1. For they have said, reasoning with themselves incorrectly: "Our lifetime is brief and tedious, and there is no relief within the limits of man, and no one is acknowledged to have returned from the dead.
2. For we are born from nothing, and after this we will be as if we had not been, because the breath in our nostrils is like smoke, and conversation sends out sparks from the stirring of our heart;
3. therefore, when it is extinguished, our body will be ashes, and our spirit will be diffused like a soft breeze, and our life will pass away like the wisp of a cloud, just as a mist is dissolved when it is driven away by the rays of the sun and overpowered by its heat.
4. And in time our name will surrender to oblivion, and no one will have remembrance of our works.
5. For our time is like the passing of a shadow, and nothing can reverse our end, for it is signed and sealed, and cannot be returned.
6. Therefore, hurry, let us enjoy the good things of the present time, and let us quickly use up passing things, just as in youth.
7. Let us indulge ourselves with costly wine and ointments, and let no flower of youth pass us by.
8. Let us surround ourselves with rosebuds before they wither; let no meadow be left untouched by our indulgence.
9. Let no one among us be exempt from our indulgence. Let us leave behind tokens of enjoyment everywhere, for this is our portion, and this is fate.
10. Let us oppress the poor just man, and not spare the widow, nor respect the aged grey hairs of elders.
11. But let our strength be the law of justice, for what is weak is found to be useless.