[63] Pours down the treasures of felicity.] In the house of the righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked there is trouble. Proverbs, xv. 6.
The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked. Ch. x. 3.
The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot. Ch. x. 7.
A false witness shall not be unpunished: and he that speaketh lies shall perish. Ch. xix. 9.
The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth. Ch. x. 30.
The inheritance of sinners’ children shall perish: and their posterity shall have a perpetual reproach. Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, xli. 6.
Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. Psalms, xxi. 10.
[64] Smooth is the track of vice.] The way of sinners is made plain with stones: but at the end thereof is the pit of hell. Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, xxi. 10.
Both Plato and Xenophon who quote this line of Hesiod, read λειη, smooth, instead of ολιγη, short. Krebsius prefers the reading, as a short road and dwells near make a vapid tautology: and smooth forms a good antithesis to rough.
[65] The sweat that bathes the brow.] Spenser has imitated this parable in his description of Honour: