as well as ugly? Far from the truth is he who claims that stones will speak and that they feel pain when struck, or who seeks to make a cloak of the foam on a camel’s mouth! He will not find a model to follow.

22.2.2

ولو أني لا أشعُر بما يقال فيَّ، لأُرِحتُ من إنكاري وتلافيّ، وكنت كالوَثَن: سَواءٌ عليه إن وُقِّر من الوَقار، وإن أوقِر من الأوقار، وكالأرض السَّبخة ما تحفِل أن قيل هي مَريعة، أو قيل لها بئْسَت الزَّريعة؛ وكالفرير المعتبَط: ما يأبه لقول الآكل: إنه لساحٌّ ، ولا إذا قُصب: إنه بالدِّكة شاحٌّ. والله المستنصَر على الإلاقيّ، لم تُوزَن الراكدة بالأواقيّ، والإلاقيُّ منسوبٌ إلى الإلاق وهو البرق الكاذب.

وكيف أغتبط إذا تُخُرِّص عليَّ، وعُزيتِ المعرفةُ إليَّ؟ ولست آمنًا في العاقبة، فضيحةً غير مصاقِبة، ومَثَلي، إن جذِلتُ بذلك، مَثَلُ من اتُّهم بمالٍ، فاعتقد أنّ ما ذاع من الخبر يأتيه بحِمال^١، فسرّه قول الجَهَلة: إنه لَحِلف اليسار، والذهب في يمينه واليسار. فطلب منه بعضُ السلاطين أن يحمل إليه جملةً وافرة، فصادف أُكذوبةً زافرة، وضربه كي يُقِرَّ، وقُتل في العقوبة ولم يُعْطَ البِرّ.

١ في ب: [بجَمال]، ولعل الصواب ما أثبتنا، بحاء غير معجمة كما جاء في الأصل.

If I were unaware of what is being said about me, I would be relieved of having to deny it and set things right. I would be like an idol, indifferent whether it is revered or laden with heavy loads, or like a salt swamp that does not care whether it is called a fertile pasture or one says, “what a bad crop!,” or like a slaughtered young lamb that does not mind whether he who eats it says, “it is really fat!” or, when it is cut up, “it is stingy with its fat!” God is the one whose help one asks against false reports (ilāqī); the unmoving earth³⁹ is not weighed in ounces.

The word ilāqī is derived from ilāq, “false lightning.”⁴⁰

How could I be happy when people lie about me and when knowledge is attributed to me? I cannot be sure that, as a consequence, there will not be an unbecoming scandal. My situation, were I glad of this, is that of someone suspected of being rich, who then becomes convinced that the rumor will actually bear fruit.⁴¹ He is happy when ignorant people say, “He is a man of ample means. Both his hands are full of gold!” But then some ruler demands that he bring him a large sum, and he finds it to be a lie, uttered as a sigh. The ruler has him beaten to make him confess, until he dies under torture and receives no mercy.

22.2.3

وقد شهد الله أني أجذَل بمن عابني، لأنه صدق فيما رابني، وأهتمُّ لثناءٍ مكذوب، يتركني كالطريدة العَذوب، ولو نُطحتُ بقَرْنَيِ الجَرادة، لامتنعتُ من كلِّ إرادة، فأمّا روْق الوعل، فأعْوَزه عندي نطيحٌ، لأني بروْق الظّبْي أَطيح. فغفر الله لمن ظنَّ حسنًا بالمُسيء، وجعل حجَّه في النَّسيء. ولولا كراهتي حضورًا بين النّاس، وإيثاري أن أموت مِيتةَ عَلْهَبٍ في كِناس، فاجتمع معي أولئك الخائلون، لصحَّ أنهم عن الرُّشد حائلون، وأنار لهم الحقُّ الطامس، وقبض على القَتاد^١ اللامسُ.

١ في كل الطبعات ما عدا ن: (القتاد)، ولعل الصواب ما أثبته نيكلسون: (القياد).

God is my witness that I am glad when someone finds fault with me, because he speaks the truth about his misgivings about me, and that I am worried by false praise, which leaves me like a hunted animal so thirsty it is unable to feed. If I were butted by a locust’s antennae I would give up all volition.⁴² A mountain goat could not head-butt me, because I would perish already by the horns of a gazelle. May God forgive him who thinks well of someone who does evil and who performs his pilgrimage in the intercalary month!⁴³ Were I not so reluctant to appear in people’s company and would rather die like a gazelle in its covert, and then were those deluded people who think well of me to keep my company, it would soon turn out that they stray from the right course, the truth that had been obscured would shine bright for them, and those who grope around would grasp a thorny tragacanth(?).⁴⁴