Thou wilt consider this, then, when thou art dying, and thou wilt depart more contentedly by reflecting thus: I am going away from such a life, in which even my associates in behalf of whom I have striven so much, prayed, and cared, themselves wish me to depart, hoping perchance to get some little advantage by it.
Marcus Aurelius suggests a dying person might find contentment in reflecting that even those they served may wish for their departure, perhaps for personal gain.
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But everything else, whether it is in the power of thy will or not, is only lifeless ashes and smoke.
Reflecting on all this, consider nothing to be great, except to act as thy nature leads thee, and to endure that which the common nature brings.
How small a part of the boundless and unfathomable time is assigned to every man, for it is very soon swallowed up in the eternal!
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