Ecclesiastes, Chapter 4

Then I observ'd the Bold oppressions done,
In Presence of the all-survaying Sun:
Beheld the teares that fell from Sorrowes Eyes;
No Comforter t'asswage her Miseries:
With all th' oppressors powerfull Violence;
While weake Integritie found no defence.
For this, before the Living I prefer'd
Those whom the quiet Caves of Death interr'd:
Before them both, such as have yet not beene;
Nor these diversities of evils seene.
Againe observ'd, how our best Actions bred
Ignoble Envie; by our Vertue fed:
Nor friendship could so great a vice controule.
This was a Vanitie, and griefe of Soule.
The foole sits with his Armes a-crosse; his houres
In sloth consumes, and his owne flesh devoures.
Better, saith he, a handfull is obtain'd
With happy ease, then two by trouble gain'd.
While I this chace of Vanitie pursue;
A worse presents her folly to my view:
Lo, one who hath no Second, Child, nor Heire,
Weares out his Life in restlesse toyle and care,
To gather Riches; nor can satisfie,
With all his store, the Avarice of his Eye:
Nor thinks, for whom doe I my Soule deceive?
And injur'd Nature of her Dues bereave?
This is a sore disease, if truly knowne:
And such a vanitie, as yields to none.
Two better are then one; of more regard:
Their Labour lesse, and greater their reward.
If either fall, one will the other raise;
When he who walkes alone, his Life betrayes.
If two together lye, both warmth beget;
But he who lies alone receives no heat.
If one prevaile; two may that one resist:
Coards hardly breake, which of three lines consist.
More reall worth a poore wise child adornes;
Then an old Foolish King, who counsell scornes.
He from a Prison, to a Throne ascends:
This, borne a Prince, his Life obscurely ends.
His Subjects after his successor runne;
As from the setting to the rising Sunne.
The vulgar are inconstant in their choice;
Nor in the present Government rejoyce:
The following, as the first, to change inclin'd.
This is a vanitie, and griefe of mind.