O my soul, put on garments of prudence, and gird on a girdle of understanding, and free thyself from the vanities of thy body, in which thou dwellest. Let not thy heart beguile thee with the sweetness of its desires, and let it not allure thee with the visions of its pleasures which melt away like water that runs apace. Remember that the beginning of these pleasures is without help or profit, and their end is shame and also reproach. O my soul, run to and fro through the streets of thy understanding, and go about in the chambers of thy wisdom, and come unto the structure of the building of thy imagery, whose foundation is in dust; is it not a despised body and a carcass trodden under foot? It is formed out of a troubled fountain and a corrupted spring, built of a fetid drop; it is burned with fire, it is cut down. It is an unformed substance resembling a worm, it is nought but terror. It is kept in a foul womb, closed up in an impure belly; it is born with pangs and sorrows to see trouble and vanities. All day long it covets pleasures, and departs from instruction and from commandments; it comes in the dark, and goes away in the dark; it is a poor, needy, and destitute wayfarer. It has no knowledge without thee, and no understanding beside thee. While alive, it is dust; and when it dies, it is ashes. As long as it lives, worms surround it, and when its end comes, vermin and clods of dust cover it. It cannot discern between its right hand and its left hand; its lot is hidden in the ground. Go thou, therefore, and reign over it, for sovereignty is meet unto the children of wisdom, and the foolish is a servant to the wise of heart. Walk not in the stubbornness of thy wicked heart, be not ensnared by its counsels, and despise the gain of its frauds; trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery; for oppression makes a wise man foolish, and a bribe destroys the heart.