Grains of incense (λιβανωτοῦ βωλάρια) cast on a single altar: some fall into the fire sooner, others later — but all burn on the same altar and to one and the same end. So with human beings: some die sooner, others later, but "it makes no difference" (διαφέρει δʼ οὐδέν) — all are offered to the same thing (cosmic Nature), and the timing does not change the substance. The image dissolves anxiety about the hour of death: what matters is not "when," but that the outcome is one for all.

The nuance lies in the material: incense is an offering. The implication is that a life and its end are an offering to the Whole; falling into the fire sooner or later, the grain equally fulfils its purpose. An early death is therefore not "cut short" but completed.

Med. 4.15 — the image in pure form. The cognate series of "the natural falling in its season":

• 04-48 — the ripe olive falls, blessing the nature that produced it and thanking the tree on which it grew;
• Med. 10.34 — the generations of men like leaves (the Homeric image, Il. VI 146–149).

The same thought without the image: Med. 2.14 (the longest and the shortest life come to the same — only the present can be lost); 03-08 (a life is whole at any moment, since completeness comes from virtue, not from span).

In 04-15 the image serves the discipline of desire: the indifference of the timing of death. Lifespan is an TERMindifferent; a life is complete at any moment by virtue, not by duration (cf. DOGMAvirtue-is-sufficient, 03-08). Logically the image is paired with "the part's return into the Whole" (04-14) and "death as a mystery of nature" (04-05): those treat what death is, this treats how its timing carries no weight. The sacrificial note links it to acceptance (amor-fati): the grain does not choose its moment, yet fulfils its purpose in any.