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346

urges on; so also you, as the time of our life flows by, as if by some continuous and ceaseless motion, each one of us is hurried toward his own end by the hidden course of our life.

The one who is in life is not yet to be called blessed, on account of the uncertainty of the outcome; but he who has fulfilled his duties, and has concluded his life with an indisputable end, this one is already safely called blessed

No one does business after the festival has been dismissed, nor is he crowned after the games are over; nor does he act bravely after the wars.

Theologian. For every mortal who dies, the whole earth is a tomb. For everything from the earth is earth and to earth again. Chrysostom. If when moving from city to city we need someone to guide us; much

more the soul, departing from the flesh, and moving on to the future life, will need those who will guide it.

Just as a body breathing its last and near its end suffers countless afflictions; and as from a house about to collapse, many things are accustomed to fall beforehand, both from the roof and from the walls; so also the end of the world is near and at the doors, and for this reason countless evils are scattered everywhere.

Aristot. It is best to depart from life as from a symposium, neither thirsty, nor drunk.

The one writing a will during an illness suffers something similar to those who begin to prepare the ship's tackle during a storm at sea

Socr. Choose to die well rather than to live shamefully.

(904) Of Cleitarchus. It is better to die than through lack of self-control to dim the soul.

Of Moschion. When diseases overtake one another, death itself does not delay in arriving.

From the works of Favorinus. Aristides the Just, when asked, "How long is it good for a man to live," said, "Until he considers dying to be better than living."

Amasis. Amasis the king of the Egyptians, writing a letter of consolation to a friend who had lost a son, said, "If you were not grieved when he did not yet exist, do not be grieved now that he exists no longer."

Diogenes. Diogenes the Cynic, when someone was lamenting because he was about to die in a foreign land, said, "Why do you lament, o foolish one, for from everywhere the road to Hades is the same."

We ought, when we gather together, to mourn the one who is born for all the evils he comes into; but the one who has died and ceased from labors, we ought to send forth from our homes with rejoicing and words of good omen.

Epicur. Against other things it is possible to obtain security; but on account of death, all we humans inhabit a city without walls.

Of Musonius. It is not possible to live the present day well, without resolving to live it as one's last.

346

ἐπείγει· οὕτω καί ὑμεῖς τοῦ χρόνου τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν παραῤῥέοντος, οἱονεί τινι κινήσει συνεχεῖ, καί ἀπαύστῳ, πρός τό οἰκεῖον ἕκαστος πέρας τῷ λανθάνοντι δρόμῳ τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν κατεπειγόμεθα.

Ὁ μέν ἐν τῷ βίῳ τυγχάνων, οὔπω μακαριστός διά τό ἄδηλον τῆς ἐκβάσεως· ὁ δέ συμπληρώσας τά ἐπιβάλλοντα, καί ἀναντιῤῥήτῳ τέλει τήν ζωήν κατακλείσας, οὗτος ἤδη ἀσφαλῶς μακαρίζεται

Οὐδείς μετά τό λυθῆναι τήν πανήγυριν πραγματεύεται, οὐδέ μετά τούς ἀγῶνας παρελθών στεφανοῦνται· οὐδέ μετά τούς πολέμους ἀνδραγαθεῖ.

Θεολόγου. Παντί βροτῷ θνήσκοντι πᾶσα γῆ τάφος. Πᾶν γάρ τό ἐκ γῆς γῆ τε καί εἰς γῆν πάλιν. Χρυσόστ. Εἰ πόλιν ἐκ πόλεως ἀμειβοῦντες, τοῦ χειραγωγοῦντος δεόμεθα· πολλῷ

μᾶλλον ἡ ψυχή, τῆς σαρκός ἀπάρασα, καί πρός τήν μέλλουσαν μεθισταμένη ζωήν, τῶν ὁδηγησόντων δεήσεται.

Καθάπερ σῶμα ψυχοῤῥαγοῦν καί ἐγγύς ὤν τελευτῆς, μυρίας ἀπιστᾶται κακώσεις· καί οἰκίας μελλούσης καταπίπτειν, πολλά προπίπτειν εἴωθεν, καί ἀπό τῆς ὀροφῆς, καί ἀπό τῶν τοίχων· οὕτω καί τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐγγύς καί ἐν θύραις ἐστίν ἡ συντέλεια, καί διά τοῦτο τά μυρία διέσπαρται πανταχοῦ κακά.

Ἀριστοτ. Ἐκ τοῦ βίου κράτιστόν ἐστιν ὑπεξελθεῖν ὡς ἐκ συμποσίου, μήτε διψῶντα, μήτε μεθύοντα.

Ὁ ἐν νόσῳ διαθήκας γράφων, παραπλήσια πάσχει, τοῖς χειμῶνι θαλαττίῳ εὐτρεπίζειν ἀρχομένοις τά τῆς νηός ὅπλα

Σωκράτ. Αἱροῦ καλῶς τεθνάναι μᾶλλον, ἤ ζῆν αἰσχρῶς.

(904) Κλητάρχου. Κρεῖττον ἀποθανεῖν, ἤ δι᾿ ἀκρασίας ψυχήν ἀμαυρῶσαι.

Μοσχίωνος. Ταῖς νόσοις ὁ θάνατος ἀλλήλαις ἐπικαταλαμβανούσαις, οὐδ᾿ αὐτός παρεῖναι ἀναβάλλεται.

Ἐκ τῶν Φαβωρίν. Ἀριστείδης ὁ δίκαιος ἐρωτηθείς, Πόσον ἐστί χρόνον ἄνθρωπον καλόν ζῇν, ἔφη, Ἔως ἄν ὑπολάβῃ τό τεθνάναι τοῦ ζῇν κρεῖττον εἶναι.

Ἄμασις. Ἄμασις ὁ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων βασιλεύς, φίλῳ ἀποβαλόντι υἱόν, φράφων παραμυθητικόν, εἶπεν, Εἰ ὅτε οὐδέπω ἦν οὐκ ἐλύπου, μηδέ νῦν ὅτι οὐκ ἔτι ἔστι λυπηθῇς.

∆ιογένης. ∆ιογένης ὁ Κυνικός ὀδυρομένου τινός ἐπειδή ἐπί ξένης ἤμελλε τελευτᾷν, εἶπε , Τί ὀδύρῃ, ὦ μάταιε, πανταχόθεν γάρ ὁδός ἡ αὐτή εἰς ᾅδου.

Ἐχρῆν μέν ἡμᾶς σύλλογον ποιουμένους, τόν φῦντα θρηνεῖν εἰς ὅσ᾿ ἔρχεται κακά· τόν δ᾿ αὖ θανόντα καί πόνων πεπαυμένον, χαίροντας, εὐφημοῦντας, ἐκπέμπειν δόμων.

Ἐπικούρ. Πρός μέν τ᾿ ἄλλα δυνατόν ἀσφάλειαν πορίσασθαι· χάριν δέ θανάτου πάντες ἄνθρωποι πόλιν ἀτείχιστον οἰκοῦμεν.

Μουσωνίου. Οὐκ ἔστι τήν ἐνεστηκυῖαν ἡμέραν καλῶς βιῶναι, μή προθέμενον αὐτήν ὡς ἐσχάτην βιῶσαι.