Original artwork, not a still
The honest man takes pains, and then enjoys pleasures; the knave takes pleasure, and then suffers pain.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The wording reverses the order of effort and enjoyment to contrast honesty with wrongdoing. 'Pains' begins as work willingly undertaken and ends as suffering that follows pleasure. That shift gives the moral comparison a neat symmetry, making consequences seem built into each approach.
Context reviewed
