The roll-call of the dead. The canonical EXERCISEmemory of death in the form of a catalogue (cf. 03-03, 04-48): "think continually (ἐννόει συνεχῶς)" of all who have died. The method is an ascent through the ranks: first the obscure (Philistion, Phoebus, Origanion1), then "other tribes" — orators, philosophers (PERSONHeraclitus, Pythagoras2, PERSONSocrates), heroes, generals, tyrants, scientists (Eudoxus, Hipparchus, Archimedes3), and finally the very mockers of transience (Menippus4). The governing discipline is desire (to accept death); the sustaining one is action.
The levelling. Two questions dissolve fear: "what harm is it to them?" (τί δεινὸν αὐτοῖς) — to the dead, death is no longer an evil; "and what to the nameless?" (τοῖς μηδ’ ὀνομαζομένοις) — fame and oblivion are equal before death. Neither craft, nor genius, nor mockery of transience escapes the common end; and so the chase after a posthumous name is devalued too.
The one thing of worth. The conclusion is an ethical turn: "one thing here is worth much (ἓν ὧδε πολλοῦ ἄξιον)" — to live TERMin truth and justice (μετ’ ἀληθείας καὶ δικαιοσύνης), remaining benevolent (εὐμενής) even to liars and the unjust. The memory of death leads not to gloom but frees one for virtue and good-will.
Parallels. Catalogues of the dead — 03-03 (Hippocrates, Alexander, Heraclitus, Socrates), 04-48 (physicians, tyrants, whole cities); the EXERCISEmemory of death; benevolence toward the bad — Med. 7.22; 9.27; 11.18 (they are "akin" to me, they err through ignorance).