HKB
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Often appears with: the fear of death · justice as a virtue · pleasure, pain, and the good life · fate, destiny, and necessity · voyage metaphor · use of time · the problem of evil and theodicy · stoic view of time and repetition · soul and body · self-governance of the mind · repetition of days · religious persecution and toleration
Usually: confronting death (7) · argument (5) · exhortation (5) · reflection (2) · resignation (2) · reverence (2) · detachment (1) · lament (1)
“Like the hour, I must arrive, and, like the hour, pass away. What, then, can it matter to me how I pass away—whether by drowning or by a fever? for pass I must, even by some such thing.” Epictetus (trans. T. W. Rolleston), The Teaching of Epictetus · insight
“All the whole time you live, you purloin from life and live at the expense of life itself.” Michel de Montaigne, Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Volume 03 · insight
“For what is a man? A part of a state, of that first which consists of gods and of men; then of that which is called next to it, which is a small image of the universal state.” Epictetus (translated by George Long), A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with th · insight
“Of human life the time is a point, and the substance is in a flux, and the perception dull, and the composition of the whole body subject to putrefaction, and the soul a whirl.” Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius · vivid
“What means all this? Thou hast embarked, thou hast made the voyage, thou art come to shore; get out.” Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius · precept
Montaigne argues that life is spent preparing for death, so once you have used life well you should be satisfied; he cites Manilius and Lucretius on repeating days and the futility of seeking longer life.
["As we are born we die, and the end commences with the beginning." --Manilius, Ast., iv. 16.] "All the whole time you live, you purloin from life and live at the expense of life itself. The perpetual work of your life is but to lay the foundation of death. You are in death, whilst you are in life, because you still are after death, when you are no more alive; or, if you had rather have it so, you are dead after l…
Marcus Aurelius diagnoses five kinds of self-harm done by the soul, compares human life to flux and vapor, declares philosophy the one thing that can guide us, and teaches acceptance of providential change and death.
Monimus is manifest: and manifest too is the use of what was said, if a man receives what may be got out of it as far as it is true. 16. The soul of man does violence to itself, first of all, when it becomes an abscess, and, as it were, a tumor on the universe, so far as it can. For to be vexed at anything which happens is a separation of ourselves from nature, in some part of which the natures of all other things a…
He urges haste because understanding may fail with age, uses examples from nature to claim that even consequential features can delight wisdom, and illustrates mortality through many notable deaths, concluding that one must “get out” of life.
1. We ought to consider not only that our life is daily wasting away and a smaller part of it is left, but another thing also must be taken into the account, that if a man should live longer, it is quite uncertain whether the understanding will still continue sufficient for the comprehension of things, and retain the power of contemplation which strives to acquire the knowledge of the divine and the human. For if he …
He compares death and worldly praise to brief leaves in the spring, urges acceptance of mortality without clinging, and notes that even “happy” deaths may bring mixed reactions from those left behind.
do hurt the law itself; or, are contrary to that course of justice and equity, by which public societies are maintained: neither therefore do they hurt either city or citizen. XXXIV. As he that is bitten by a mad dog, is afraid of everything almost that he seeth: so unto him, whom the dogmata have once bitten, or in whom true knowledge hath made an impression, everything almost that he sees or reads be it never so s…
Marcus Aurelius argues that the rational soul is self-aware, self-governing, and can complete itself even when life ends, then concludes that justice—loving one’s neighbor—should be humanity’s chief goal.
THE ELEVENTH BOOK I. The natural properties, and privileges of a reasonable soul are: That she seeth herself; that she can order, and compose herself: that she makes herself as she will herself: that she reaps her own fruits whatsoever, whereas plants, trees, unreasonable creatures, what fruit soever (be it either fruit properly, or analogically only) they bear, they bear them unto others, and not to themselves. Aga…
Epictetus argues that death comes by unavoidable natural means, and uses the example of a foot in the body versus a detached foot to show that people, as parts of a whole, must accept shared risks and duties.
the hour. What difference then does it make to me how I pass away, whether by being suffocated or by a fever, for I must pass through some such means. How then is it said that some external things are according to nature and others contrary to nature? It is said as it might be said if we were separated from union (or society): for to the foot I shall say that it is according to nature for it to be clean; but if you …
Using examples from crops, human mortality, and voyages, Epictetus argues that death and other fates are inevitable and should be met without terror, comparing life to ball-players who stay skillful without anxious griping.
tyrant cut a man's throat in six months, but a fever will often be a year killing him. All these things are but noise, and a clatter of empty names. 7. But let us do as in setting out on a voyage. What is it possible for me to do? This--to choose the captain, crew, the day, the opportunity. Then a tempest has burst upon us; but what doth it concern me? I have left nothing undone that was mine to do; the problem is n…