That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it [is] man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.
Ver. 10. That which hath been is named already.] Or thus, That which is the name of it, hath been named already, viz., Ecc 1:2-3 and it is known that it is Adam, or earthly man. The very notation of his name argues him mortal and miserable; whether he be wise or foolish, rich or poor, that alters not the case: - Homo sum, said one, humanum nihil a me alienum puto: I am a man, and therefore may not think strange of misery, whereunto I am born, as the sparks fly upward; Job 5:7 he that forgets not that he is a man, will not take it ill that evil befalls him, a saith another. When Francis, King of France, being held prisoner by Charles V, Emperor of Germany, saw the Emperor's motto, Plus ultra, More yet, written on the wall of his chamber, he underwrote these words, Hodie mihi, cras tibi: Today is my turn to suffer, tomorrow thine. The Emperor observed it and wrote underneath that, Fateor me esse hominem: I confess I am a man, and therefore subject to misery. b Metellus was by the Romans counted and called Felix, happy; so was Sulla, c but he proved true that holy proverb, "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning," for he died miserably of the lousy disease, that dashed all his former happiness. The Delphian oracle pronounced one Aglaus, a poor contented Arcadian, the only happy man alive. Solon preferred Tellus the Athenian, and Cleobis, and Bitus also, before rich Croesus, telling him further that he might be called rich and mighty but not blessed, till he had made a happy end; and so confuting his fond conceit of an imaginary felicity. d The Greeks, when they would call a man thrice miserable, they call him thrice a man. e The Hebrews, whereas they name a bee from the order of her working, a grasshopper from devouring, an ant from gnawing, an adamant from strokes bearing, a serpent from curious observing, a horse from neighing, &c, they give man his name Adam, from the dust whereof he was made, and Enoch, sorry-man, sick of a deadly disease, and so no way fit to "contend with God, who is much mightier than he," to require a reason of his judgments, which are sometimes secret, always just. God hath shut up all persons and things (as it were close prisoners) under vanity, by an irresistible decree. To strive against this stream, and by heaping riches, honours, pleasures, to seek to break prison and to withstand God's will, is lost labour. Misery need not go to find such out, they run to meet their bane; which yet will - as we say of foul weather - come time enough before it is sent for.
a O μεμνημενος οτι εστον ανθρωπος, &c. - Isoc.
b Joh. Man., loc. com., p. 175.
c Dictas potius est quam fuerit felix Sulla. - Solin. c. 7.
d Valer. Max., lib. vii., cap. 3.
e Tροσανθρωπος. πας εστιν ανθρωπος συμφορα. - Herodot.