And he answered, "Woe, woe unto ye, scribes! which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the higher seats in the synagogues, and the chief places at feasts, which devour widows' houses, and for a show make long prayers."
Then an angry murmur rose among all the folk there assembled at the harsh words of the stranger, when suddenly was heard the voice of Simeon ben Lazarus, the father of Elisha, a very old man, who sat in the corner and said:—
"Young man, fourscore years and two have I lived upon this earth; a Pharisee have I been from the day I became a son of the covenant, like little Lazarus there; a scribe was I during all the working days of my life. I did what the Law and the Sages command, yet never thought I in so doing of men's thoughts or praises. Surely, if the Lord command, a good Jew will obey. And as in many things, many acts of this life, the Law speaketh not in plain terms, surely we should follow the opinion of those who devote all their life to the study of the Law.
