Jerome : "So I turned my heart to despair of all that I had achieved by toiling under the sun. For there is a man who laboured with wisdom, knowledge and skill, yet he must hand on his portion to one who has not toiled for it. This too is vanity and a great evil. For what has a man in return for all his toil and his stress, which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are painful, and his business is a vexation; even at night his mind has no rest. This, too, is vanity!" Previously he has spoken about the uncertainty of an heir and not knowing whether he will be foolish or wise, the master of the works of another. But even now he seeks the same things but this time the meaning is different, because he might leave his wealth and labours perhaps to his son, to a neighbour, or someone he knows. Nevertheless it happens time and time again that one man enjoys in the work of another, and "sweet toil is to the dead while pleasures are for the living." He thinks of himself as every single one and he will see with how much toil he composes his books, how "often he turns his pen, again he will write those things which are worthy of law" [Horat. Sat. I. 10, 72/73.], and for the man who does not work he will give him his own share. For what good to the wealth of the earth, as I have said clearly, are wisdom, knowledge and virtue, in which he said he had laboured? For although he may be virtuous, wise and knowledgeable he spurns worldly things. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes