25.  Lucilla saw Verus die, and then Lucilla died.  Secunda saw Maximus die, and then Secunda died.  Epitynchanus saw Diotimus die, and then Epitynchanus died.  Antoninus saw Faustina die, and then Antoninus died.  Such is everything.  Celer saw Hadrianus die, and then Celer died.  And those sharp-witted men, either seers or men inflated with pride, where are they,—­for instance the sharp-witted men, Charax and Demetrius the Platonist, and Eudaemon, and any one else like them?  All ephemeral, dead long ago.  Some indeed have not been remembered even for a short time, and others have become the heroes of fables, and again others have disappeared even from fables.  Remember this then, that this little compound, thyself, must either be dissolved, or thy poor breath must be extinguished, or be removed and placed elsewhere.

26.  It is satisfaction to a man to do the proper works of a man.  Now it is a proper work of a man to be benevolent to his own kind, to despise the movements of the senses, to form a just judgment of plausible appearances, and to take a survey of the nature of the universe and of the things which happen in it.

27.  There are three relations [between thee and other things]:  the one to the body[A] which surrounds thee; the second to the divine cause from which all things come to all; and the third to those who live with thee.

[A] The text has [Greek:  aition], which in Antoninus means “form,” “formal.”  Accordingly Schultz recommends either Valkenaer’s emendation [Greek:  angeion], “body,” or Corais’ [Greek:  somation].  Compare xii. 13; x. 38.

28.  Pain is either an evil to the body—­then let the body say what it thinks of it—­or to the soul; but it is in the power of the soul to maintain its own serenity and tranquillity, and not to think that pain is an evil.  For every judgment and movement and desire and aversion is within, and no evil ascends so high.

29.  Wipe out thy imaginations by often saying to thyself:  Now it is in my power to let no badness be in this soul, nor desire, nor any perturbation at all; but looking at all things I see what is their nature, and I use each according to its value.—­Remember this power which thou hast from nature.

30.  Speak both in the senate and to every man, whoever he may be, appropriately, not with any affectation:  use plain discourse.

31.  Augustus’ court, wife, daughter, descendants, ancestors, sister, Agrippa, kinsmen, intimates, friends; Areius,[A] Maecenas, physicians, and sacrificing priests,—­the whole court is dead.  Then turn to the rest, not considering the death of a single man [but of a whole race], as of the Pompeii; and that which is inscribed on the tombs,—­The last of his race.  Then consider what trouble those before them have had that they might leave a successor; and then, that of necessity some one must be the last.  Again, here consider the death of a whole race.