The poet likens the grave of a miser to that of a profligate man. A crucial interpretive question is what exactly is shared: the surface appearance, with mounds and stone slabs covering both. Their visible burial condition fails to distinguish their former wealth or behavior.
The poem does not therefore establish equality in their intentions, actions, or moral accountability. The common property of the simile is the grave as a worldly endpoint. Keeping its scope precise makes the force of the poet’s claim clearer: hoarded property offers no visible guarantee against death.