Classic Poem

An honest name, acquir'd by virtuous deeds,
The fragrant smell of precious oils exceeds.
Ev'n so the hour of death that of our birth;
Which fame secures, and earth restores to earth.
Better to be at funerals a guest,
Than entertained at a nuptial feast.
For all must to the shades of death descend,
And those that live should think of their last end.
Sorrow than mirth more to perfection moves,
For a sad countenance the soul improves.
The wise will therefore join with such as mourn,
But fools into the bowers of laughter turn.
A wise man's reprehensions, though severe,
More than the songs of fools should please the ear.
As thorns beneath a caldron catch the fire,
Blaze with a noise, and suddenly expire,
Such is th' immoderate laughter of vain fools:
This vanity in our distemper rules.
Oppression's purchases the judgment blind,
Make wise men mad: a gift corrupts the mind.
Beginnings in their ends their meed obtain:
Humility more conquers than disdain.
Nor be thou to distracting anger prone:
By her deformities a fool is known.
Nor murmuring say: Why are these days of ours
Worse than the former? Doth the Chief of pow'rs
So diff'rently th' affairs of mortals sway?
Such questions but thy arrogance display.
Wisdom with ancient wealth not got by care,
Great blessings heap on those who breathe this air.
Both are to mortals a protecting shade,
When bitter storms or scorching beams invade:
But if divided, he, who is possest
Of life-infusing wisdom, is more blest.
God's works consider: who can rectify,
Or make that straight which He hath made awry?
In thy prosperity let joy abound,
Nor let adversity thy patience wound;
For these by Him so intermixed are,
Than no man should presume, nor yet despair.
All perturbations, all things that have been,
I, in my days of vanity, have seen:
How their own justice have the just destroy'd,
And how the vicious have their vice enjoy'd.
Be therefore not too righteous nor too wise,
For why should'st thou thy safety sacrifice?
Be not too wicked nor too foolish; why
Should'st thou by violence untimely die?
'Tis best for thee that thou to neither lean,
But warily observe the safer mean.
For they shall all their miseries transcend,
Who God adore, and on His will depend.
A wise man is by wisdom fortified;
More strong than twenty which the city guide.
For justice is not to be found on earth:
None good, nor innocent, of human birth.
Give not to all that's said an open ear,
Lest thou thy servants' execrations hear;
For thy own heart can tell that thou hast done
The like to others: thy example shun.
All this by wisdom tried, I seemed wise:
But she from human apprehension flies.
Can that which is so far remov'd, and drown'd
In such profundities, by man be found?
Yet in her search I exercis'd my mind,
Of things the causes and effects to find;
The wickedness of folly sought to know:
Folly and madness from one fountain flow.
More sharp than death I found her subtle art,
Who nets spreads in her eyes, snares in her heart,
Her arms inthralling chains: the prudent shall
Escape; the fool by her enchantments fall.
Of all the Preacher hath experience made;
The reasons, one by one, distinctly weigh'd:
Yet could I not attain to what I most
Desir'd to know; in my inquiry lost.
One good among a thousand men have known;
Among the female sex of all not one.
Though in perfection God did man create,
Yet we through vanity degenerate.