Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 4.15 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.15
Many grains of frankincense on the same altar: one falls before, another falls after; but it makes no difference.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.15, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/4.15
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesLike grains of incense dropped on an altar, some people die earlier and some later, but in the end it makes no difference. A reminder not to dread dying sooner rather than later.
Older wording
- “frankincense”
- — aromatic resin burned as an offering
Themes and situations
- Death and mortality
- Time and the present
- Change and impermanence
- Fear of death
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