על עבודת האדמה ל״הOn Husbandry 35
א׳
1[152] In the next place, they would have given proof not only of treachery but of utter insensibility, if, while the others are to be fighting in their defence, they are to be about their private business; and while the others are to be willing to stand the hazard of the conflict for their safety, they are not to take the trouble to fight for their own; and, while the others in their desire for victory are gladly to put up with short rations and sleeping in the field and the other hardships of body and soul, they spend their time in decking their houses with stuccoes and trumperies, poor soulless display; or getting in the fruit of their orchards and celebrating the vintage festival; or now for the first time consummating their marriage with the maidens betrothed to them long before, as though this were an ideal season for weddings.
ב׳
2[153] ’Tis good to look after walls, to collect rents, to attend banquets, to get tipsy, to indulge in sexual intercourse, for the aged and as the saying is, decayed dames, to be escorted to the bridal chamber, but they are works of peace, and monstrous things to do when war is in full course.
ג׳
3[154] Has not a father, has not a brother, has no blood-relation, no member of the clan of these men enlisted? Has cowardice made their whole family its lair? Nay, there surely are a host of their kinsfolk at the front. Would not, then, those, who live in ease and luxury while these are imperilling their lives, far surpass in cruelty any savage beasts you can name?
ד׳
4[155] “It is hard,” you are thinking, “that other people without doing any work should get the benefit of our labours.”
ה׳
5Pray, which is harder, that enemies should come into the property while we are still alive, or that friends and kinsfolk should do so when we are dead? Nay, ’tis silly even to compare things so wide apart.
ו׳
6[156] Again, it is probable not only that all that belongs to those who did not join up should become the property of the victorious enemy, but that they themselves should so become; while to those who are dying for the common salvation, even supposing that they had in former days derived no benefit from the family property, a happy ending comes as they reflect that the property is falling to the heirs to whom it was their prayer that it should fall.