soul with skill and understanding?
—And which is that?The one that knows the beginning and the end, and knows
the logos that runs through all things and that assigns to all a
place, each in its allotted span, throughout the whole of time.
- Soon you’ll be ashes, or bones. A mere name, at most—
and even that is just a sound, an echo. The things we want in
life are empty, stale, and trivial. Dogs snarling at each other.
Quarreling children—laughing and then bursting into tears a
moment later. Trust, shame, justice, truth—“gone from the
earth and only found in heaven.”
Why are you still here? Sensory objects are shifting and
unstable; our senses dim and easily deceived; the soul itself a
decoction of the blood; fame in a world like this is
worthless.
—And so?Wait for it patiently—annihilation or metamorphosis.—And until that time comes—what?Honor and revere the gods, treat human beings as they
deserve, be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.
Remember, nothing belongs to you but your flesh and blood