17. Let your crying be bitterand express your sorrow fervently,and make your mourningworthy of them.Mourn for one day or twoso that there can be no criticism,and then be comforted from your grief.
18. Too much grief can lead to death,and grief in one’s heartwill sap one’s strength.
19. Grief also lingers in misery,and the life of the pooris a curse upon the heart.
20. Don’t give your heart over to grief;stay away from it,remembering your own end.
21. Don’t forget that there’s no coming back;you won’t do them any good,and you will hurt yourself.
22. Remember their sentence,because it’s yours also:"Yesterday it was I, and today it’s you!"
23. When the dead are at rest,put their memory to rest,and be comforted for themwhen their spirit has left.
24. The scribe’s wisdom dependson the opportunity for leisure,and whoever lacks busynesswill become wise.
25. How will people become wisewhen they take hold of a plowor pride themselvesin how well they handle an ox prod,when they drive cattleand are absorbed with their work,and their conversation is about bulls?
26. Their hearts are given overto plowing furrows,and they lose sleepbecause they’re concernedabout supplying heifers with food.
27. So it is also with every craftspersonand master artisanwho carries over the day’s workinto the night,who carves figures on sealsand works diligentlyto make diverse ornamentations.They will devote themselvesto producing a lifelike painting,and they lose sleepin order to finish their work.
28. So it is with smiths who sit near an anviland who closely examine works of iron.The blast of the firewill melt their flesh,and they will strugglewith the heat of the furnace.The sound of the hammerwill strike their ears again and again,and their eyes are focusedon the pattern of the object.They will devote themselvesto finishing the work,and they lose sleepin order to complete its decoration.
29. So it is with potters sitting at their work,turning the wheel at their feet.They lie down always feeling anxietyabout their work,and every product of theirs is valued.
30. They will mold the clay with their handsand work the wheel with their feet.They will devote themselvesto finishing the glazing,and they lose sleepin order to clean the kiln.
31. All of these have relied on their hands,and each one is skilled in their work.
32. Without them a city can’t be inhabited,and they neither go abroad to liveas immigrants nor travel about.However, they aren’t sought outwhen the people hold a council,