October Advent, Day 8: Cicero on Living and Dying Well  

One book I’ve been reading in light of this advent calendar is Cicero’s On Living and Dying Well. What an amazing work! In addition to quoting Euripedes’s famous line “our soul is god,” Cicero talks about why death is ultimately a net good for us.

Here are two notable quotes:

“Away with these old wives’ tales, with this idea that it’s terrible to die before one’s time! What time? The time of nature? It made us a loan without a due date … Of every other good we consider it better to have some share than none at all. Why is it different with life?”

“Death is especially likely to be met with equanimity when the person departing from life can find consolation in his own laudable actions. No life is too short if virtue is complete.”