1. Better is childlessness with virtue;for immortal is the memory of virtue,acknowledged both by God and human beings.
2. When it is present people imitate it,and they long for it when it is gone;Forever it marches crowned in triumph,victorious in unsullied deeds of valor.
3. But the numerous progeny of the wicked shall be of no avail;their spurious offshoots shall not strike deep rootnor take firm hold.
4. For even though their branches flourish for a time,they are unsteady and shall be rocked by the windand, by the violence of the winds, uprooted;
5. Their twigs shall be broken off untimely,their fruit useless, unripe for eating,fit for nothing.
6. For children born of lawless unionsgive evidence of the wickedness of their parents, when they are examined.
7. But the righteous one, though he die early, shall be at rest.
8. For the age that is honorable comes not with the passing of time,nor can it be measured in terms of years.