¹ “But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs. ² Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them? ³ Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night. ⁴ In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom bush. ⁵ They were banished from human society, shouted at as if they were thieves. ⁶ They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground. ⁷ They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth. ⁸ A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land.