The brevity of life is somewhat enigmatically pointed at, in similar fashion, in the Jewish-Christian apocryphal Book of Esdras.  The prophet, watching under the oak-tree for his revelation, has a vision of the Lord: ‘Behold, he reached me a full cup, which was full as it were with water, but the color of it was like fire:  and I took it and drank: and when I had drunk of it, my heart uttered understanding, and wisdom grew in my breast.’

Another passage likewise alludes: