Think constantly how many doctors have died, after knitting their brows over their own patients; how many astrologers, after predicting the deaths of others, as if death were something important; how many philosophers, after endless deliberation on death or immortality; how many heroes, after the many others they killed; how many tyrants, after using their power over men's lives with monstrous insolence, as if they themselves were immortal. Think too how many whole cities have 'died' Helice, Pompeii, Herculaneum, innumerable others. Go over now all those you have known yourself, one after the other: one man follows a friend's funeral and is then laid out himself, then another follows him - and all in a brief space of time. The conclusion of this? You should always look on human life as short and cheap. Yesterday sperm: tomorrow a mummy or ashes.
So one should pass through this tiny fragment of time in tune with nature, and leave it gladly, as an olive might fall when ripe, blessing the earth which bore it and grateful to the tree which gave it growth.
Marcus lays out, so well, the entire summation of life. We get so worked up something that is completely out of our control. We ought to think of all those who have preceded us in death. We ought to look at history and see the utter fragility of human life, homes, cities, states, countries. All passes in time. Think no great thing of it. Accept it and embrace it. Be grateful for the life you have now rather than worrying about the life you will lose.
(see also Citadel p. 166, 276
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