For never Hebronite, though kicked and scorned,
To his own country willingly returned.
—But, leaving famished Phaleg to be fed,
And to talk treason for his daily bread,
Let Hebron, nay let hell, produce a man
So made for mischief as Ben-Jochanan;[374]
A Jew of humble parentage was he,
By trade a Levite, though of low degree;
His pride no higher than the desk aspired,
But for the drudgery of priests was hired