Eccl 4:1

“And leaving all these reflections, I considered and turned in aversion from all the forms of oppression which are done among men; whence some receiving injury weep and lament, who are struck down by violence in utter default of those who protect them, or who should by all means comfort them in their trouble. And the men who make might their right are exalted to an eminence, from which, however, they shall also fall. Yea, of the unrighteous and audacious, those who are dead fare better than those who are still alive. And better than both these is he who, being destined to be like them, has not yet come into being, since he has not yet touched the wickedness which prevails among men. And it became clear to me also how great is the envy which follows a man from his neighbours, like the sting of a wicked spirit; and I saw that he who receives it, and takes it as it were into his breast, has nothing else but to eat his own heart, and tear it, and consume both soul and body, finding inconsolable vexation in the good fortune of others. And a wise man would choose to have one of his hands full, if it were with ease and quietness, rather than both of them with travail and with the villany of a treacherous spirit. Moreover, there is yet another thing which I know to happen contrary to what is fitting, by reason of the evil will of man. He who is left entirely alone, having neither brother nor son, but prospered with large possessions, lives on in the spirit of insatiable avarice, and refuses l to give himself in any way whatever to goodness. Gladly, therefore, would I ask such an one for what reason he labours thus, fleeing with headlong speed from the doing of anything good, and distracted by the many various passions for making gain Far better than such are those who have taken up an order of life in common, from which they may reap the best blessings. For when two men devote themselves in the right spirit to the same objects, though some mischance befalls the one, he has still at least no slight alleviation in having his companion by him. And the greatest of all calamities to a man in evil fortune is the want of a friend to help and cheer him. And those who live together both double the good fortune that befalls them, and lessen the pressure of the storm of disagreeable events; so that in the day they are distinguished for their frank confidence in each other, and in the night they appear notable for their cheerfulness. But he who leads a solitary life passes a species of existence full of terror to himself; not perceiving that if one should fall upon men welded closely together, he adopts a rash and perilous course, and that it is not easy to snap the threefold cord. Moreover, I put a poor youth, if he be wise, before an aged prince devoid of wisdom, to whose thoughts it has never occured that it is possible that a man may be raised from the prison to the throne, and that the very man who has exercised his power unrighteously shall at a later period be righteously cast out. For it may happen that those who are subject to a youth, who is at the same time sensible, shall be free from trouble—those, I mean, who are his elders. Moreover, they who are born later cannot praise another, of whom they have had no experience, and are led by an unreasoning judgment, and by the impulse of a contrary spirit. But in exercising the preacher's office, keep this before your eyes, that your own life be rightly directed, and that you pray in behalf of the foolish, that they may get understanding, and know how to shun the doings of the wicked.”

“We desire each day to know what is new, and what is knowledge itself but our daily sorrow and abasement? All things that are have already been, and "nothing is new under the sun," but "all is vanity. Therefore I hated the whole of this life," said Ecclesiastes. He who hated his life certainly commended death. And so he praised the dead rather than the living and judged him happy that did not come into this life nor take up this vain toil. "My heart took a circuit to know the joy of the impious man and to examine carefully and to seek wisdom and a mode of calculating and to know joy through the impious man and trouble and disquietude, and I find that it is bitterer than death"—not because death is bitter, but because it is bitter for the impious one. And yet life is bitterer than death. For it is a greater burden to live for sin than to die in sin, because the impious person increases his sin as long as he lives, but if he dies, he ceases to sin.”

“"And I returned and contemplated all the acts of oppression that are committed beneath the sun: Behold! Tears of the oppressed with none to comfort them, and their oppressors have the power - with none to comfort them. "After considering this I turned my eyes and attention to this, so that I saw the slanderers and those sustaining chicanery. And look on those who, oppressed unjustly by more powerful men, are not able to find a comforter for their tears. For this is only permitted in disasters and in protest at the ill will of the matter. And wherever there is more distress and inconsolable suffering they see the slanderers as stronger in their difficulties. And this is the cause: because they are not worthy of consolation. He describes this idea more fully in the seventy-second psalm of David, and Jeremiah in his own book.”

“He praised the innocent dead rather than the living because the latter were still engaged in the struggle but the former had been given their reward of everlasting happiness. He complained that he had seen deceit beneath the sun because he knew that above the sun there is a just judge "who dwells on high and looks down upon humble things." Above the sun there are dwelling places in which the righteous receive due rewards for their righteousness.”

“"I turned myself to other things," etc. Above we treated the vanity of malice in prelates; here in subjects. The vanity of malice is touched upon here with regard to a threefold distinction: first, of calumny, in maliciously harming; second, of envy, in maliciously grieving, there: "Again I contemplated"; third, of sloth, in withdrawing from good work, and this is touched upon there: "The fool folds." He therefore describes the emptiness of calumny; and with regard to the consideration of calumny he says: "I turned myself to other things," supply: to be considered; "and I saw the calumnies that are committed under the sun," that is, in this world: Ezekiel twenty-two: "The people of the land practiced extortion and seized by violence; they afflicted the needy and the poor and oppressed the stranger with calumny without justice." And calumny is called the violent extortion of goods, as if through justice, but through malice. And he adds the aggravation of misery, on account of the calamity of the oppressed, because they are oppressed unjustly, inconsolably, irremediably. Because unjustly, he says: "And the tears of the innocent," namely on account of such calumnies: Job thirty-five: "Because of the multitude of oppressors they will cry out, and they will wail because of the violence of the arm of tyrants." Because inconsolably: "and no one to console them," which indeed aggravates the cruelty; whence Lamentations one: "There is none to comfort her among all her dear ones." On the contrary, Ecclesiasticus seven: "Do not fail those who weep in consolation, and walk with those who mourn." Nor does he lack only consolation, but indeed a remedy; whence he also adds: "Nor able to resist their violence, destitute of all assistance," supply: I saw. Of this malice it is said in Proverbs twenty-two: "Do not do violence to the poor because he is poor, nor crush the needy at the gate." Therefore 2 Chronicles twenty: "In us there is not such great strength that we can resist this multitude that rushes upon us."”