s accepting all that happens, and all that is allotted, as coming
from thence, wherever it is, from whence he himself came, and finally
waiting for death with a cheerful mind, as being nothing else than a
dissolution of the elements of which every living being is compounded.
But if there is no harm to the elements themselves, in each continually
changing into the other, why should a man have any apprehension about
the change and dissolution of all the elements? For it is according to
Nature, and nothing is evil which is according to Nature."[34]

"Thou hast embarked, thou hast made the voyage, thou art come to shore;
get out. If, indeed, to another life, there is no want of gods, not even
there. But if to a state without sensation, thou wilt cease to be held
by pains and pleasures, and to be a slave to the vessel which is as much
inferior as that which serves it is superior; for the one is
intelligence and deity, the other is earth and corruption."[35]

"Man, thou hast been a citizen in this great state [the world]; what
difference does it make to thee whether for five years or three? for
that which is conformable to the laws is just for all. Where is the
hardship, then, if no tyrant or unjust judge sends thee away from the
state, but Nature who brought thee into it? The same as if a praetor who
has employed an actor dismisses him from the stage. 'But I have not
finished the five acts,--only three of them.' Thou sayest well; but in
life the three acts are the whole drama; for what shall be a complete
drama is determined by him who was once the cause of its composition,
and now of its dissolution; but thou art the cause of neither. Depart,
then, satisfied, for he who dismisses thee is satisfied."[36]

The book is one which scarcely admits of analysis, and of which it is
impossible to convey an idea by any discussion of its contents. In
characterizing the man we have characterized the "Thoughts" as the
commentary of personal experience on the virtues of fortitude, patience,
piety, love, and trust. They have a history, and have been the chosen
companion of many and very different men of note. Our own native Stoic,
the latest, and, since Fichte, the best representative of that school,
fed his youth at this fountain, and shows, in his earlier writings
especially, the influence of his imperial predecessor. Mr. Long reminds
us that this was one of the two books which Captain John Smith, the hero
of young Virginia, selected fo