Ecclesiastes 1:9

The thing that hath been What has been affirmed of natural phenomena is now repeated of the events of human life. The writer reproduces or anticipates the Stoic doctrine of a recurring cycle of events which we find reproduced in Virgil:

"Magnus ab integro sæclorum nascitur ordo.

Alter erit tum Tiphys, et altera quæ vehat Argo

Delectos heroas; erunt etiam altera bella,

Atque iterum ad Troiam magnus mittetur Achilles."

"Lo! the great cycle runs its course anew:

A second Tiphys springs to life, and steers

A second Argo with its warrior freight

Of chosen heroes, and new wars arise,

And once again Achilles sails for Troy."

Virg. Ecl.iv. 5, 34 36.