My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness. My knees are weak through fasting - That hunger is as soon felt in weakening the knees, as in producing an uneasy sensation in the stomach, is known by all who have ever felt it. Writers in all countries have referred to this effect of hunger. Thus Tryphioderus Il. Excid. ver 155:
Τειρομενου βαρυθειεν ατερπεΐ γουνατα λιμῳ.
"Their knees might fail, by hunger's force subdued;
And sink, unable to sustain their load."
Merrick.
So Plautus, Curcul, act. ii., scen. 3: -
Tenebrae oboriuntur, genua inedia succidunt.
"My eyes grow dim; my knees are weak with hunger."
And Lucretius, lib. 4: ver. 950: -
Brachia, palpebraeque cadunt, poplitesque procumbunt.
"The arms, the eyelids fall; the knees give way."
Both the knees and the sight are particularly affected by hunger.