1 Samuel 20:3

There is but a step between me and death - My life is in the most imminent danger. Your father has, most assuredly, determined to destroy me.

The same figure used here, there is but a step between me and death, may be found in Juvenal, who, satirizing those who risk their lives for the sake of gain in perilous voyages, speaks thus: -

I nune et ventis animam committe, dolato

Confisus ligno, digitis a morte remotus

Quatuor aut septem, si sit latissima teda