9. We turn about upon the wheel of our cares, like withered leaves (floating) upon the water, and like dry grass uplifted by the wind, and as autumnal clouds (moving) in the sky.
10. Being over powered by avarice, we are disable to reach the goal (of perfection), as a bird entangled in the snare, is kept from its flight.
11. I am so greatly burnt by the flame of avarice, that I doubt whether this inflammation may be assuaged even by administration of nectar itself.
12. Avarice like a heated-mare takes me far and farther still from my place, and brings me back to it again and again. Thus it hurries me up and down and to and fro in all directions for ever.
13. We are pulled up and cast down again like a bucket in the well, by the string of avarice (tied about our necks).
14. Man is led about like a bullock of burthen by his avarice, which bends his heart as fast as the string does the beast, and which it is hard for him to break.
15. As the huntress spreads her net to catch birds in it, so does our affection for our friends, wives and children stretch these snares to entrap us every day.
16. Avarice like a dark night terrifies even the wise, blindfolds the keen-sighted, and depresses the spirit of the happiest of men.
17. Our appetite is as heinous as a serpent, soft to feel, but full of deadly poison, and bites us as soon as it is felt.
18. It is also like a black sorceress that deludes men by her magic, but pierces him in his heart, and exposes him to danger afterwards.