There is also another evil, which I have seen under the sun, and that frequent among men:

Est et aliud malum quod vidi sub sole, et quidem frequens apud homines:

With another hardship I have seen men visited here beneath the sun, and commonly.

A man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and honour, and his soul wanteth nothing of all that he desireth: yet God doth not give him power to eat thereof, but a stranger shall eat it up. This is vanity and a great misery.

vir cui dedit Deus divitias, et substantiam, et honorem, et nihil deest animæ suæ ex omnibus quæ desiderat; nec tribuit ei potestatem Deus ut comedat ex eo, sed homo extraneus vorabit illud: hoc vanitas et miseria magna est.

God gives a man wealth, and goods, and state, till there is nothing more left for his appetites to desire; and then God denies him the enjoyment of all this, throws the coveted morsel to a stranger instead; here is frustration, here is cold comfort indeed.

If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, and attain to a great age, and his soul make no use of the goods of his substance, and he be without burial: of this man I pronounce, that the untimely born is better than he.

Si genuerit quispiam centum liberos, et vixerit multos annos, et plures dies ætatis habuerit, et anima illius non utatur bonis substantiæ suæ, sepulturaque careat: de hoc ergo pronuntio quod melior illo sit abortivus.

Ay, let a man have a hundred children to his name, years let him have a many, and be near his end; yet, if he is not to enjoy the revenues of his land still, and lay his bones in it, I say it were better for him never to have come to the birth.

For he came in vain, and goeth to darkness, and his name shall be wholly forgotten.

Frustra enim venit, et pergit ad tenebras, et oblivione delebitur nomen ejus.

Well made, the empty passage from light to darkness, well lost, the chance of earthly renown,

He hath not seen the sun, nor known the distance of good and evil:

Non vidit solem, neque cognovit distantiam boni et mali.

if only a man never sees the sun, never learns the meaning of good fortune and ill!

Although he lived two thousand years, and hath not enjoyed good things: do not all make haste to one place?

Etiam si duobus millibus annis vixerit, et non fuerit perfruitus bonis, nonne ad unum locum properant omnia?

Though he should have lived two thousand years, he were none the better for it, if he might not continue in the enjoyment of his goods. Do we not all reach the same goal at last?

All the labour of man is for his mouth, but his soul shall not be filled.

Omnis labor hominis in ore ejus; sed anima ejus non implebitur.

What is all our striving, but a full mouth and an empty belly?

What hath the wise man more than the fool? and what the poor man, but to go thither, where there is life?

Quid habet amplius sapiens a stulto? et quid pauper, nisi ut pergat illuc ubi est vita?

Is wise man more to be envied than fool? Where should a man go when he is poor, save where he can find a livelihood?

Better it is to see what thou mayst desire, than to desire that which thou canst not know. But this also is vanity, and presumption of spirit.

Melius est videre quod cupias, quam desiderare quod nescias. Sed et hoc vanitas est, et præsumptio spiritus.

Better aim at what lies in view than hanker after dreams. But indeed all is frustration, and labour lost.

He that shall be, his name is already called: and it is known, that he is man, and cannot contend in judgment with him that is stronger than himself.

Qui futurus est, jam vocatum est nomen ejus; et scitur quod homo sit, et non possit contra fortiorem se in judicio contendere.

He is known already by name, that is still unborn; and this at least is known of him, that he is but man, and cannot plead his cause, matched against too strong an adversary.

There are many words that have much vanity in disputing.

Verba sunt plurima, multamque in disputando habentia vanitatem.

Words, they be spun endlessly; yet what should lie at the heart of our reasoning, but frustration?