«أَنْ لَيْسَ يُغْنِي عَنْكَ فِي الْمَضَائِقِ، إِلَّا إِذَا فَرَّ فِرَارَ الْآبِقِ»
In hardship, the coin helps you only when it flees from you like an absconding servant.
After praising the coin, the speaker condemns it. Money becomes useful in difficulty only when it departs from its owner; the escaping slave is the playful simile.
This reversal demonstrates praise and blame from contrasting perspectives. A rhetorically successful argument highlights selected relations rather than establishing an absolute judgement.