Marcus Aurelius Meditations
Marcus Aurelius: O man! as a citizen thou hast lived,…
O man! as a citizen thou hast lived, and conversed in this great city the world. Whether just for so many years, or no, what is it unto thee? Thou hast lived (thou mayest be sure) as long as the laws and orders of the city required; which may be the common comfort of all.
The passage follows a public-domain translation of Meditations. The reading beside it is ours.
We rent our place in the world; we do not own it. Whether life is long or short, we have been given time in a vast community of people, nature, and history. Marcus compares us to citizens who have lived in a great city for as long as its laws allowed. There is comfort in that image. Your worth is not measured by whether you get an extension, finish every plan, or control the date of your departure. The question is whether you participated well while you were here. Did you contribute? Did you love? Did you carry your part without making the whole city worse? Thinking this way does not remove grief about death, but it softens the feeling of being cheated by mortality. Today, treat your time as a loan. Use a portion of it generously, and leave the place a little better.
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