Continuing his discourse Don Quixote said: "As we began in the student's case with poverty and its accompaniments, let us see now if the soldier is richer, and we shall find that in poverty itself there is no one poorer; for he is dependent on his miserable pay, which comes late or never, or else on what he can plunder, seriously imperilling his life and conscience; and sometimes his nakedness will be so great that a slashed doublet serves him for uniform and shirt, and in the depth of winter he has to defend himself against the inclemency of the weather in the open field with nothing better than the breath of his mouth, which I need not say, coming from an empty place, must come out cold, contrary to the laws of nature.
Y veremos que no hay ninguno más pobre en la misma pobreza, porque está atenido a la miseria de su paga, que viene o tarde o nunca, o a lo que garbeare por sus manos, con notable peligro de su vida y de su conciencia. Y a veces suele ser su desnudez tanta, que un coleto acuchillado le sirve de gala y de camisa, y en la mitad del invierno se suele reparar de las inclemencias del cielo, estando en la campaña rasa, con sólo el aliento de su boca, que, como sale de lugar vacío, tengo por averiguado que debe de salir frío, contra toda naturaleza.