"Your scheme,"--so, from the depths of his chagrin And anguish at the contact of the man, Spoke Saul, unwilling longer to endure The friction and abrasion of his words-- "Your scheme, whatever it may be, cannot Concern my knowing; nothing you should plan Were likely to conciliate in me Either my judgment, or my taste, or please My sense of what becoming is and right. I pray you spare yourself the pains to unfold Further to me your thought; your work were waste." But Shimei, naught abashed, nay, rather more Set on, imagining that he touched in Saul The quick of suffering sensibility Replied: "Yea, brother Saul, I did not fail In our late session to observe what you Hinted of your unreadiness to accord Your valuable support to my advice, Advanced on that occasion loyally However far outrunning what the most Were then prepared frankly to act upon. We weaker, Saul, who may not hope to be Athletes like you, whose sole resource must lie In studying more profoundly than the rest, Are liable to be misunderstood Not seldom, when, through meditation deep And painful, we arrive to see somewhat Beyond the common, and propound advice Startling, because some stages in advance Of the conclusions less laborious minds Reach and stop at contented--for a while, But which mere halting-places on the road Prove in the end, and not the final goal. You probably remember, when I told The council that some good judicious guile Was what was needed, not one voice spoke up To second my suggestion. Very well, The lagging rear of wisdom has since then Moved bravely up to step with me, and now We walk along abreast harmoniously Upon the very road I pointed out; 'Guile' is the word with all the Sanhedrim.