[284] Various commentators have offered various explanations of this obscure passage. As none of them is convincing, I prefer to leave them unnoticed. It is not impossible that it may contain an allusion to some popular tale or fable, analogous to that of the man who called upon death in his despair, and when the grim visitor made his appearance, asked him merely to help him to carry his burden.
[285] Professor Bickell supposes that here some words have fallen out, such as: "Brood not over that which is too marvellous and too lofty for thee, neither say of the dreams of thy heart and the babbling of thy lips, 'I have found the knowledge of the Holy One.'"
[286] This passage is a bitterly ironical onslaught on bureaucracy.
[287] This distich is rhymed in Hebrew.
[288] What Kant would call das Ding an sich. Everything we see and know is but appearance. The underlying substance, "that which is," is unknowable.
[289] Political plots.
[290] I.e., the king.
[291] Ironical.
[292] By his unconsidered acts.
[293] Literally, "it must be the more lustily wielded."