accordingly. But if they acted like tragedy heroes, no one has condemned
me to imitate them. Simple and modest is the work of philosophy. Draw me
not aside to insolence and pride.

30. Look down from above on the countless herds of men and their
countless solemnities, and the infinitely varied voyagings in storms and
calms, and the differences among those who are born, who live together,
and die. And consider, too, the life lived by others in olden time, and
the life of those who will live after thee, and the life now lived among
barbarous nations, and how many know not even thy name, and how many will
soon forget it, and how they who perhaps now are praising thee will very
soon blame thee, and that neither a posthumous name is of any value, nor
reputation, nor anything else.

31. Let there be freedom from perturbations with respect to the things
which come from the external cause; and let there be justice in the
things done by virtue of the internal cause, that is, let there be
movement and action terminating in this, in social acts, for this is
according to thy nature.

32. Thou canst remove out of the way many useless things among those
which disturb thee, for they lie entirely in thy opinion; and thou wilt
then gain for thyself ample space by comprehending the whole universe in
thy mind, and by contemplating the eternity of time, and observing the
rapid change of every several thing, how short is the time from birth to
dissolution, and the illimitable time before birth as well as the equally
boundless time after dissolution!

33. All that thou seest will quickly perish, and those who have been
spectators of its dissolution will very soon perish too. And he who dies