As Seneca put it, life does not pause to remind you that it is running out. The only one who can keep you mindful of this is you: It will cause no commotion28 to remind you of its swiftness, but glide on quietly … What will be the outcome? You have been preoccupied while life hastens on. Meanwhile death will arrive, and you have no choice in making yourself available for that. If you fail to grasp life, it will elude you. If you do grasp it, it will elude you anyway. So you must follow it – and ‘you must drink quickly as though from a rapid stream that will not always flow’.
