and when you look at yourself, picture one of the Caesars – for each, then, a parallel in the past. Then let this further thought strike you: Where are those men now? Nowhere, or wherever. In this way you will always look on human life as mere smoke and nothing, especially if you remind yourself also that what has once changed will be no more for the infinity of time. Why then this stress? Why not be content with an orderly passage through the brief span you have? And what material situation, what role are you seeking to escape? What is all this other than an exercise for that reason which has
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