Kebra Nagast

their work was sin, and they shall be destroyed by that which they themselves have imagined. And woe also unto my soul for I who have been honoured shall on my death be treated with contempt and I who have been renowned for wisdom upon the earth shall become In what way is the king superior if he hath not dust. done good upon the earth to the poor ? Their falling into the grave is the same, and their path in the deep is the same. Of what benefit (or, use) are we who are men ? We are created in vain, and after a little time we become as if we had never been created. As for the breath which we breathe, if it cease for a short time, our soul passeth away, and if the beat of the spark of our heart which moveth in our mind passeth away we become dust, and our friends and acquaintances hold us to ! ; be a loathsome thing. And the understanding of our mind which is above [in] our heads [is destroyed] when our soul is poured out, and we become worms and filth and when the heat of our body hath passed away we become nothingness and we pass away like the dissolving of a cloud. What then ? To multiply speech is useless, and the goodliness of the stature is destroyed, and ; the strength of kings is blotted out, and the might of governors is destroyed and is no more found. And we all pass away like shadows, and when we have passed away in death our name is forgotten, and the trace of us cannot be found ; after three generations of our children there is none who will remember our name." And straightway he turned his face to Rehoboam his " O my son, withhold thyself son, and he said unto him, from evil and do the things that are good, so that thou mayest find many days upon earth. And do not bow down to strange gods, and do not worship them, but fear and honour God only, so that thou mayest conquer thy foes and thy adversaries, and mayest inherit the habitation of thy father in the heavens, and also eternal life." 116