For ‘reason is the god in us’ [some poets say] and ‘Mortal life contains a portion of some god.’ We ought, therefore, either to pursue philosophy or to say farewell to life and depart hence.
Death
I must die, must I? If at once, then I am dying:
if soon, I dine now, as it is time for dinner, and afterwards when the time comes I will die.
—Epictetus, Discourses, I.i
