The Song of the Harper

A harper's song, sung at banquets, that looks the tombs of the great dead in the face and concludes that since "their place is no more" and "not one of them cometh from where they are," the living should "give comfort to thy heart … occupy thyself with thy pleasure daily, and never cease to enjoy thyself."

This is the exact argument of Ecclesiastes 9:7–10 — "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy … for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest" — and of the mockers in Isaiah 22:13 and 1 Corinthians 15:32: "let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Ecclesiastes reaches the same wall and then adds "fear God, and keep his commandments."