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¹ There is yet a plague vnder the sunne, and it is a generall thyng among men: ² when God geueth a man riches, goodes, and honour, so that he wanteth nothyng of all that his heart can desire, and yet God geueth him not leaue to enioy the same, but another man spendeth them: This is a vayne thyng and a miserable plague.³ If a man beget a hundred children, and lyue many yeres, so that his dayes are many in number, and yet can not enioy his good, neither be buryed: as for him I say, that vntymely birth is better then he.⁴ For he commeth to naught, & spendeth his tyme in darknesse, and his name is forgotten.⁵ Moreouer he seeth not the sunne, and knoweth not of it: and yet hath he more rest then the other.⁶ Yea, though he lyued two thousande yeres, yet hath he no good lyfe: Come not all to one place?

⁷ All the labour that a man taketh, is for him selfe, and yet his desire is neuer fylled after his mynde.⁸ For what hath the wise more then the foole? What helpeth it the poore that he knoweth to walke with fooles before the lyuyng?⁹ The cleare sight of the eye, is better then that the soule shoulde walke after desires of the lust: Howbeit, this is also a vayne thyng, and a disquietnesse of mynde.¹⁰ The thyng that hath ben, is named alredy, and knowen that it is euen man him selfe: neither may he go to lawe with him that is mightier then he.

¹¹ Many thinges there be that encrease vanitie, and what hath a man els?¹² For who knoweth what is good for man liuing in the dayes of his vayne life, whiche is but a shadowe? Or who wyl tell a man what shall happen after hym vnder the sunne?