Genre and place in the book. Another memory of death, called "homely" (ἰδιωτικόν) but "effective" (ἀνυστικόν): the means is to recall the long-lived. It is joined to the view from above on the abyss of time.
The long-lived gained nothing. Recall those who clung to life (γλίσχρως ἐνδιατριψάντων) — what "more" did they get than those who died untimely (ἄωροι)? They lie in their tombs — Cadicianus, Fabius, Julianus, Lepidus1 — who buried many and were then buried themselves. The interval of life is small in any case, and it is drained amid toils, in mixed company, in a "poor body" (σωμάτιον).
Do not treat life as a value. DOGMAμὴ οὖν ὡς πρᾶγμα — do not prize the length of life as something great: lifespan is an indifferent, not a good (the same verdict as 04-47; the good is in virtue, not in duration).
The view from above on time. EXERCISEβλέπε ὀπίσω τὸ ἀχανὲς τοῦ αἰῶνος — look back at the boundless abyss of time behind, and the other infinity ahead; against this, τριήμερος (the three-day-old) and τριγερήνιος (the thrice-aged, an allusion to Nestor, who outlived three generations) come to the same. The temporal mode of the view from above (cf. 04-32).
The disciplines. The principal one is desire: to release the craving for long life and to despise death. The secondary is assent: the right judgement — the length of life is negligible, no value.
The exercises. EXERCISEThe memory of death (recalling the long-lived dead as an "aid to the contempt of death") and the EXERCISEview from above (the abyss of time before and after).
Parallels. The length of life is indifferent — 04-47; Med. 2.14 (cf. DOGMAvirtue-is-sufficient). To recall the long-lived dead — 04-48; 03-03 (cf. EXERCISEmeditatio-mortis). The abyss of time — 04-32 (cf. EXERCISEview-from-above).