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Show What Is True Life? Of human life the time is a point, and the substance is in a flux, and the perception percep-tion dull, and the composition of the whole body subject to putrefaction, and the soul a whirl, and fortune hard to divine, di-vine, and fame a thing of judgment And, to say all in a word, ererything which belongs to the body is a stream, and what belongs to the soul is a dream and vapor, and life is a warfare, and a Stranger's sojourn, and aftor fame is ob-IWm. ob-IWm. 'What, then, is that which is able to conduct a man? One thing and only one, philosophy. But this consists in keep ing the demon within a man free from violence and unharmed, superior to pains and pleasures, doing nothing without with-out a purpose, nor yet falsely and witle aught of hypocrisy; and besides, accepting accept-ing all that happens and all that is allotted, al-lotted, as coming from thence, wherever it is, from whence he himself came; and, finally, waiting for death with a cheerful cheer-ful mind, as being nothing else than a dissolution of the elements of which every living being is compounded. But if there is no harm to the elements ele-ments themselves in each continually changing into another, why should a man have any apprehension about the change and dissolution of all the elements? ele-ments? For it is according to nature, and nothing is evil which is according to nature. Marcus Aurelins. |