1. I keep silent, though you refuse me, but speak half of what your ears have heard.
For the mouth is half of two in number, so make it the extent of what the tongue can bring,

2. And if it exceeds, it will not come near excellence.
All people altogether were created from their worldly lives,

3. So how could your moving from one period to a more vehement one be?
Away with them, men who have no gentle qualities,

4. Who walk in the mud, turning away from the new.
I wish that my God had forsaken me,

5. And that my term in His hands were the shortest of terms.
You contend with fate about something it is generous with,

6. And your contender against it became manifestly refractory.