Equality. Marcus Aurelius 6.24

Marcus reflects on the leveling power of death. Whether we are Stoics or Epicureans, there is no physical difference between a dead king and a dead drover.


Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μακεδὼν καὶ ὁ ὀρεωκόμος αὐτοῦ ἀποθανόντες εἰς ταὐτὸ κατέστησαν· ἤτοι γὰρ ἀνελήφθησαν εἰς τοὺς αὐτοὺς τοῦ κόσμου σπερματικοὺς λόγους ἢ διεσκεδάσθησαν ὁμοίως εἰς τὰς ἀτόμους.


Alexander of Macedon and his muleteer went down to the same place after they died. Both either returned to the same set of generative principles that seed the universal order, or they were scattered alike amidst the atoms.