BOOK IV
34. Offer thyself whole-heartedly to Clotho, letting her spin thy thread to serve what purpose soever she will.
35. Ephemeral all of them, the rememberer as well as the remembered!
36. Unceasingly contemplate the generation of all things through change, and accustom thyself to the thought that the Nature of the Universe delights above all in changing the things that exist and making new ones of the same pattern. For in a manner everything that exists is the seed of that which shall come out of it. But thou imaginest that only to be seed that is deposited in the earth or the womb, a view beyond measure unphilosophical.
37. A moment and thou wilt be dead; and not even yet art thou simple, nor unperturbed, nor free from all suspicion that thou canst be injured by externals, nor gracious[1] to all, nor convinced that wisdom and just dealing are but one.
38. Consider narrowly their ruling Reason, and see what wise men avoid and what they seek after.[2]
39. Harm to thee cannot depend on another's ruling Reason, nor yet on any vagary or phase of thy environment. On what then? On the power that is thine of judging what is evil. Let this, then, pass no judgment, and all is well. Even if its closest associate, the poor body, be cut, be burnt, fester, gangrene, yet let the part which forms a judgment[3] about these things hold its peace, that is, let it assume nothing to be either good or bad, which can befall a good man or a bad indifferently.[4] For that which befalls alike the man who lives by the
