Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/204

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of Years, yet you are to remember that no Man can lose any other Life than that which he lives by, neither is he possess'd of any other than that which he Loses. From whence it follows, that the longest Life, as we commonly speak, and the shortest, come all to the same Reckoning. The Proof lies thus: The Present is of the same Duration every where, and of the same Extent to all People; Every Bodies Loss therefore is of the same Bigness, and reaches no farther than to a Point of Time. For to speak strictly, No Man is capable of losing either the Past, or the Future; For how can any one be deprived of what he has not. So that under this Consideration there are two Notions worth the laying up; One is, that a little while is enough to view the World in; for things are Repeated, and come over again apace : Nature Treads in a Circle, and has much the same Face through the whole Course of Eternity. And therefore it signifies not a Farthing, whether a Man stands gazing here an Hundred, or a Hundred Thousand Years; for all that he gets by it is only to see the same Sights so much the oftener. The other Hint is, that when the longest, and shortest Lived Persons come to die, their Loss is equal: For as I observe the Present is their All, and they can Suffer no Farther.